LEONCAVALLO JOKE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 852, 25 June 1910, Page 12

LEONCAVALLO JOKE.

GREAT COMPOSER'S EXPERIENCES! WITH A REPORTER. Signor Leoncavallo, who is recovering from a dangerous illness, recounts an amusing experience, says the Milan correspondent of the "Daily Chronicle," that befell him some time ago in Manchester Theatre, • where he occupied a stall one evening to hear the performance of, his'Pagliacci. . At the finale a stranger sitting next him kept exclaiming enthusiastically, ".What a masterpiece! What a perfect masterpiece 1" Leoncavallo, imagining himself utterly unknown in the audience, thought it' would be fine fun to play the critic of his own work, so chimed,in ironically: "A masterpiece? I don't in the least agree with, you, sir. I'm a musician myself, so know what I'm talking about. The fact is, this opera is a worthless production, and brimful of imitations and plagiarisms. For instance, that cavatina is filched bodily, from Berlioz, the duet in the first act is all Gounod, while the finale, is a' sorry copy of one you will find in. Verdi."

Next, morning Leoncavallo drove to the railway station and bought the( leading local journal. On .comfortably' seating himself in the train he opened it, and was aghast with astonishment at encountering the following headlines:—"Signor .Leoncavallo's opinion on Pagliacci. Declaration .of plagiarism. Confession of a composer bereft of all originality." The great Italian master adds: "Evidently my neighbour was a journalist who had dogged me, but to this day I have cold shivers everj time I recall the incident."