I Pagliacci: Intermezzo

Consciously modelled on Mascagni’s Cavalleria rusticana – which was to become its all but inseparable double-bill companion – Leoncavallo’s I Pagliacci obviously has much in common with the earlier work. Not the least of their similarities is that they are both set in Sicily, where passions traditionally run high, and that both are based on a story of a violently jealous husband driven to murderous revenge. The two operas have strucutral features in common too. While they differ in that Pagliacci has two acts whereas Cavalleria has only one, they both include an orchestral intermezzo at a crucial turning point in the action.

In Pagliacci the (short) Intermezzo comes between a real-life episode, which traces the potentially disastrous relationships between the players in a travelling commedia dell’arte troupe, and a staging of their comedy, which becomes an ugly real-life tragedy by the end. After a dramatic beginning on strings, the Intermezzo develops into a contemplation of melody associated with the famous “Vesti la giubba” sung by Canio, the cuckolded leader of the troupe, as he prepares to go on stage in the preceding scene. The theme appears first high on violins in a minor-key version remembered from the Prologue and than on cellos in expressive major harmonies as in heard the aria itself. The dark ending, low on double basses before the final chord on harp and violins, offers a broad hint as to what Canio has in mind.