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Opera "I Pagliacci"
Figurines
by Deruta Collezioni
This figurines represent
one of the protagonists
from the Italian opera
“I Pagliacci”.
“I Pagliacci” is a two
acts “dramma per
musica” by the
composer Ruggero
Leoncavallo (1857-1919),
first performed 21st May
1892 at the Teatro dal
Verme, Milan, conducted
by Arturo Toscanini.
The protagonists are:
Canio (tenor), head
of a troupe of traveling
actors, in the play:
Pagliaccio;
Nedda (soprano),
his wife, in the play:
Colombina;
Tonio (baritone),
member of the troupe, in
the play: Taddeo
the clown;
The play is located in
the small Italian town
of Montalto in Calabria
during the "Ferragosto"
(the catholic Italian
holiday of the
Assumption in
mid-August) in the
1860s. PAGLIACCI
background:
Fascinated - and
irritated - by the
success in 1890 of
Pietro Mascagni's
Cavalleria Rusticana,
Leoncavallo decided to
write and compose a
short, realistic opera
himself. In the autumn
of 1890 he offered the
libretto to the Milan
publisher Edoardo
Sonzogno - who had
Mascagni under contract,
too - and was told to go
ahead with the
composition.
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