Answer

Pagliacci

1. Composer Information

The composer of Pagliacci was Ruggero Leoncavallo. Leoncavallo was an opera composer and librettist of Italian nationality. Born in 1857, Leoncavallo had several operas composed to his name, leaving a revolutionary and lasting influence on opera performance to date. His most known work by far was the opera Pagliacci (1892).
b) Genre name and its Definition

Pagliacci belongs to the opera genre. An opera is a genre of classical music that is often composed as a dramatic piece in one or more acts, with particular set music for both singers and instrumentalists.
c) Description

In Pagliacci, the instrumentation is pretty unique. It is marked throughout by the sound of various musical instruments including oboes, bassoons, trumpets, harps, trombones, percussion, violin and the bass drum (InnorecordsCM, 2012). The harmonious playing of the instruments, coupled with their infusion into the tale and mood of the opera, combine to give this opera its unique identity. As the opera opens, the audience is understood to be quite taken in by the comic aspects of the set. They are soon invited into the real world of the opera. In it, one hears the founding sounds of recorded opera, neither smooth nor of the finer finish but accomplished all the same.
d) Analysis

The story in Pagliacci is about a comic, but also tragic entangled tale of Canio and his beloved intended, Nedda. Seeking to satisfy his unrequited love tale with Nedda, Canio eventually commits murder, killing Silvio and Nedda too in the process. All these give way to the famous celebrated final line—“The Comedy if finished!” (InnorecordsCM, 2012)
e) Opinion

I greatly admire the attempts by the opera to infuse real life instances to the life of the opera itself. In the opening of the Pagliacci, the audience is forewarned that the actors who are to perform are also not devoid of feelings, and that the show is itself a demonstration of what happened to real people. The infusion of the narrative into the opera music is seamlessly done, and at no point does one feel that one overtakes the other. They are not competing; they are complementary.