Veronesi began recording operas for Deutsche Grammophon in 2006 working with Plácido Domingo in rarer verismo repertoire such as Puccini’s Edgar and rare Puccini arias and duets, Leoncavallo’s I Medici and La Nuit de mai, and Giordano’s Fedora.
She notably portrayed the title roles in the United States premieres of two operas with the company: Camille Saint-Saëns' Déjanire (1915) and Leoncavallo's Zazà (1916).
Ancona also undertook roles composed by Leoncavallo (Silvio and Tonio), Puccini (Lescaut and Marcello), Mascagni (Alfio and David in L'amico Fritz), Giordano (Gerard in Andrea Chénier), Mozart (Don Giovanni and Figaro) and Wagner (Wolfram, Telramund and even, on occasion, Hans Sachs).
Subsequent operas by Leoncavallo were in the 1900s: Zazà (the opera of Geraldine Farrar's famous farewell performance at the Metropolitan Opera), and 1904's Der Roland von Berlin.
The melody was adapted from the music of Leoncavallo's opera, "I Pagliacci".
Though credited to Pat Genaro and Sunny Skylar, (With acknowledgements to the owners of the copyright in "Tis the Day") the song is just an American version of the famous Italian song 'Mattinata' written by Ruggero Leoncavallo in the beginning of 20th century.