0:00:24 > 0:00:28Good evening from Covent Garden in London, where tonight
0:00:28 > 0:00:29our music director, Antonio Pappano,
0:00:29 > 0:00:31leads a star-studded cast
0:00:31 > 0:00:34in two great works from the end of the 19th century,
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci.
0:00:38 > 0:00:40They're by two different composers,
0:00:40 > 0:00:43but both deal with the complicated lives of ordinary people.
0:00:43 > 0:00:48First up is Cavalleria Rusticana, rustic chivalry.
0:00:48 > 0:00:53Pietro Mascagni's lush score from 1889 captures the heated passions
0:00:53 > 0:00:57and violent tragedies of small-town Italian life.
0:00:57 > 0:01:01Drama and music come together like never before in this Olivier
0:01:01 > 0:01:05award-winning production by director Damiano Michieletto
0:01:05 > 0:01:07conducted by Antonio Pappano.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11Let's hear what they had to say during rehearsals.
0:01:14 > 0:01:20What I like about this style of composition is it is really direct.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28It's hard-hitting, red-blooded musicality and vocality.
0:01:28 > 0:01:33It's not intellectual. It's not symbolic.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37It's readable and understandable.
0:01:37 > 0:01:40It's really popular in a good way.
0:01:40 > 0:01:46They went away from writing operas about princesses and kings to
0:01:46 > 0:01:49normal people with normal lives
0:01:49 > 0:01:52and big emotions that we can really relate to.
0:01:52 > 0:01:54I think that's what they call "verismo".
0:01:54 > 0:02:01Cavalleria Rusticana is considered probably the first verismo opera.
0:02:02 > 0:02:07Verismo. Il vero. This is what is the truth.
0:02:08 > 0:02:10In the opening of Cavalleria,
0:02:10 > 0:02:14we have the community gathering together to celebrate Easter.
0:02:14 > 0:02:18THEY SING: EASTER HYMN
0:02:18 > 0:02:23With this religious backdrop which is so powerful, so strong,
0:02:23 > 0:02:27so part of that community, you see Santuzza,
0:02:27 > 0:02:32one of the main characters, who's excommunicated for her affair
0:02:32 > 0:02:36with Turridu singing with them but isolated from the community.
0:02:36 > 0:02:39It's terribly cruel.
0:02:41 > 0:02:45Santuzza is a girl in distress.
0:02:45 > 0:02:47SHE SINGS
0:02:47 > 0:02:51'She's not doing so well.'
0:02:51 > 0:02:54She's madly in love with Turiddu, but Turiddu actually is not
0:02:54 > 0:02:56so much in love with her.
0:02:56 > 0:02:59He was in love with Lola, went to the army,
0:02:59 > 0:03:02came back and Lola had married somebody else.
0:03:02 > 0:03:06He turns to Santuzza who gets, you know, involved with him
0:03:06 > 0:03:09and is probably pregnant,
0:03:09 > 0:03:13but he doesn't really want to have anything to do with her.
0:03:13 > 0:03:16She turns to the mother of Turiddu, saying, "Where is he?
0:03:16 > 0:03:19"I want to know where he is, I'm desperate."
0:03:19 > 0:03:21"I'm begging you."
0:03:21 > 0:03:25'This moment between the two ladies is
0:03:25 > 0:03:29interrupted by the arrival of a very funny guy called Alfio.'
0:03:29 > 0:03:35# Il calvallo scalpita i sonagli quillano... #
0:03:35 > 0:03:36'He's a well-to-do merchant.'
0:03:36 > 0:03:42He arrives from one of his travels where he sells any kinds of goods.
0:03:42 > 0:03:46Maybe even not the best quality ones but he obviously does very well.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48He's very well-off
0:03:48 > 0:03:52and he's married to the most beautiful girl in the village, Lola.
0:03:52 > 0:03:54In the end we find out he is betrayed.
0:03:54 > 0:03:56SINGING
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Santuzza's so jealous, Just this wave of rage.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06She goes to Lola's husband and tells him what's been going on,
0:04:06 > 0:04:09which is of course the biggest mistake of her life...
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Because he is somebody who will not take this lightly
0:04:15 > 0:04:17and he will have his revenge.
0:04:22 > 0:04:26It can happen with your neighbours, with somebody from your family,
0:04:26 > 0:04:30it can happen today, yes, because it's true.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34# Vi sapro in core il ferro mio... #
0:04:34 > 0:04:37That's the wonderful thing, it's a slice of life.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39And when people are unhappy
0:04:39 > 0:04:42and harsh with each other, disasters happen.
