The baritone Victor Maurel, who was cast as the first Tonio, requested that Leoncavallo change the title from the singular Il pagliaccio to the plural I Pagliacci, to broaden dramatic interest from Canio alone to include Tonio (his own role). Leoncavallo originally titled his story Il pagliaccio ( The Clown).
Leoncavallo's father, a judge, presided as magistrate over the criminal investigation. The incident stemmed from a series of perceived romantic entanglements involving Scavello, Luigi D'Alessandro, and a village girl with whom both men were infatuated. Leoncavallo based the story of Pagliacci on an incident from his childhood: the 1865 murder of a Leoncavallo family servant, Gaetano Scavello, killed by Gaetano D'Alessandro, with brother Luigi acting as accomplice. After seeing Mascagni's success, Leoncavallo decided to write an opera in response: one act composed in the verismo style. Leoncavallo was a little-known composer when Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana premiered around 1890. Pagliacci is often staged with Cavalleria rusticana by Pietro Mascagni, a double bill known colloquially as "Cav/Pag".
Pagliacci is the composer's only opera that is still widely performed. Soon after its Italian premiere, the opera played in London (with Nellie Melba as Nedda) and in New York (on 15 June 1893, with Agostino Montegriffo as Canio). Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio. The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who murders his wife Nedda and her lover Silvio on stage during a performance. Pagliacci ( Italian pronunciation: literal translation, "Clowns") is an Italian opera in a prologue and two acts, with music and libretto by Ruggero Leoncavallo.
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