Ruggero Leoncavallo

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Ruggero Leoncavallo (Naples, April 23, 1857 - Montecatini Terme, August 9, 1919) was an Italian composer, one of the main exponents of verismo in opera as a reaction against Romanticism dominant of its time.

Biography

He was the son of a Neapolitan magistrate, and studied at the conservatory in his hometown, where he entered at the age of 9. He studied composition with Lauro Rossi. Lacking resources, he led an eventful life until influenced by the opera Cavalleria Rusticana by the Italian composer Pietro Mascagni, he wrote the opera Pagliacci , which was a great success. Since it premiered in Milan in 1892 its popularity has not diminished.

Two other of his operas, La Bohème from the homonymous work by Giacomo Puccini (1897), and Zazà (1900) achieved relative success, but the great project of his life was to compose a Renaissance trilogy. It would be called Crepusculum; only the first part was released, I Medici (1893), which was not a great success. Leoncavallo died at the age of 61, upset at not having been able to repeat the success of I Pagliacci.

He is the author of the well-known song Mattinata, written in 1904 for the famous tenor Enrico Caruso.

Operas

  • Pagliacci (21 May 1892, Dal Verme Theatre, Milan)
  • I Medici (10 November 1893, Dal Verme Theatre, Milan)
  • Chatterton (10 March 1896, Teatro Argentina, Rome)
  • La bohème (6 May 1897, La Fenice Theatre, Venice)
  • Zazà (10 November 1900, Teatro Lírico, Milan)
  • Der Roland von Berlin (13 December 1904, Königliches Opernhaus, Berlin)
  • Maia (15 January 1910, Teatro Costanzi, Rome)
  • Zingari (16 September 1912, Hippodrome, London)
  • Mimi Pinson (27 April 1913, Massimo Theatre, Palermo) La Bohème)
  • Edipo Re (Postuma, December 13, 1920, Opera Theatre, Chicago)

Operettas

  • The jeunesse of Figaro (1906, USA)
  • Malbrouck (19 January 1910, Teatro Nazionale, Rome)
  • The reginetta delle rose (24 June 1912, Teatro Costanzi, Rome)
  • Are you There? (1 November 1913, Theatre Prince of Wales, London)
  • The candidate (6 February 1915, Nazionale Theatre, Rome)
  • Prestami tua moglie (2 September 1916, Salone di Cura, Montecatini)
  • Goffredo Mameli (27 April 1916, Teatro Carlo Felice, Genoa)
  • The giarrettiera? (16 September 1919, Adriano Theatre, Rome)
  • Il cousin bacio (29 April 1923, Salone di Cura, Montecatini)
  • The nuda maschera (26 June 1925, Teatro Politeama Giacosa, Naples)