“Pagliacci” is often celebrated as one of the finest examples of verismo, or realist opera. It is even based on a true story: Leoncavallo’s father, a judge, once presided over the trial of an actor who, in a fit of jealousy, murdered his wife immediately following a performance. “Pagliacci” is frequently performed along with Mascagni’s one-acter “Cavalleria Rusticana”. Both works are strongly linked with the name of Franco Zeffirelli, the great stage and film director who has been infusing the operatic repertoire with grace, elegance and poignancy. Both his Emmy Award-winning production of “Pagliacci” and his “Cavalleria” feature international star tenor Placido Domingo.
Cavalleria Rusticana
Based on a drama by Giovanni Verga, “Cavalleria Rusticana” relates the lives and passions of simple Sicilian peasants. It was the first opera of the “verismo”, or realist, school. Turiddu has long been one of Placido Domingo’s finest roles, infused with passion and musical intensity. Franco Zeffirelli has masterminded a brilliantly naturalistic filming of this opera, shooting it on location in a small Sicilian town. The Russian mezzo-soprano Elena Obraztsova is a moving Santuzza, totally convincing in her passionate dejection. Together with the other veristic masterpiece, Leoncavallo’s “Pagliacci”, “Cavalleria” forms the most popular double-bill in the operatic repertory.