Composer. His fame rests on one work, the short verismo opera "Pagliacci" (1892). The plot about a jealous clown who murders his wife and her lover during the performance of a play was based on an actual incident Leoncavallo remembered from his youth. (His father was the judge at the criminal trial). In the town of Montalto Uffugo in Calabria, at age eight, he witnessed the murder of his housekeeper, Gaetano Scavello, who was fatally wounded by the D'Alessandro brothers at the exit of the Dominican convent where they had gone to attend a theatrical performance. This episode upset his life so much that he managed to transform it into the opera "Pagliacci," considered one of the most beautiful operas in the world. It was written under the influence of Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," and the two operas are almost always performed together on the same bill. Opera enthusiasts refer to this combo as "Cav/Pag."
Composer. His fame rests on one work, the short verismo opera "Pagliacci" (1892). The plot about a jealous clown who murders his wife and her lover during the performance of a play was based on an actual incident Leoncavallo remembered from his youth. (His father was the judge at the criminal trial). In the town of Montalto Uffugo in Calabria, at age eight, he witnessed the murder of his housekeeper, Gaetano Scavello, who was fatally wounded by the D'Alessandro brothers at the exit of the Dominican convent where they had gone to attend a theatrical performance. This episode upset his life so much that he managed to transform it into the opera "Pagliacci," considered one of the most beautiful operas in the world. It was written under the influence of Mascagni's "Cavalleria Rusticana," and the two operas are almost always performed together on the same bill. Opera enthusiasts refer to this combo as "Cav/Pag."
Bio by: Bobb Edwards
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