Zingari

Zingari
Opera by Ruggero Leoncavallo
Aroldo Bonzagni
Cover of the piano/vocal score
published by Sonzogno, 1912
Librettist
  • Enrico Cavacchioli
  • Guglielmo Emanuel
Premiere
16 September 1912 (1912-09-16)

Zingari (Gypsies), also known as Gli Zingari, is an opera in two acts by Ruggero Leoncavallo. The libretto by Enrico Cavacchioli and Guglielmo Emanuel is based on The Gypsies, an 1827 narrative poem by Alexander Pushkin. The opera premiered on 16 September 1912 at the Hippodrome Theatre in London. The United States premiere of the opera was staged by the Chicago Grand Opera Company in 1913 with soprano Carolina White as Fleana.

Despite the opera's present obscurity, its incredibly long run in London in 1912/3 and performances in the United States in 1913 make it Leoncavallo's most performed opera after Pagliacci, surpassing the performances of his more widely known Zazà and La bohème. Although Edigio Cunego, who created the role of Radu and appeared in hundreds of performances of Zingari in London (sometimes twice a day), recorded much from Leoncavallo's operas, he did not record any excerpts from Zingari.