Ruggero Leoncavallo

Ruggiero Leoncavallo (March 8, 1857, Naples - August 9, 1919, Montecatini) was an Italian opera composer.

He was educated at the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella in Naples. After some years spent teaching and in ineffec

Ruggiero Leoncavallo (March 8, 1857, Naples - August 9, 1919, Montecatini) was an Italian opera composer.

He was educated at the Conservatorio San Pietro a Majella in Naples. After some years spent teaching and in ineffective attempts to obtain the production of more than one opera, he saw the enormous success of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana in 1890, and he wasted no time in producing his own verismo hit, Pagliacci. Pagliacci was performed in Milan in 1892 with immediate success; today it is the only work by Leoncavallo in the standard operatic repertory. Its most famous aria Vesti la giubba ("On with the motley") was recorded by Enrico Caruso and became the world's first record to sell 1 million copies.