<P> `` Send In the Clowns '' is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music , an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman 's film Smiles of a Summer Night . It is a ballad from Act Two , in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life . Among other things , she looks back on an affair years earlier with the lawyer Fredrik , who was deeply in love with her but whose marriage proposals she had rejected . Meeting him after so long , she realizes she is in love with him and finally ready to marry him , but now it is he who rejects her : he is in an unconsummated marriage with a much younger woman . Desirée proposes marriage to rescue him from this situation , but he declines , citing his dedication to his bride . Reacting to his rejection , Desirée sings this song . The song is later reprised as a coda after Fredrik 's young wife runs away with his son , and Fredrik is finally free to accept Desirée 's offer . </P>
<P> `` Send In the Clowns '' is a song written by Stephen Sondheim for the 1973 musical A Little Night Music , an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman 's film Smiles of a Summer Night . It is a ballad from Act Two , in which the character Desirée reflects on the ironies and disappointments of her life . Among other things , she looks back on an affair years earlier with the lawyer Fredrik , who was deeply in love with her but whose marriage proposals she had rejected . Meeting him after so long , she realizes she is in love with him and finally ready to marry him , but now it is he who rejects her : he is in an unconsummated marriage with a much younger woman . Desirée proposes marriage to rescue him from this situation , but he declines , citing his dedication to his bride . Reacting to his rejection , Desirée sings this song . The song is later reprised as a coda after Fredrik 's young wife runs away with his son , and Fredrik is finally free to accept Desirée 's offer . </P>
who sings send in the clowns in a little night music
who sings send in the clowns in a little night music
the character Desirée
the character Desirée