LEONCAVALLO, Ruggiero
b Naples, 8 March 1858
d Montecatani, 9 August 1919, aged sixty-one

His father was a judge, on one of whose cases the libretto of I Pagliacci was based. He studied at the Naples Conservatory, leaving at the age of eighteen with the diploma of maestro. He lived by teaching singing and piano, and accompanying soloists in cafe concerts in France, Holland, Germany, England and Cairo. His later operas achieved only moderate success.

1892 (34)

I Pagliacci, opera

1894 (36)

Serahta, symphonic poem

1897 (39)

La Boheme, opera (this failed whereas Puccini's on the same subject succeeded)

1900 (42)

Zaza, opera