Pagliacci Italian premiere, and it was given in New York on 15 June 1893, with Agostino Montegriffo as Canio. Around 1890, when Pietro Mascagni's "Cavalleria rusticana" premiered, Leoncavallo was a little-known composer. After seeing Mascagni's success, he decided to write an opera in response: one act composed in the verismo style. Leoncavallo wrote that he based the story of "Pagliacci" on an incident from his childhood: a murder in 1865, the victim of which was a Leoncavallo family servant, Gaetano Scavello. The murderer was Gaetano D'Alessandro, with his brother Luigi an accomplice to the crime. The incident resulted from a series
Ildikó Komlósi Naxos at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan; Cavalleria Rusticana (Santuzza) and Carmen at the Arena in Verona; Aida at the Frankfurt Oper, at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome and at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan under the baton of Riccardo Chailly for the opening of the 2006–2007 season; Cavalleria Rusticana and Oedipus Rex (Jocasta) at the Teatro Regio in Turin; Verdi’s Requiem in Cagliari; Cavalleria Rusticana at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and in Naples; Bluebeard's Castle in Bilbao; Verdi’s Requiem with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and Vladimir Jurowski in London; Dvorak’s Requiem at the Gran Teatre del