Ruggiero Leoncavallo

Ruggiero Leoncavallo (March 8, 1857 - August 9, 1919) was an Italian opera composer.

Related Topics:
March 8 - 1857 - August 9 - 1919 - Italian - Opera - Composer

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was born in Naples and educated at the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella of that city. After some years spent teaching and in ineffective attempts to obtain the production of more than one opera, he saw the enormous success of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana in 1890, and he wasted no time in producing his own Verismo hit, Pagliacci. Pagliacci was performed in Milan in 1892 with immediate success; today it is the only work by Leoncavallo in the standard operatic repertory. The next year his 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.) Subsequent operas by Leoncavallo were Zazà (1900) (the opera of Geraldine Farrar's famous farewell performance at the Met), and Der Roland (1904). Nothing from the latter opera is heard today, but the baritone aria from Zazà is still often sung.

Related Topics:
Naples - Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella - Mascagni - Cavalleria Rusticana - Verismo - Pagliacci - Milan - 1897 - Venice - Geraldine Farrar - Met

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leoncavallo was the librettist for all of his own operas. Many considered him the greatest Italian librettist of his time after Boito.

Related Topics:
Librettist - Boito

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Leoncavallo died in Montecatini.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~