# Round 4: Prologue Pagliacci: Gobbi and Cappuccilli



## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

By request




Pagliacci: Prologue, "Si Può? Si Può?" Tullio Serafin La Scala Theater Orchestra,La Scala Theater Chorus & Tullio Serafin, Vittore Veneziani Ruggero Leoncavallo: Pagliacci (1954)





Ruggero Leoncavallo: Pagliacci - Prologo · Piero Cappuccilli My Life On Stage


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Dear me! What happened to that important high note that came missing on an otherwise wonderful rendering by Gobbi?
Cappuccilli on the other hand delivered a beauty and, being that they both gave superior performances, on this basis alone Cappy gets my vote.


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## MAS (Apr 15, 2015)

Cappuccilli’s video is hard to hear, recorded at a low volume, and distant from the mic. Plus he sounds old, every sustained note wavering, the tone loose. Gobbi is captured early and though his high notes are slightly strained, he makes up for it in interpretation.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

nina foresti said:


> Dear me! What happened to that important high note that came missing on an otherwise wonderful rendering by Gobbi?
> Cappuccilli on the other hand delivered a beauty and, being that they both gave superior performances, on this basis alone Cappy gets my vote.


I'm pretty sure that "all important" high note wasn't written by Leoncavallo. I was more distracted by the pronounced beat in Cappuccilli's voice. I've never noticed it before. Was this recorded quite late in his career?

Gobbi is also on a different plane of interpretation and uses a much wider range of tone colour. The sweetness he gets into his tone on the line _un nido di memoria _is something I listen for in every other performance, but never hear. His whole performance has so much more variety and specificity. I couldn't really care less about interpolated high notes.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

Ya learn sompin' new every day. I never knew that the high note was not come scritto by Leoncavallo.
Thanks for keeping this old brain intact.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

Sorry


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

MAS said:


> Cappuccilli’s video is hard to hear, recorded at a low volume, and distant from the mic. Plus he sounds old, every sustained note wavering, the tone loose. Gobbi is captured early and though his high notes are slightly strained, he makes up for it in interpretation.


Sorry but unless I know a singer's repertoire I do like I did here and choose the ones the record companies promote as supposedly they have better sound than the fanboy's stuff- according to my mentor S.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

I did the other round without the libretto, but now I am ploughing my way through it. It reminds me of your frustration with La Boheme. The text is more difficult to me than bel canto. Is this the feature of verismo ?


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Cappucilli made this aria sad and moving, which I am not used to. Why ? Was I not paying enough attention before ? I like it this way. This is something that really happened, the author had been traumatised by it, and now he is pouring it to his art. The moment that bothered me was "Mondo al pari di voi spiriamo l’aere!" - the very prolonged "voi" didn't sound that pleasant. But I don't care, the aria was special. 
Gobbi takes a more simple and straightforward approach, less pathos. Many will probably find it more tasteful. But I'll vote for Cappucilli.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Hmm, was Cappucilli too old here ? Maybe I find the tired sound fitting.

Do I dislike the same note that @nina foresti loves ?

Edit: No. Which words do belong to the interpolated high note ?

After reading what @Tsaraslondon wrote, I listened to Gobbi again and enjoyed him immensely. But I usually try to vote according to my initial impression, so I'll stick with Cappucilli.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

But I don't think it's a sad aria. It is a prologue, an introduction, just like "All the world's a stage" from _As You Like It _or the Prologue in _Henry V_. It is an actor, in this case, the same actor who precipitates the tragedy that unfolds in the play within a play, addressing the audience directly and setting out the stage for the action that will follow. An element of detachment is surely what is required. The actor reminds us, the audience that this is not real life,_“The tears we shed are false, so do not be alarmed by our agonies or violence!” _Gobbi strikes just the right balance and makes every word tell. His version might just be my favourite of the lot.

