Ruggero Leoncavallo - Operas, Operettas, Media

Composer, born in Naples, SW Italy. He studied at Naples Conservatory, and earned his living as a pianist and giving singing lessons. His only major success was the opera I Pagliacci (1892). His La Bohème suffered by comparison with Puccini's on the same theme.

Ruggero Leoncavallo (April 23, 1857- August 9, 1919) was an Italian opera composer.

The next year his I Medici was also produced in Milan, but neither it nor Chatterton (1896)—both early works—obtained any favour, and it was not until La Bohème was performed in 1897 in Venice that his talent obtained public confirmation. (Its two tenor arias are still occasionally sung, especially in Italy, but it was outshone by Puccini's opera of the same name and on the same subject (but a better libretto), which was premiered in 1896.) Subsequent operas by Leoncavallo were Zazà (1900) (the opera of Geraldine Farrar's famous farewell performance at the Met), and Der Roland (1904).

Operas

Pagliacci (May 21, 1892 Teatro Dal Verme, Milan) I Medici (9 November 1893 Teatro Dal Verme, Milan) [first part of the trilogy Crepusculum - not completed ] Chatterton (10 March 1896 Teatro Argentina, Rome) [rev. of a work written in 1876 ] La Bohème (6 May 1897 Teatro La Fenice, Venice) Zazà (10 November 1900 Teatro Lirico, Milan) Der Roland von Berlin (13 December 1904 Deutsche Oper, Berlin) Maia (15 January 1910 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Gli Zingari (16 September 1912 Hippodrome, London) Mimi Pinson (1913 Teatro Massimo, Palermo) [rev. of La Bohème] Edipo Re (13 December 1920 Opera Theatre, Chicago)

Operettas

La jeunesse de Figaro (1906, USA) Malbrouck (19 January 1910 Teatro Nazionale, Rome) La reginetta delle rose (24 June 1912 Teatro Costanzi, Rome) Are You There? (1 November 1913 Theatre Prince of Wales, London) La candidata (6 February 1915 Teatro Nazionale, Rome) Prestami tua moglie (2 September 1916 Casino delle Terme, Montecatini) Goffredo Mameli (27 April 1916 Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa) A chi la giarrettiera? (16 October 1919 Teatro Adriano, Rome) Il primo bacio (29 April 1923 Salone di cura, Montecatini) La maschera nuda (26 June 1925 Teatro Politeama, Naples)

Media

Vesti La Giubba (file info) — play in browser (beta) From Pagliacci, performed by Enrico Caruso, recorded on March 17, 1907 No Pagliaccio non son (file info) — play in browser (beta) From Pagliacci, performed by Enrico Caruso Problems playing the files?