Even with facial painting, a mask could not be forgotten in "I Pagliacci."

"If Verismo had Cavalleria Rusticana as their founder title, I Paglicci can be considered, without excess, your aesthetic manifesto. In the prologue before the opera two acts, the baritone who will play Tonio's character works as the author's representative, singing a text which summarizes the worries and priorities of the so called Giovane Scuola. At the end of the drama, Leoncavallo closes the circle when Tonio announces that 'la commedia è finita' ('the comedy is over') - although Enrico Caruso, when singing Canio's character, has appropriated the phrase making that in some productions the expression be sung by the tenor." (Perpetuo)