TONIO
Si può? Si può?
Signore! Signori! Scusatemi
Se da sol mi presento. Io sono il Prologo.
Poiché in iscena ancor
Le antiche maschere mette l’autore,
In parte ei vuol riprendere
Le vecchie usanze, e a voi
Di nuovo inviami.
Ma non per dirvi come pria
“Le lacrime che noi versiam son false!
Degli spasimi e dei nostri martir
Non allarmatevi!” No. No.
L’autore ha cercato invece pingervi
Uno squarcio di vita.
Egli ha per massima sol che l’artista
È un uom, e che per gli uomini
Scrivere ei deve. Ed al vero ispiravasi.
Un nido di memorie in fondo all’anima
Cantava un giorno, ed ei con vere lacrime
Scrisse, e i singhiozzi il tempo gli battevano!
Dunque, vedrete amar sì come s’amano
Gli esseri umani, vedrete dell’odio
I tristi frutti. Del dolor gli spasimi,
Urli di rabbia, udrete, e risa ciniche!
E voi, piuttosto che le nostre povere
Gabbane d’istrioni, le nostr’anime
Considerate, poiché siam uomini
Di carne e d’ossa, e che di quest’orfano
Mondo al pari di voi spiriamo l’aere!
Il concetto vi dissi. Or ascoltate
Com’egli è svolto.
(gridando verso la scena)
Andiam. Incominciate!

TONIO
_Please? Will you allow me?
Ladies! Gentlemen! Excuse me
if I appear thus alone. I am the Prologue.
Since our author is reviving on our stage
the masks of ancient comedy,
he wishes to restore for you, in part,
the old stage customs, and once more
he sends me to you.
But not, as in the past, to reassure you,
saying, “The tears we shed are false,
so do not be alarmed by our agonies
or violence!” No! No!
Our author has endeavoured, rather,
to paint for you a slice of life,
his only maxim being that the artist
is a man, and he must write
for men. Truth is his inspiration.
Deep-embedded memories stirred one day
within his heart, and with real tears
he wrote, and marked the time with sighs!
Now, then, you will see men love
as in real life they love, and you will see
true hatred and its bitter fruit. And you will hear
shouts both of rage and grief, and cynical laughter.
Mark well, therefore, our souls,
rather than the poor players’ garb
we wear, for we are men
of flesh and bone, like you, breathing
the same air of this orphan world.
This, then, is our design. Now give heed
to its unfolding.
(shouting towards the stage)
On with the show! Begin!_


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

_Pagliacci_ is about actors - "players" might be more accurate - and no one acts or plays better than Tito Gobbi. He exemplifies the idea of singing as exalted speech, each word and syllable weighed for its value and import. Lacking a conventionally beautiful voice, he finds beauty in the meaning of what he sings. Here he is Tonio to the life, and a participant in one of the best recordings of the opera.

Cappuccilli seems to be inside the same giant oil drum Sutherland and Conrad were in yesterday in their Donizetti duet, but this is a live event, so I guess the audience is in there with him. The performance is a good one, but Cappuccilli sounds a little past his best. The excessive reverb may help him in that respect.

Gobbi, without hesitation.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Tsaraslondon said:


> But I don't think it's a sad aria. It is a prologue, an introduction, just like "All the world's a stage" from _As You Like It _or the Prologue in _Henry V_. It is an actor, in this case, the same actor who precipitates the tragedy that unfolds in the play within a play, addressing the audience directly and setting out the stage for the action that will follow. An element of detachment is surely what is required. The actor reminds us, the audience that this is not real life,_“The tears we shed are false, so do not be alarmed by our agonies or violence!” _Gobbi strikes just the right balance and makes every word tell. His version might just be my favourite of the lot.
> 
> TONIO
> Si può? Si può?
> ...


I always considered it a detached aria. But I liked this more involved variation. It doesn't have to ve definitive. Actually, it makes me like the aria better, if I realize, there are emotional alternatives.

