Lyric Opera 2025-2026 Issue 4 - Cavalleria

17 | Lyric Opera of Chicago PRODUCTION SPONSORS Josef & Margot Lakonishok Sonia Florian° °Deceased Alice & John Butler + H. Gael Neeson + Sylvia Neil & Daniel Fischel + Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation + Mary Stowell + Zell Family Foundation + + Enrique Circle members Lyric Opera of Chicago gratefully acknowledges the support of the NIB Foundation Italian Opera Endowed Chair. Additional costumes by: Seams Unlimited The Costume Shop Chicago Elizabeth Flauto Lyric Opera of Chicago thanks its Official Airline, United Airlines. APPROXIMATE TIMINGS This production will be performed with one intermission. Cavalleria rusticana 1 hour 10 minutes Intermission 30 minutes Pagliacci 1 hour 15 minutes TOTAL 2 hours 55 minutes LYRIC’S 2025/26 PRESENTING SEASON SPONSOR: The Robert and Penelope Steiner Family Foundation Tonio, a clown, exhorts his audience to look beyond the actors’ costumes to glimpse the true human emotions provided by the play. (Prologue: Si puo? ) ACT I The village welcomes a troupe of traveling players. Canio, the leader, promises a great performance that night. He accepts the offer of some wine at the local inn, but Tonio stays behind. Villagers suggest that he simply wants to flirt with Nedda, Canio’s wife. Canio declares that if he caught Nedda with another man, he would react quite differently from his stage character, Pagliaccio (Aria: Un tal gioco ). Bagpipers are heard just as the church bells ring for vespers (Chorus: Don, din, don ). The crowd disperses, leaving Nedda alone. Spying a flock of birds, she envies their carefree existence. (Balatella: Stridono lassu ). Tonio interrupts with declarations of love, but Nedda rejects his advances sarcastically, then strikes him. Swearing vengeance, Tonio rushes away. Almost immediately, the villager Silvio appears (Duet: Silvio? A quest’ora ). He loves Nedda and persuades her to run away with him. Tonio returns with Canio just in time for the latter to hear Nedda’s parting words to Silvio: “Until tonight, and I’ll be yours forever.” Canio runs after Silvio, whom he did not recognize. Unable to catch him, he then threatens Nedda and demands her lover’s name, which she refuses to reveal. Brokenhearted, Canio prepares for the performance (Aria: Vesti la giubba ). ACT II The performance of the commedia begins with Colombina (Nedda) announcing that her husband, Pagliaccio (Canio) is away for the evening. While awaiting Taddeo (Tonio), who is to bring supper, she hears her lover, Arlecchino (Beppe), singing outside her window, (Serenade: O Colombina ). In return for his love offering of supper, Taddeo is received sarcastically by Colombina. Once Arlecchino arrives for his rendezvous with Colombina, they rid themselves of Taddeo. Arlecchino produces a sleeping potion and suggests that Colombina facilitate their elopement by drugging her husband. She agrees just as Taddeo bursts in to say that Pagliaccio has returned, after learning of Colombina’s infidelity. Taddeo and Arlecchino run out, but Pagliaccio enters in time to hear Colombina sigh to her retreating lover, “Until tonight, and I’ll be yours forever.” When he appears on stage, Canio lapses from his stage role into furious reproach as Nedda attempts to stay in character. He draws a knife on her and demands her lover’s name. Before the horrified crowd, he stabs her. Fatally wounded, she cries for Silvio, whom Canio stabs as well. Tonio turns to the audience and announces, “The comedy has ended.” Courtesy of Houston Grand Opera. PAGLIACCI TIME AND PLACE | Postwar Italy