Leoncavallo

Leoncavallo: Life and Works is the first fully documented biography of the beloved and popular composer Ruggiero Leoncavallo (1857-1919), whose credits include Pagliacci and the operatic works Chatterton, Der Roland von Berlin, Zazà, Maïa, Zingari, La bohème, and the incomplete trilogy Crepusculum. Author Konrad Dryden has amassed material from hundreds of unpublished letters and photographs, creating the most complete portrait of the composer to date.
This book examines various facets of Leoncavallo's history: from his youth as the son of the Naples' judge who presided over the murder trial on which Pagliacci was based to his studies with the poet Giosuè Carducci, and from his sojourn in France as a café-chantant pianist to his appointment in Egypt as music instructor to the Khedive. Careful documentation and plot synopses of Leoncavallo's numerous works are provided and his two U.S. tours are discussed.
The biography also sheds new light on Leoncavallo's colleagues and contemporaries, including composers Mahler, Massenet, Puccini, Verdi, and Mascagni; singers Caruso, Ruffo, Tetrazzini, and Sanderson; and historical personalities like Toscanini, Hugo, Carducci, Wilhelm II, and Queen Victoria. A foreword by Plácido Domingo, a photo spread featuring more than 25 photos, and an appendix offering the complete list of the composer's opus add to the bibliography and index, making this the ultimate reference on this important figure in music and opera history.

Konrad Dryden is professor of music and German at the University of Maryland University College-Europe and the author of Leoncavallo: Life and Works (Scarecrow Press, 2007).

Part 1 Foreword by Plácido Domingo
Part 2 Foreword by Peira Leoncavallo
Part 3 Acknowledgments
Part 4 Archive Key
Part 5 Introduction
Part 6 Part 1: Biography
Chapter 7 1. 1857-1877
Chapter 8 2. 1878-1888
Chapter 9 3. 1889-1892
Chapter 10 4. 1893-1894
Chapter 11 5. 1895-1897
Chapter 12 6. 1898-1905
Chapter 13 7. 1906-1911
Chapter 14 8. 1912-1915
Chapter 15 9. 1916-1919
Part 16 Part 2: Works
Chapter 17 10. La nuit de mai
Chapter 18 11. Chatteron
Chapter 19 12. I Medici
Chapter 20 13. Pagliacci
Chapter 21 14. Séraphitus-Séraphita
Chapter 22 15. La bohème
Chapter 23 16. Zazà
Chapter 24 17. Der Roland von Berlin
Chapter 25 18. Maïa
Chapter 26 19. Malbruk
Chapter 27 20. Gli zingari
Chapter 28 21. Mimì Pinson
Chapter 29 22. La reginetta della rose
Chapter 30 23. Are You There?
Chapter 31 24. La candidata
Chapter 32 25. Mameli
Chapter 33 26. Prestami tua moglie
Chapter 34 27. A chi la giarrettiera?
Chapter 35 28. Edipo re
Chapter 36 29. Pierrot au cinéma
Chapter 37 30. La maschera nuda
Chapter 38 31. Il primo bacio
Part 39 Appendix: The Leoncavallo Opus
Part 40 Bibliography
Part 41 Index
Part 42 About the Author