' The story begins
with the arrival of a troupe of travelling comedians, or _Pagliacci_, in
an Italian village. All is not harmony in the little company. Tonio (the
Taddeo, or clown) loves Nedda (Columbine), the wife of Canio
(Pagliaccio), but she already has a lover in the shape of Silvio, a
young villager, and rejects the clumsy advances of the other with scorn.
Tonio overhears the mutual vows of Nedda and her lover, and bent upon
vengeance, hurries off to bring the unsuspecting Canio upon the scene.
He only arrives in time to see the disappearance of Silvio, and cannot
terrify his wife into disclosing her lover's name, though he is only
just prevented by Beppe, the Harlequin of the troupe, from stabbing her
on the spot. The second act is on the evening of the same day, a few
hours later. The curtain of the rustic theatre goes up and the little
play begins. By a curious coincidence the scheme of the plot represents
something like the real situation of the actors. Columbine is
entertaining her lover Harlequin in the absence of her husband
Pagliaccio, while Taddeo keeps a look-out for his return. When he
returns we see that the mimic comedy is to develop into real tragedy.
Canio scarcely makes a pretence of keeping to his role of Pagliaccio.
Mad with jealousy, he rushes on his wife and tries to make her confess
the name of her lover. She refuses, and in the end he stabs her, while
Silvio, who has formed one of the rustic audience, leaps on to the stage
only to receive his death-blow as well.
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