I Pagliacci

El Dorado Opera launches its 2006 Season with I Pagliacci, the classic tale of passion and revenge.

Passion. Jealousy. Revenge. Violence. Sounds like the plot points to just another blockbuster movie. But long before Hollywood began capitalizing on the fragility of human emotion, Ruggero Leoncavallo wrote his opera, Pagliacci. Premiering in Milan, Italy, in 1892, Pagliacci tells the story of Canio, a performance artist (clown) who is scorned by his cheating wife, resulting in his overwhelming despair and finally the murder of his wife and her lover.