In performance, Pagliacci stands or falls by the writing for, and the interpretation of, Canio. However the score is recognizably Italian in flavour, and the various set-pieces are fully integrated into the structure in the manner of late Verdi. There is rudimentary use of Leitmotiv, and neither the harmony nor the orchestration could have been as it is had Wagner not existed. For his score, Leoncavallo took as much as he needed from Wagnerian methods - that composer’s music and personality had made a great impression on him. The characterization may not run very deep, but is convincing enough to make us believe that the characters are real people. He was an accomplished librettist his scenario is at once credible and swift-moving. But Leoncavallo’s skill lay more in his ability to clothe these devices in outstanding music. To this he added the commedia dell’arte playlet and the Zola-inspired prologue.

The plot was broadly based on what he remembered of one of his father’s law cases - a middle-aged actor who murders his unfaithful young wife. He took the score to Ricordi’s rival Sonzogno who arranged its first performance on 2 in Milan under Toscanini, and it was so successful that it made Leoncavallo an overnight celebrity. Disappointed with his,lack of fame and frustrated with the success of Cavalleria rusticana, Leoncavalla shut himself up in his house for five months,and composed the libretto and music for Pagliacci. Renowned tenor Dennis O’Neill stars as Canio in this new recording in English of Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci.

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