Stephen_Murray's Full Review: Leoncavallo: Pagliacci / Simonetto, Corelli, Gobbi...
Neapolitan Ruggero Leoncavallo (1857-1919) is the prototype of the "one-hit wonder." "Recitar! ... Vesti la giubba" (To perform! ... Put on the costume) is one of the three or four most famous tenor arias. It occurs in the middle of the one opera by Leoncavallo that is in the standard repertoire, "Pagliacci" (Players, or Clowns), a two-act opera premiered in Milan's Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, conducted by the 25-year-old Arturo Toscanini (who, unlike Leoncavallo would be heard from more in ensuing years–much more and for very many years...).
The aria and role were favorites of Enrico Caruso, one of whose recordings of the aria became the first recording to sell a million copies. It also has the distinctions of being the first entire opera to be recorded, by the Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli. in 1907, and the first complete opera to be filmed with sound, in 1931 with the tenor Fernando Bertini and the San Carlo Opera Company. The role of Canio, who plays the cuckolded clown in a commedia dell'arte troupe, even bestirred Luciano Pavarotti to supplement his great voice with rudimentary acting.
Canio was (along with "Andréa Chernier", another candidate for "most popular verismo opera not written by Giacomo Puccini) one of the signature roles of the great Italian tenor Franco Corelli (1921-2003), who was at the beginning of his vocal peak in 1954, when a live recording of his Canio along with the great bass/baritone Tito Gobbi as the commedia dell'arte Harlequin Tonio, and soprano Mafalda Micheluzzi as his unfaithful wife Nedda (Columbine in the commedia dell'arte) "Pagliacci" was recorded at La Scala in Milan the evening of 26 September 1954.
I'm not sure why basses play devils and tenors lovers wracked with jealousy, especially since tenors tend to be so narcissistic that it is diffuclt to credit them caring overmuch about anyone else, but that's the convention. Canio is wracked by jealousy, Nedda is two-timing him, (with villager Silvio, not Tonio, though Tonio sparks some jealousy early on).
For such a short opera, "Pagliacci" has a lengthy prologue. Tonio has the quixotic task of delivering a not-very-covert anti-Wagner rationale for presenting "slices of life" (rather than gods and ancient legends) on stage and reassuring the audience that "the tears we shed are false, so do not be alarmed by our agonies or violence."
Before the play (commencing an hour before sunset) Canio makes it known that although he is an easily-fooled husband onstage, in real life, offstage, he does not permit other men to make advances to Nedda in "Non tal giocca credete mi", his first great aria. After she is alone, Nedda expresses her dismay at his ferocity in her own aria, (Qual fiamma avea nel guardo) and the comfort that birds singing provide her (Stridono lassu).
The local seducer, Silvio moves in (and sounds flat in pitch in "E allor perchè, dì, tu m'hai stregato"), but is scared off by Canio. Canio threatens Nedda with a knife to reveal the identity of her lover. Beppo intervenes, telling him to get ready for the performance and telling him that surely Nedda's lover will reveal himself during the play.
Filled with anguish and seemingly turning some of his fury inward, Canio ends the first act with Vesti la giubba", with Corelli heart-wrenching as well as hear-wrenched.
This is followed by a dark-hued orchestral intermezzo (conducted by Alfredo Simonetto), one almost as good as the one in Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," the opera with which "Pagliacci" is often paired onstage and on-disc (an intermezzo made more familiar by use in "Raging Bull" and elsewhere).
In the second act , Canio departs from his script to renew demanding that Nedda tell him who her lover is. Corelli/Canio has another great showpiece of raging jealousy in "No Pagliaccio non son". Nedda does not back down (proclaiming her love stronger than his jealousy) The audience does not realize that this is not part of the play (within the play), until Canio stabs Nedda (and then Silvio) for real.
The slayings and a reprise of the leitmotif "Vesti la giubba" are condensed into the final minute.
There is no applause or crowd noise. I would think that the La Scale audience would have gone wild, as is its wont, at least at the ends of both acts. The stimulus of ultra-passionate, pitch-perfect singing was certainly there.
The principals and the orchestra were picked up remarkably well (the chorus is inconsequential, especially in comparison to that, ''Cavalleria Rusticana".
There is also a television videorecording of the same 1954 production so that one may see as well as hear Corelli, Micheluzzi, and Gobbo act. Corelli and Gobbo are great, and Micheluzzi manages to hold her own though Nedda was given less to sing than Canio was.
As for Signor Leoncavallo, he defeated a well-founded plagiarism charge against his libretto, wrote another ten opera (including a version of "a Bohème" considerably less popular than Puccini's) that have not made it even into the occasionally revived opera repertoire. Ihave never heard so much as an aria from any Leoncavallo opera or other than his very big hit "Pagliacci" or any of the operetta songs he wrote. A baritone arias from "Zazà" apparently used to be performed occasionally.
Act I "Son qua!" 2:40 "Un grande spettacolo" 2:41 "Un tal gioco, credetemi" 2:49 "I zampognari!... Din, don" 4:00 "Qual fiamma avea nel guardo" 4:16 "Sei là! Credea che te ne fossi andato" 4:50 "Nedda!...Silvio, a quest'ora" 5:18 "E allor perchè, dì, tu m'hai stregato" 3:48 "Cammina adagio" 4:34 "Recitar! Mentre preso dal delirio" 3:45 Intermezzo 3:21
Act II "Presto, affrettiamoci svelto, compare" 3:55 "Commedia" 7:15 "Arlecchin!...Colombina!" 2:10 "Nome di Dio! Quelle stesse parole!" 2:16 "No, Pagliaccio non son" 3:13 "Suvvia, così terribile... No, per mia madre!" 2:39
Total:1.1 hours
(I am on a Corelli discovery voyage, having been bowled over by live recordings of his performances in the title roles of Poliuto and Andrea Chenier.)
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