Tag Archives: Tonio
Pagliacci: Iconic Productions Day 10
“The first time I did Pagliacci, at the Royal Opera House in London, I did it as it had normally been done, turn-of-the-century. Also, at the Met, I did it that way. But then in the early ‘80s, I brought it much closer to us. I set it in the same environment, Southern Italy, but in the early 1940s. That’s the version that Plácido [Domingo] and Teresa Stratas did around the world and also on video and laser disc. But then I thought, why stop in the middle of the road? Let’s do it today.” – Director Franco Zeffirelli on staging his Pagliacci in the present day (then 1996)
Plácido Domingo as Canio in Pagliacci (1996); Photo Credit: Ken Howard
Music Monday: Pagliacci Prologue
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQxHDPVc-F4
George Gagnidze singing in The Metropolitan Opera Spring Highlights Concert
Pagliacci opens not with a love triangle scene between Canio, Nedda, and Silvio, but instead with a clown. This is Tonio, the fool of Canio’s troupe. He emerges and addresses the audience directly—“Si puo, si puo,” asking for indulgence.