"The Clown" by Ruggerio Leoncavallo

From Pagliacci:

I know that you hate me and laugh in derision,
For what is the Clown? He plays but a part.
Yet he has his dream, and his hope and his vision,
The Clown has a heart.
And, ah, when you pass me, uncaring, unseeing,
You know not my sorrow, so cruel and sweet.
I give you my spirit, my life, and my being.
I die at your feet.



I see this one as related to Constantly Risking Absurdity. I love opera, and I wish I have seen more of it. Opera is so expensive to attend in the United States, which is tragic, because it's a gorgeous art form. It combines music, poetry, performance, visual excitement, costuming - absolutely everything. The opera season in Europe doesn't go during the summer, so I haven't been able to see it there, either, during most of my trips. On my list of Cool Stuff in Life I'll Get To When I Can, a deeper study and attendance of opera is right up there.

Carlo Tagliabue performs this scene, and I think the saddest part in the context of the opera [English libretto] is how he is still hopeful that baring his heart like this will work out for him. He is, sadly, talking to his unfaithful wife.


From the original score cover

 I found this passage somewhere years before I knew anything about opera, though, and I didn't recognize the source. It struck me then, as now, as very expressive of the emotional component of performance and artistic display.