Technically, the Prologo says, that this time, the old saying about the artificial tears being shed is _not_ true, because this really happened.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> I always considered it a detached aria. But I liked this more involved variation. It doesn't have to ve definitive. Actually, it makes me like the aria better, if I realize, there are emotional alternatives.
> 
> Technically, the Prologo says, that this time, the old saying about the artificial tears being shed is _not_ true, because this really happened.


Nevertheless, I don't think there should be anything sentimental in his delivery. However true the events that are being depicted, the device of a prologue where the actor talks directly to the audience reminds us that what we are seeing is theatre. 

In fact at the end of the opera, Tonio addresses the audience directly again, and simply says _La commedia é finita. _Unfortunately it became traditional for this line to be sung by Canio, but it makes much more dramatic sense when Tonio says it, as per Leoncavallo's original instructions.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Tsaraslondon said:


> Nevertheless, I don't think there should be anything sentimental in his delivery. However true the events that are being depicted, the device of a prologue where the actor talks directly to the audience reminds us that what we are seeing is theatre.
> 
> In fact at the end of the opera, Tonio addresses the audience directly again, and simply says _La commedia é finita. _Unfortunately it became traditional for this line to be sung by Canio, but it makes much more dramatic sense when Tonio says it, as per Leoncavallo's original instructions.


You tend to look for definitive versions. The definitive version of Norma is Callas. The definitive version of the prologue - it actually might be Gobbi ? Or somebody like him ? What I say, I never realised, this other thing can also be done with the Prologo, that Cappucilli did (or my perception of it), it makes at least _some_ sense and it grabbed me for the moment.

Edit: Also, I go to opera for emotions to a great extent, and the detachment is a very unattractive emotion. For the first round, I imagined the Prologo as partly Tonio, because I have a problem relating to the Prologo in the style of Shakespeare.


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## Woodduck (Mar 17, 2014)

Tsaraslondon said:


> In fact at the end of the opera, Tonio addresses the audience directly again, and simply says _La commedia é finita. _Unfortunately it became traditional for this line to be sung by Canio, but it makes much more dramatic sense when Tonio says it, as per Leoncavallo's original instructions.


When did that tradition start? I wonder whether Leoncavallo was aware of it.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Gobbi is all over it and Cappucilli is not. Capucilli has never made a great impression on me on record but when I heard him in recital he sounded like a million bucks. Here he sounds coarse with a little improvement in the sound as the aria goes on. But the interpretation is for the most part generic and. to me, uncompelling.

Gobbi is the exact opposite in every way. I think his timbre is about as beautiful here as I can remember it. Phrase by phrase he fills the aria with theatrical humanity and makes the ending work just as well with the lower version of the second to last high note. The individuality of his timbre makes him for me, a competitor with the best renditions we've heard.


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Tsaraslondon said:


> The actor reminds us, the audience that this is not real life,_“The tears we shed are false, so do not be alarmed by our agonies or violence!”
> 
> 
> he sends me to you.
> ...


Tsaras I feel quite sure you've got this one wrong. He's saying just the opposite.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

ScottK said:


> Tsaras I feel quite sure you've got this one wrong. He's saying just the opposite.


You're right. I seized on that line prematurely without reading through the whole thing. However, having now taken into account the whole thing, I still don't think it supports a sentimental or personal reading of the aria. It is very much in the style of Shakespeare's introductions, where the actor addresses the audience directly and sets the scene. Tonio is not saying "This happened to me," he is saying, "Though we may be acting, these events actually happened," which is not quite the same thing. 

In any case we agree that Gobbi gives the perfect rendering.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

The Prologue does not say "I am the author". But in my perception of Cappucilli, he is representing him for a while, he is tired, sad and remembering something traumatic. (He will change into Tonio later, but he is not him now).

It is the equivalent of Norma, who is going to sing "In mia man alfin to sei", but she bursts into tears during the musical introduction and falls to the ground. Is Norma supposed to that ? No, she is a proud woman. Does it iluminate some aspects of this scene ? To me it does. I have seen the videos of several productions like this. It is sort of a permitted variation, at least to me. Some variations are less permitted than the others. I have seen Jose Maria Sirri delivering Norma, who is _sexually aroused_ during Qual cor tradisti. That is really on the border of my tollerance of the "variations".

