Ruggero Leoncavallo’s 1892 Opera "Pagliacci": A Critical Edition with Commentary and Historical Introduction

FAIN: FA-58202-15

Andreas Giger
Louisiana State University and A&M College (Baton Rouge, LA 70803-0001)

Pagliacci, a masterpiece of the operatic repertoire, exists only in corrupt editions. In performance, these editions have prevented the exploration of the opera's full musical and dramatic potential; and in scholarship, they have lead to distorted findings, especially with regard to the opera's connection to the artistic movement called "verismo." This project will produce the opera's first critical edition. Following the most advanced principles and methods, it will make Pagliacci available not only in its final two-act version but for the first time also in its original one-act version, a version clearly identifiable in the autograph score but not comprising the "Prologue" (added upon a singer's request) or the "Intermezzo" (added upon a conductor's request). The shorter one-act version will not only allow for new combinations in a double bill but also put the opera within technical reach of educational institutions that may lack a baritone capable of singing the taxing Prologue.

Media Coverage

Italienische Opernkostbarkeiten: "Pagliacci" als Vorreiter der neu erscheinenden Reihe "Masterpieces of Italian Opera" (Review)
Author(s): Patrick Ohnesorg
Publication: Neue Musikzeitung
Date: 10/9/2020
Abstract: Very positive review of the _Pagliacci_ edition.

Quatre nouvelles éditions (Review)
Author(s): Alain Pâris
Publication: La lettre du musicien
Date: 9/9/2020
Abstract: Very favorable review of the _Pagliacci_ edition.

Ruggero Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (Review)
Author(s): Patrick Ohnesorg
Publication: Das Orchester
Date: 1/9/2021
Abstract: This is a very positive review of the _Pagliacci_ edition.

Associated Products

“Svesti la giubba,” or, Uncloaking the Genesis of _Pagliacci_ (Conference Paper/Presentation)
Title: “Svesti la giubba,” or, Uncloaking the Genesis of _Pagliacci_
Author: Andreas Giger
Abstract: In 1943 Allied bombs destroyed the archives of Leoncavallo’s publisher, Sonzogno, and the Teatro Dal Verme, where _Pagliacci_ was first performed. In light of the resulting scarcity of sources pertaining to the opera’s compositional history, scholarship has relied almost exclusively on Leoncavallo’s autobiographical "Appunti." Contextual sources such as notifications in the press, eyewitness accounts, and a large body of mostly unpublished correspondence now suggest that Leoncavallo cloaked the opera's genesis to protect its legacy. Leoncavallo was twice charged with having imitated an existing play (in 1893 Tamayo y Baus's _Un drama nuevo_, and in 1894 Catulle Mendès's _La femme de Tabarin_). In his protracted defense, he took every opportunity to distinguish his libretto from the literary tradition (of Tabarin-like "plays within a play") to which it belongs and tie it instead to the verismo movement (with which some critics had associated it since the premiere). He began to claim, for instance, that the libretto was based on a crime of passion he had witnessed in Montalto and invented a version of that crime that matched the libretto. Furthermore, in preparation of the first performance in Paris in 1902, he actively contributed to a staging that was to faithfully depict Montalto and the costumes of its people. And as he was tightening the opera's connection to verismo, he was concealing aspects that would have reflected poorly on the opera's reception, including Sonzogno's concerns regarding the quality of the work and the presence of musical borrowings--most notably two substantial, newly identified sections, taken from the composer's French chamber work _La coupe et les lèvres_--in the opera's conclusion.
Date: 7/7/2017
Primary URL: http://www.musik.unibe.ch/forschung/tagungen/toscbern2017/index_ger.html
Primary URL Description: Conference Web Site
Secondary URL: http://www.musik.unibe.ch/unibe/portal/fak_historisch/dkk/musik/content/e39911/e155112/e557876/e578479/BookletDruckansicht260617_ger.pdf
Secondary URL Description: Program book

"Svesti la giubba," or Uncloaking the Genesis of _Pagliacci_ (Article)
Title: "Svesti la giubba," or Uncloaking the Genesis of _Pagliacci_
Author: Andreas Giger
Abstract: In 1943 Allied bombs destroyed the archives of Leoncavallo’s publisher, Sonzogno, and of the Teatro Dal Verme, where _Pagliacci_ was first performed. As a result, many sources pertaining to the opera’s compositional history were lost, and scholarship has relied almost exclusively on Leoncavallo’s unpublished autobiographical manuscript, “Appunti.” Contextual sources such as notifications in the press, eyewitness accounts, and a large body of mostly unpublished correspondence now suggest that Leoncavallo cloaked the opera’s genesis to protect its legacy. Leoncavallo was twice charged with having imitated an existing play. In his protracted defense, he took every opportunity to distinguish his libretto from the literary tradition to which it belongs and tie it instead to the verismo movement (with which critics had associated it since the premiere). He began to claim, for instance, that the libretto was based on a crime of passion he had witnessed in Montalto and invented a version of that crime that matched the libretto. Furthermore, in preparation of the first performance in Paris, he actively contributed to a staging faithfully depicting Montalto in an attempt to highlight the originality of the story. And as he was tightening the opera’s connection to verismo, he was concealing aspects that would have reflected poorly on the opera’s reception, including Sonzogno’s initial concerns regarding the music and the presence of substantial musical self-borrowings
Year: 2018
Access Model: Subscription only; JSTOR
Format: Journal
Periodical Title: 19th-Century Music
Publisher: University of California Press

Pagliacci (Book)
Title: Pagliacci
Author: Ruggero Leoncavallo
Editor: Andreas Giger
Abstract: This is the first critical edition of Leoncavallo's opera. It includes 311 pages of score, a critical edition of the libretto, 26,500 words of original scholarship (in the original English and an Italian translation), and 114 pages of Critical Commentary.
Year: 2020
Primary URL: https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/BA7648_01/
Primary URL Description: This is the URL to Bärenreiter's Web site advertising the edition. I have contracted the NEH twice about information where to send a complimentary copy. Both inquiries went unanswered. I do have a copy for your library.
Secondary URL: https://www.baerenreiter.com/en/shop/product/details/DBA01033-01/
Secondary URL Description: This is the link to the critical commentary, which was published as a PDF.
Access Model: Subscription only
Publisher: Bärenreiter
Type: Scholarly Edition
Translator: Claudio Vellutini
Copy sent to NEH?: No

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