Pagliacci

A troupe of travelling players arrive to present a comic show. One of their number, Tonio, welcomes us with a Prologue, in which he tells us that tonight’s performances will deal with real flesh-and-blood characters. He asks us to remember that every artist is just another human who breathes the same air as his audience.

The troupe is led by Canio, ‘the prince of comedians’. His wife and leading lady, Nedda, rejects the coarse advances of Tonio, a fellow actor. Tonio then spies on Nedda’s meeting with her lover, Silvio, with whom she plans to elope. In revenge, Tonio summons Canio. Silvio escapes, and Nedda refuses to reveal his identity, despite Canio’s threats.

It’s time to prepare for the evening show. Alone in his dressing room, Canio contemplates his fate: he must make people laugh even though his heart is breaking.

After an intermezzo, the curtain rises on the troop’s performance. Silvio is in the crowd, having arranged to meet Nedda later that night. The show is a classic piece of comedia dell’arte about marital infidelity, and for the disturbed (and inebriated) Canio, fiction becomes confused with reality. He breaks out of character and again demands to know the name of Nedda’s lover. Once again she defies him...