I like the variation of Cappuculli, it is the first one of the kind I have ever heard. When I went back to the older contest, I hear some elements of it in another singer.

What is the most correct version ? That is a different question.


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> The Prologue does not say "I am the author". But in my perception of Cappucilli, he is representing him for a while, he is tired, sad and remembering something traumatic. (He will change into Tonio later, but he is not him now).
> 
> It is the equivalent of Norma, who is going to sing "In mia man alfin to sei", but she bursts into tears during the musical introduction and falls to the ground. Is Norma supposed to that ? No, she is a proud woman. Does it iluminate some aspects of this scene ? To me it does. I have seen several productions like this. It is sort of a permitted variation, at least to me. Some variations are less permitted than the others. I have seen Jose Maria Sirri delivering Norma, who is _sexually aroused_ during Qual cor tradisti. That is really on the border of my tollerance of the "variations".
> 
> ...


But _In mia man _is sung in private, just to Pollione, after the chorus have exited the scene. It is entirely different.

At the beginning of *Pagliacci *Tonio, the actor, comes out in front of the curtain and directly addresses the audience. There is no ambiguity here. This is the stage direction. It is a device, similar to those used by Shakespeare in some of his plays. The singer's purpose is to set the scene for the action that will follow. How he does so is largely up to both the singer and the director, but he can't change the essential purpose of the scene.

Incidentally, I'm not saying Cappuccilli does. I prefer Gobbi mostly because he makes more of the words and has a greater range of tone colour. His voice is also in much better shape than Cappuccilli's at this stage of his career.


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## BBSVK (10 mo ago)

Tsaraslondon said:


> But _In mia man _is sung in private, just to Pollione, after the chorus have exited the scene. It is entirely different.
> 
> At the beginning of *Pagliacci *Tonio, the actor, comes out in front of the curtain and directly addresses the audience. There is no ambiguity here. This is the stage direction. It is a device, similar to those used by Shakespeare in some of his plays. The singer's purpose is to set the scene for the action that will follow. How he does so is largely up to both the singer and the director, but he can't change the essential purpose of the scene.
> 
> Incidentally, I'm not saying Cappuccilli does. I prefer Gobbi mostly because he makes more of the words and has a greater range of tone colour. His voice is also in much better shape than Cappuccilli's at this stage of his career.


Yes, but take into consideration, that my starting point was hating the whole idea of the detached character of the Prologo. And the aria as the consequence.


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## Seattleoperafan (Mar 24, 2013)

BBSVK said:


> The Prologue does not say "I am the author". But in my perception of Cappucilli, he is representing him for a while, he is tired, sad and remembering something traumatic. (He will change into Tonio later, but he is not him now).
> 
> It is the equivalent of Norma, who is going to sing "In mia man alfin to sei", but she bursts into tears during the musical introduction and falls to the ground. Is Norma supposed to that ? No, she is a proud woman. Does it iluminate some aspects of this scene ? To me it does. I have seen the videos of several productions like this. It is sort of a permitted variation, at least to me. Some variations are less permitted than the others. I have seen Jose Maria Sirri delivering Norma, who is _sexually aroused_ during Qual cor tradisti. That is really on the border of my tollerance of the "variations".
> 
> ...


  🤣🤣🤣🤣


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## ScottK (Dec 23, 2021)

Tsaraslondon said:


> You're right. I seized on that line prematurely without reading through the whole thing. However, having now taken into account the whole thing, I still don't think it supports a sentimental or personal reading of the aria. It is very much in the style of Shakespeare's introductions, where the actor addresses the audience directly and sets the scene. Tonio is not saying "This happened to me," he is saying, "Though we may be acting, these events actually happened," which is not quite the same thing.
> 
> In any case we agree that Gobbi gives the perfect rendering.


Now we agree on everything 😉🤓!!!


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