Even people unfamiliar with opera have heard these famous lines:

“Ridi, Pagliaccio,
sul tuo amore infranto!
Ridi del duol, che t’avvelena il cor!”

And they hear an operatic voice in perfect pitch singing these words in declamation. They can tell the singer is portraying someone in deep pain. They may have heard the phrase “Laugh, Pagliacci, laugh.” And they probably know Pagliacci is a professional clown.

But till today I, an almost total opera ignoramus, did not know the meaning of these three lines, nor what exactly made Pagliacci suffer so. Here is the translation:

Laugh, Pagliacci,
your love is broken!
Laugh at the pain that poisons your heart!

Pagliacci, the Clown, has just discovered that his wife has been unfaithful to him.

Even in the 21st Century, well after the Sexual Revolution and in the midst (or so I perceive) of a new, liberating attitude toward polyamorous relationships, the notion that a significant other having sex outside the relationship evokes words like “cheating” and “unfaithful.”

Long ago, and more than once, I felt that pain that poisoned my heart. Though I’ve become more philosophical about it now, those episodes still twist my face. One of my flaws is that I can only let go so much.

However, how I got to thinking about this, and how I came to draw Franco Corelli, is a bit comical. A Facebook friend of mine published a picture of a cat with its mouth as wide open as that of a striking rattlesnake. I saw that cat and in two split seconds thought “Operatic!” and “Pagliacci!” So I did a little digging in order to make a comment that was, verbatim, the famous Pagliacci lines. And one source provided YouTube links to performances by Pavarotti and by Franco Corelli–and to my untrained, ignorant ear, Corelli’s voice was purer and more expressive. And he was a handsome dude, back in the day, so I did the sketch above.

I’m not going to laugh about The Pain that Poisons My Heart. I think it’s healthier to write about it. Hey–I just did!! 🙂