The tenor laments that he must "put on the costume" and "Laugh . . .
In this opera the audience is asked to consider actors' "souls since we are men of flesh and bone" and "rather than our poor costumes" in the prologue "Si Puo?" In "Stridono lassu," the soprano yearns for the freedom of birds, so she could pursue her romance with Silvio, and after his advances are driven off with a whip Tonio eavesdrops on a plan to elope. The tenor laments that he must "put on the costume" and "Laugh . . . though [his] love is broken" in the aria "Vesti la Giubba" before he appears in a play about Colombina's affair with Arlecchino. Nedda is stabbed by her husband Canio, at the end of, for 10 points, this opera titled after clowns, by Leoncavallo.
In this opera the audience is asked to consider actors' "souls since we are men of flesh and bone" and "rather than our poor costumes" in the prologue "Si Puo?
I Pagliacci [or The Clowns, early]