0:04:42 > 0:04:44TWO SHOTS RING OUT
0:04:46 > 0:04:50The stage is set for the heady mix of love, sex and revenge.
0:04:50 > 0:04:55The hallmarks of verismo in Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana.
0:04:59 > 0:05:02APPLAUSE
0:05:27 > 0:05:29ORCHESTRA BEGINS TO PLAY
0:08:04 > 0:08:08TURIDDU SINGS OFFSTAGE IN ITALIAN
0:09:32 > 0:09:35SINGING CONTINUES
0:10:04 > 0:10:07DRAMATIC FLOURISH FROM ORCHESTRA
0:11:53 > 0:11:56SHE SOBS
0:12:25 > 0:12:28SOBBING CONTINUES
0:13:11 > 0:13:13CHURCH BELLS CHIME
0:13:17 > 0:13:20ORCHESTRA MERGES WITH CHURCH BELLS
0:14:32 > 0:14:35WOMEN'S CHORUS: # Ah. #
0:14:44 > 0:14:47MEN'S CHORUS: # Ah. #
0:25:35 > 0:25:38THEY GASP
0:27:06 > 0:27:09APPLAUSE
0:57:13 > 0:57:17APPLAUSE
1:00:48 > 1:00:52BELL CHIMES
1:15:20 > 1:15:22GUNSHOTS
1:16:08 > 1:16:09APPLAUSE
1:16:24 > 1:16:25WHISTLING
1:18:17 > 1:18:21Cavalleria Rusticana live from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden,
1:18:21 > 1:18:24conducted by Antonio Pappano.
1:18:25 > 1:18:28Well, there's plenty of musical highlights still to come tonight
1:18:28 > 1:18:33in our second opera of the evening, Ruggero Leoncavallo's Pagliacci.
1:18:33 > 1:18:35Leoncavallo was hugely influenced by the music
1:18:35 > 1:18:37and the drama of Cavalleria.
1:18:37 > 1:18:40Pagliacci shares its central premise of a love triangle
1:18:40 > 1:18:41set in a small town,
1:18:41 > 1:18:44but Leoncavallo really ramps up the theatrical volume
1:18:44 > 1:18:48by layering a play within a play, with a prologue that reminds us
1:18:48 > 1:18:52we are ourselves watching the action unfold on a stage.
1:18:52 > 1:18:55Let's find out more from the cast, conductor and director.
1:18:59 > 1:19:01Mascagni's music is raw...
1:19:02 > 1:19:03..dark...
1:19:05 > 1:19:07..like a very, very strong red wine...
1:19:10 > 1:19:13..whereas Leoncavallo, his music has those elements,
1:19:13 > 1:19:17but it scintillates, it shines, it has sparks.
1:19:23 > 1:19:26Pagliacci opens in a very particular way.
1:19:26 > 1:19:30We have a prologue, and the prologue is basically saying to the audience
1:19:30 > 1:19:35that you should take theatre as something real.
1:19:40 > 1:19:43I try to explain to the people, like the aria says,
1:19:43 > 1:19:44of what's going to happen
1:19:44 > 1:19:48and then try to tell them that it has to do with normal people.
1:19:48 > 1:19:50That's why they call it verismo.
1:19:54 > 1:19:59It's something that can really touch you and tells about our life,
1:19:59 > 1:20:00the life that we share -
1:20:00 > 1:20:03we onstage and you there sitting in the theatre.
1:20:09 > 1:20:12And then we meet other characters which are the villagers
1:20:12 > 1:20:14of this little, little village
1:20:14 > 1:20:19and they are coming to this church hall to attend a show
1:20:19 > 1:20:24and we meet Canio, which is the leader of the company and
1:20:24 > 1:20:29we meet Nedda, who is his lover and also another actress of the company.
1:20:34 > 1:20:38She doesn't love him and probably she never loved him.
1:20:40 > 1:20:43She had this dream to become, you know, a famous actress.
1:20:44 > 1:20:46She was with him just because...
1:20:46 > 1:20:50trying to get the success, which never came.
1:20:54 > 1:20:58I found you on the street like actually already dead,
1:20:58 > 1:21:02but you were hungry, I gave you my name, honest name,
1:21:02 > 1:21:03I gave you love...
1:21:04 > 1:21:10..like, it was like, er, fever, hot, and what you do with me?
