Ruggero Leoncavallo, Italian opera composer and librettist, 1857-1919

Leoncavallo studied literature under famed Italian poet Giosuè Carduccithe at the University of Bologna. Increasingly inspired by the French romantics, particularly Alfred de Musset, he began work on a symphonic poem based on Musset's poetry entitled "La nuit de mai". Although Leoncavallo produced numerous operas and other songs (e. g. "Mattinata", popularized by Enrico Caruso) throughout his career it is his opera "Pagliacci" (1892) that remained his lasting contribution, despite attempts to escape the shadow of his greatest success. One of the most popular works in the repertory, it appears as number 20 on the Operabase list of the most-performed operas worldwide in the 2013/14 season.