I Pagliacci by Leoncavallo
Today my Dad introduced me to this opera. The story of a clown who, both on stage and in real life, is being cheated on by the woman he loves. Eventually he loses his temper and his reason and he kills her. A very short opera but very intense in terms of emotions.
I never liked clowns but this one definitely moved me. This one aria in the second act was amazing. He is angry and desperately heartbroken but since the show must go on, he forces himself to laugh, and hides himself under the make-up he wears. Here's the aria and the version I saw (lyrics with translation at the bottom):
Recitar! Mentre preso dal delirio, (To act! While out of my mind,)
non so più quel che dico (I no longer know what I say,)
e quel che faccio! (Nor what I do)
Eppur è d'uopo, sforzati! (And yet it's necessary... to make an effort!)
Bah! sei tu forse un uom? (Bah! Are you not a man?)
Tu se' Pagliaccio! (You're a clown)
Vesti la giubba, (Put on your costume)
e la faccia infarina. (Powder your face)
La gente paga, e rider vuole qua. (The people pay to be here and they want to laugh)
E se Arlecchin t'invola Colombina, (And if Harlequin shall steal your Columbine,)
ridi, Pagliaccio, e ognun applaudirà! (laugh, clown, so the crowd will cheer!)
Tramuta in lazzi lo spasmo ed il pianto (Turn your distress and tears into jest,)
in una smorfia il singhiozzo e 'l dolor, Ah! (your pain and sobbing into a funny face - Ah!)
Ridi, Pagliaccio, (Laugh, clown)
sul tuo amore infranto! (at your broken love)
Ridi del duol, che t'avvelena il cor! (Laugh at the grief that poisons your heart!)
(Pagliaccio means clown but it's also his name, by the way. So it's ironic in that sense...)
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