[Enrico Caruso, 1873-1921, dressed as clown, beating bass drum, in Pagliaci"]" – Historic Print
![[Enrico Caruso, 1873-1921, dressed as clown, beating bass drum, in Pagliaci"]" — historic photograph](https://images.jameslantos.com/img/55/55a85cd20540-L.webp)
(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)
Description
This rare historic photograph captures [Enrico Caruso, 1873-1921, dressed as clown, beating bass drum, in Pagliaci"]" in remarkable detail. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.
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[Enrico Caruso, 1873-1921, dressed as clown, beating bass drum, in Pagliaci"]"
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Here the tenor Enrico Caruso appears in clown costume, beating a bass drum, in a scene from Ruggero Leoncavallo's opera *Pagliacci*. The opera, which premiered in Milan in 1892, tells of a traveling commedia dell'arte troupe whose lead performer, Canio, is a clown both on stage and off. Caruso became famous for the role of Canio, and his stage presence and recordings helped make the opera a staple of the repertoire. The caption card gives no date, so the photograph's exact year is unknown, but the image shows how far the singer was willing to play the comic side of a character better known for its tragedy.
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
|---|---|
| Notes | [no date recorded on caption card] |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,162 × 1,536 px · prints to 4 × 5 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-136641 |
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