Pagliacci

🎭 Opera "Pagliacci" — Synopsis (in English)

Conductor – Javanshir Jafarov, People’s Artist, Professor
Stage Director – Jannat Salimova, People’s Artist, Professor
Director – Hafiz Guliyev, Honored Art Worker
Set Designer – Tahir Tahirov, People’s Artist
Chorus Master – Sevil Hajiyeva, Honored Art Worker

Cast:

Canio – Adil Akhundov
Nedda – Fatima Jafarzade
Tonio – Anton Ferstandt, Honored Artist
Silvio – Rza Khosrovzade
Beppe – Fehmin Ahmadli
Villagers – Tural Aghasiyev, Honored Artist; Khalid Dashdemir

Prologue

Tonio steps onto the stage dressed as a clown and addresses the audience. He explains that the suffering and sorrow they are about to witness are not fiction — they are real emotions. After all, actors, too, are human: they love and hate, and behind the clown's mask beats a passionate heart.

Act I

A traveling troupe of actors arrives in a small Italian village. The villagers welcome them warmly and invite them to a tavern before the performance. Canio and Beppe gladly accept and invite Tonio to join them. However, Tonio, still bitter over a past insult from Canio, declines and harbors resentment.

Canio’s jealousy is not without reason — his wife Nedda is in love with a local villager named Silvio. Alone, Nedda longs to see her beloved.

Tonio, secretly watching her, declares his love, but Nedda mocks him cruelly. Humiliated, Tonio leaves, vowing revenge.

Silvio soon arrives and begs Nedda to leave her wandering life behind and run away with him. Suddenly, Canio’s furious voice is heard — Tonio has betrayed Nedda by revealing the affair. Silvio escapes just in time. Canio demands the name of Nedda’s lover, but she remains silent. He lunges at her with a knife, but Beppe intervenes. Tonio calms Canio, insisting the man will surely reveal himself during the evening’s play.

Act II

Night falls. The play begins. On stage, fiction and reality intertwine. Taddeo (Tonio) is in love with Columbina (Nedda), but she prefers Harlequin (Beppe). Her farewell words to Harlequin echo those she once said to Silvio, striking a nerve in Canio.

Overcome with jealousy and emotion, Canio loses control. In front of the audience, he stabs Nedda to death. As she cries out, Silvio rushes to the stage — and is also fatally stabbed.

In horror, Tonio cries out:
“The comedy is over!”