Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci 56 years old

Opera's most popular double bill, fondly known as Cav and Pag, can be a tawdry mess or, as in this performance of Pagliacci, a searing experience. Its power derives from an all-star cast headed by tenor Jon Vickers in the double role of betrayed husband, Canio, and tragic clown, Pagliacci. Hes a singer who blurred the division between reality and stage illusion in every role he assumed, thus taking an opera about that thin line between real life and stage artifice to heightened levels of intensity. Vickers is a force of nature, his big, brawny voice suffused with emotion. Here, his phrasing, textual precision, and timbral colorations expand the scope of the opera, making a moving tragedy out of Leoncavallos verismo melodrama.

Credits

Fiorenza Cossotto as Santuzza

Adriana Martino as Lola

Jon Vickers as Canio

Raina Kabaivanska as Nedda

Rolando Panerai as Silvio

Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci Cast

Name	Character
Fiorenza Cossotto She was 32, now 89 years old	as Santuzza
Adriana Martino She was 36, now 93 years old	as Lola
Jon Vickers He was 41, 88 years old when he died	as Canio
Raina Kabaivanska She was 33, now 89 years old	as Nedda
Rolando Panerai He was 43, 95 years old when he died	as Silvio

Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci Crew

Name	Department
Herbert von Karajan as Director. He was 59 (81) years old when He died	Directing
Herbert von Karajan as Conductor. He was 59 (81) years old when He died	Sound
Åke Falck as Director. He was 42 (49) years old when He died	Directing

Cavalleria rusticana / Pagliacci (56 years)

Release day: Monday, January 01, 1968
Runtime: 79 minutes