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
Sylvie Brunet title-role of "Carmen" at the Zürich Opera House, the role of Suzuki in "Madame Butterfly" at the Paris Opera directed by Bob Wilson, Madame de Croissy in "Dialogues des Carmélites" at the Paris Opera and the Zürich Opera, Santuzza in "Cavalleria Rusticana" at the Séville Opera, Marguerite in "La Damnation de Faust" in Zürich and eventually the title role in Meyerbeer's "l'Africaine" at the Opéra national du Rhin. Noticed by Sergio Segalini, she is invited to sing Azucena in Verdi's "Il trovatore" at the Martina Franca Festival. On this occasion, an Italian critic wrote of her: "Verdi has finally found