Arlecchino (opera) of a double-bill. The first British staged performance of "Arlecchino" was in 1954 at Glyndebourne. However, Edward Clark had produced a concert version in London in 1939. The opera is in four movements with a corresponding representation of Arlecchino in each of them: The roles in "Arlecchino" are derived from the Italian "commedia dell'arte". It is unusual in that the title role of Arlecchino is primarily a speaking role. The composer has said that "Arlecchino" "has a tendency to ambiguity and hyperbole in order to place the listener momentarily in a position of slight doubt." Ronald Stevenson has described it
Pierrot summarized and analyzed an unnamed pantomime of unusually somber events: Pierrot murders an old-clothes man for garments to court a duchess, then is skewered in turn by the sword with which he stabbed the peddler when the latter's ghost lures him into a dance at his wedding. The pantomime under "review" was a fabrication (though it inspired a hack to turn it into an actual pantomime, "The Ol’ Clo's Man" [1842], in which Deburau probably appeared—and also inspired Barrault's wonderful recreation of it in "Children of Paradise"). But it importantly marked a turning-point in Pierrot's career: henceforth Pierrot could bear