Tag

Pagliacci

Cav & Pag – Corelli and Tucker Alternate Roles

February 23, 2023

Pietro Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci have been paired more often than Southwest Airlines has had recent on time flights. The two leading Italian style tenors at the Metropolitan Opera who sang the leading roles in these operas during the 1960s were Franco Corelli and Richard Tucker. Both had virile spinto tenors that […]

Cav & Pag – Corelli and Tucker Alternate Roles

No! Pagliaccio Non Son

November 30, 2020

Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci was first performed at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme in 1892 – Arturo Toscanini conducted. It rapidly spread throughout the operatic world and like its frequent partner, Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, it was its composer’s only unalloyed success. The opera’s protagonist, Canio leader of a band of itinerant performers, is married to a much younger […]

Pagliacci – Il Prologo

September 30, 2014

Leoncavallo’s opera Pagliacci is a vehicle for the tenor, yet every baritone wants to sing the relatively minor role of Tonio. The reason is simple – the prologue. It’s a sensational aria for a Verdi style baritone that ends in a high A-flat followed by a high G. It’s sung in front of the curtains with the […]

About the Editor

Neil Kurtzman

Physician. Professor. Writer.

Neil A Kurtzman MD is the Grover E Murray Professor Emeritus and University Distinguished Professor Emeritus, Department of Internal Medicine at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock. He has combined careers in clinical medicine, education, basic research, and administration for more than 40 years.