‘Musical drama should artistically reflect only the truth of life,’ believed Ruggero Leoncavallo.

The name of Ruggero Leoncavallo has entered the history of Italian musical theatre as the creator of the operatic masterpiece “Pagliacci” and a talented representative of a new artistic trend - Verismo. By the end of the 19^th century, this trend finally established itself in Italian opera. The heroic freedom fighters were replaced by heroes of the social underclass – common people and low rankers. Composers-realists found the beautiful and the sublime in the general run of life. In their operas, Verismo composers sought to reveal the thoughts and feelings of the least privileged groups of population. They were attracted by characters driven by strong passions, all-consuming love and hatred, suffering and exulted...
Such is the case with the opera “Pagliacci” by R. Leoncavallo. It can be considered as a manifesto of the creative principles not only of the composer himself, but also of musical Verismo in general. The public and critics immediately recognised the opera as the best of the Verismo operas.

Ruggero Leoncavallo was born in Naples, where he graduated from the Conservatoire, and where he was equally passionate about literature. As a result, this allowed him not only to write music for his operas, but also to be the author of librettos. In the operas created during his lifetime, the Naples Conservatoire graduate realised most of the innovative ideas that were significant for music.

The composer wrote about 20 operas. One of them was “The Gypsies”, based on a poem by Alexander Pushkin. The operas “La Bohème” and “Zaza” were also successful. Leoncavallo is the author of works in other genres, including the operetta “The Rose Queen”, the ballet “The Life of a Marionette”, piano pieces and romances.

It took only five months to create the libretto and music of “Pagliacci”. In 1892, the opera was staged at the Milan theatre. A real-life love story developing between the actors of a travelling show, represents, as it were, a scene on a stage. The first performers of the opera were such world-famous musicians as the conductor Arturo Toscanini and the unrivalled Enrico Caruso as Canio. Touring with the opera to Europe, the USA and Canada in 1906, Leoncavallo himself stood at the conductor's console.

You can listen to the highlights of “Pagliacci” in the musical selection we have prepared for the birthday of Ruggero Leoncavallo. The selection is comprised of the tracks digitized from gramophone records, stored in the museum ‘Collection’ section "Music Records". These are the gramophone records of the firms-producers: ‘Siren Grand Record’, Moscow (1911); ‘His Master's Voice’ (1915); ‘Noginsk gramophone factory’, Moscow (1938); ‘Amour Gramophone Record’, Moscow (1912).