1:21:10 > 1:21:12I never felt that you loved me.
1:21:14 > 1:21:19From the beginning, we understand that he's on the verge of a crisis
1:21:19 > 1:21:22because he's already filled up with tension
1:21:22 > 1:21:28and she has a lover, which is Silvio, a young man of the village.
1:21:32 > 1:21:37Silvio, he's like, you know, the dream that she wants.
1:21:37 > 1:21:43You know, she found this sensible, sensitive man
1:21:43 > 1:21:46who really wants to take care of her
1:21:46 > 1:21:50and I think they really are in love, really.
1:21:54 > 1:21:57But she's so scared of Canio.
1:21:57 > 1:22:03He's jealous, not because he's really in love with her,
1:22:03 > 1:22:08because it's the pride, you know, the male pride.
1:22:09 > 1:22:11She's his property.
1:22:14 > 1:22:17Tonio is another member of the cast and, let's say,
1:22:17 > 1:22:22he's the real bad character of Pagliacci.
1:22:22 > 1:22:25He's in love with her, with Nedda,
1:22:25 > 1:22:29because I think he finds her extremely attractive,
1:22:29 > 1:22:31but in a sexual way.
1:22:35 > 1:22:38He's so obsessed with her that he turns really bad
1:22:38 > 1:22:41because she doesn't want to see him
1:22:41 > 1:22:44because how could he approach her, I mean, like he is?
1:22:44 > 1:22:48I mean, with his looks and with his...with his ways.
1:22:48 > 1:22:52Well, yeah, he becomes very nasty and then we start the real drama
1:22:52 > 1:22:58because, little by little, he has to make the husband Canio explode.
1:23:02 > 1:23:04And then we have the second part of the story
1:23:04 > 1:23:07which is this sort of play in a play.
1:23:07 > 1:23:11Onstage they are playing Pagliacci, the comedy,
1:23:11 > 1:23:13and the story mixes with the real life
1:23:13 > 1:23:17and that will bring to a very tragic conclusion.
1:23:17 > 1:23:19This is the sophistication of Leoncavallo.
1:23:19 > 1:23:23He's always playing with chiaroscuro, with light and dark,
1:23:23 > 1:23:28and this Shakespearean idea of comedy and tragedy is, um...
1:23:28 > 1:23:31The greater the comedy, the bigger the tragedy.
1:23:33 > 1:23:38It's just genius - the play in the play, the plot in the plot.
1:23:41 > 1:23:44It's a rule of show business that if the funny bits,
1:23:44 > 1:23:49the light bits, hit home, then the tragedy hits even harder.
1:23:49 > 1:23:52I think that is essential in verismo.
1:23:56 > 1:23:59Damiano Michieletto has set Pagliacci
1:23:59 > 1:24:02on the same day as Cavalleria Rusticana.
1:24:02 > 1:24:05After the drama of Turiddu's death, the people of the town
1:24:05 > 1:24:08are looking forward to an evening of entertainment
1:24:08 > 1:24:10from a travelling theatre troupe,
1:24:10 > 1:24:13starring the great Canio as the clown Pagliaccio.
1:24:17 > 1:24:18APPLAUSE
1:31:47 > 1:31:48APPLAUSE
1:36:41 > 1:36:42GUNSHOT
1:41:53 > 1:41:54BELL CHIMES
1:49:03 > 1:49:04APPLAUSE
1:51:03 > 1:51:04SHE LAUGHS IRONICALLY
1:53:34 > 1:53:36SHE CRIES
1:53:36 > 1:53:37Nedda!
2:05:09 > 2:05:10TONIO LAUGHS
2:08:43 > 2:08:44DRUM BANGS
2:09:10 > 2:09:12HE LAUGHS IRONICALLY
2:11:03 > 2:11:04HE CRIES
2:12:04 > 2:12:05APPLAUSE
2:13:18 > 2:13:19SANTUZZA CRIES
2:20:20 > 2:20:21WOLF-WHISTLING
2:21:17 > 2:21:18Ah!
2:21:19 > 2:21:20LAUGHTER
2:23:05 > 2:23:06APPLAUSE
2:27:05 > 2:27:06LAUGHTER
2:30:21 > 2:30:22Ah-ha-ha-ha!
2:30:22 > 2:30:23LAUGHTER
2:30:45 > 2:30:46LAUGHTER
2:37:14 > 2:37:15APPLAUSE
2:37:38 > 2:37:39WHISTLING