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
Ian Campbell (opera director) the Australia Council from 1974 to 1976, and later became General Manager of the State Opera of South Australia in Adelaide from 1976 to 1982. In 1982 he joined the Metropolitan Opera in New York as Assistant Artistic Administrator before becoming the General and Artistic Director, CEO of San Diego Opera in 1983. His stage directing credits include "La bohème" (1981) and "The Tales of Hoffmann" (1982) for the State Opera of South Australia; "Cavalleria rusticana" and "Pagliacci" for Santa Barbara Grand Opera (1999). For San Diego Opera he has staged "Falstaff" (1999), "Il trovatore" (2000), "Tosca" (2002), "Katya Kabanova"