The opera tells the tale of Canio, actor and leader of a commedia dell'arte theatrical company, who murders his wife Nedda and her lover Silvio on stage during a performance.

Pagliacci premiered at the Teatro Dal Verme in Milan on 21 May 1892, conducted by Arturo Toscanini, with Adelina Stehle as Nedda, Fiorello Giraud as Canio, Victor Maurel as Tonio, and Mario Ancona as Silvio.

The incident stemmed from a series of perceived romantic entanglements involving Scavello, Luigi D'Alessandro, and a village girl with whom both men were infatuated.

Scholar Matteo Sansone has suggested that Leoncavallo had ample opportunity to be exposed to new French art and musical works while living in Paris from 1882 to 1888, including potentially Mendès's play, another version of La femme de Tabarin by Paul Ferrier, and Tabarin, an opera composed by Émile Pessard that was based on Ferrier's play.

Anyhow I thought the matter over and hit upon the idea that a prologue, sung before the curtain by one of the humblest characters, would prove something of a novelty and by no means out of place.

My baritone was delighted, both with the notion and the result, and I am bound to add that it proved one of the most striking features of the opera when I brought it out at the Dal Verme, Milan, just a year ago.

[8] In an Australian newspaper article in December 1893, the baritone Guigliemo Caruson, who had already sung the part in Genoa earlier that year[9] said that "whilst rehearsing under Signor Leoncavallo's immediate direction, the composer gave his consent to the interpolation remarking that it was very effective, but that he would not add it to the score as he did not wish to force the note upon voices it did not suit.

The UK premiere of Pagliacci took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, under the management of Sir Augustus Harris in London on 19 May 1893, supervised by the composer.

Nellie Melba sang Nedda, with Fernando de Lucia as Canio and Mario Ancona as Tonio, M. Bonnard (Beppe) and Richard Green (Silvio).

[7] The US premiere followed a month later at the Grand Opera House in New York on 15 June 1893, conducted by Gustav Hinrichs, with Selma Kronold (Nedda), American tenor Agostino Montegriffo (Canio), and Giuseppe Campanari (Tonio).

[12][13] The 'old' Metropolitan Opera House first staged the work on 11 December as a double-bill with Orfeo ed Euridice, with the same cast as the London premiere with Melba in the role of Nedda, De Lucia as Canio, and Ancona as Tonio.

[14][15] The Met again staged Pagliacci as a double-bill with the same cast and conductor, this time followed by Cavalleria rusticana on 22 December 1893 with Emma Calvé as Santuzza, conducted by Enrico Bevignani.

The Belgian premiere (in a French translation) took place on 14 February 1895 (St. Valentine's day) at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels, with Cecile Simonnet as Nedda, conducted by Philippe Flon.

[20] During the orchestral introduction, Tonio, dressed as his commedia dell'arte character Taddeo, pokes his head through the curtain, advances, and addresses the audience.

Canio warns everyone that while he may act the foolish husband in the play, in real life he will not tolerate other men making advances to Nedda.

Nedda is frightened by Canio's vehemence ("Qual fiamma avea nel guardo"), but the birdsong comforts her ("Stridono lassù").

Wright says that Tonio shows more deliberate control in his manipulation of the other characters in order to obtain his revenge upon Nedda, after she has rejected him, and is more aware of the demarcation between life and art.

By contrast, Canio is unaware of the behind-the-scenes manipulations and surrenders control of his perception of the difference between life and art as the opera proceeds.

Several exceptions, where Tonio delivers the final line, include: The orchestra consists of 2 flutes, 1 piccolo, 2 oboes, 1 cor anglais, 2 clarinets, 1 bass clarinet, 3 bassoons, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 2 harps, timpani, tubular bells, percussion (triangle, cymbals, bass drum, glockenspiel, and tam-tam[35]) and strings.

[36] In 1907, Pagliacci was the first opera to be recorded in its entirety, with the Puerto Rican tenor Antonio Paoli as Canio and under Leoncavallo's personal supervision.

[citation needed] Franco Zeffirelli directed his 1981 La Scala production with Plácido Domingo and Teresa Stratas for a 1982 television airing,[37] which has since been released on DVD.

[38] In 1991, Kent State University student Michael Mould began translating Pagliacci into English for a comics adaptation, but died on USAir Flight 405 before he could complete it.

Marc Andreyko finished Mould's translation as The Clowns, a one-shot written by P. Craig Russell and illustrated by Galen Showman.