User:Camiagale/Leoncavallo Ruggero

Leoncavallo Ruggero Leoncavallo Ruggero, b. Mar. 8, 1858, d. Aug. 9, 1919, is known today for a single work, I Pagliacci, one of the masterpieces of Italian VERISMO Opera. His study of music and literature prepared him to write both the music and the librettos for his operas. In an effort to adapt Wagner's epical German manner to Italian Opera, he composed a trilogy Crepusculum, depicting major figures of the Italian Renaissance. Unable to obtain either publication or performance for this work, and noting the success of Mascagni's short verismo opera Cavalleria Rusticana (1890), Leoncavallo composed a comparable work, I Pagliacci(1892). This work achieved immediate and lasting success. Of his 18 other operas, La Boheme (1897) and Zaza (1900) were received favorably when first presented, but are no longer staged