Opera in 3 acts
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, after Victor Hugo
World premiere March 11 1851, Teatro La Fenice, Venice
This production first seen March 19 2017
Sung in Italian with German & English surtitles
Introductory talks (in German) begin in the Holzfoyer 30 mins before curtain up, and available here shortly before opening night
Conductor Giuseppe Mentuccia / Simone Di Felice
Rigoletto Franco Vassallo / Daniel Luis De Vicente
Gilda Kseniia Proshina / Bianca Tognocchi
Duke of Mantua Martin Mitterrutzner / Abraham Bretón°
Sparafucile Kihwan Sim / Thomas Faulkner
Maddalena Katharina Magiera / Zanda Švēde
Giovanna Karolina Makuła
Monterone Erik Van Heyningen
Marullo Liviu Holender / Mikolaj Trąbka
Borsa Michael McCown
Count Ceprano Sakhiwe Mkosana°
Countess Ceprano Helene Feldbauer
°Member of the Opera Studio
The Duke of Mantua's court. Courtiers and the duke's hunchback jester Rigoletto amuse themselves playing nasty tricks and humiliating each other. The duke seduces and then drops women to pass the time, mocking their husbands. He hasn't yet concluded his latest adventure with a young woman. Every Sunday, for three months, he's watched her in church. With the help of Rigoletto's stinging tongue he humiliates Countess Ceprano in front of her husband. When Rigoletto suggests cuckolded Count Ceprano be executed, the mood suddenly turns against him. The courtiers demand revenge for Rigoletto's malice. Marullo reveals that the hunchback keeps a secret lover at home. Count Monterone interrups the festivities, demanding vengeance for his daughter, who the duke and his men dishonoured. When Rigoletto mocks the despairing father, Monterone curses the duke and his jester. Rigoletto can't get Monterone's curse out of his mind. Out on the street Sparafucile, a professional assassin and his sister Maddalena offer their services. Rigoletto sees his mirror image in the murderer: Sparafucile kills with a dagger, he with humiliating words. Rigoletto bemoans his fate and tries to justify his actions to himself. He comes home, where his daughter Gilda is locked away from the outside world with her governess Giovanna. Gilda means everything to her him. She grew up in a convent and only came to live with him three months ago. Gilda longs for life and freedom. Rigoletto avoids answering her questions about her dead mother and his name. Before going out again he orders Giovanna to guard his daughter carefully. The duke bribes Giovanna and, disguised as a poor student, Gualtier Maldé, forces his way into the room, proclaiming his love for her, which Gilda immediately returns. The duke's sent away when Giovanna hears footsteps. Gilda falls into a reverie about her beloved's name. The courtiers break into the house to steal Rigoletto's supposed lover. Rigoletto, blindfolded, takes part in the crime in the mistaken belief that they're abducting Countess Ceprano. Too late, he realises that he helped steal his own daughter. Interval - Act 2 The duke is desolate that his beloved seems to have been stolen from him. When coutiers report that she was carried away by his men and brought to court, he hurries to her. Rigoletto's looking for his daughter, mocked by the courtiers. When it transpires that she's with the duke, he demands that she be returned to him. He's beside himself with rage, then pleads with the courtiers. Gilda appears and admits to her father that she loves the duke. Rigoletto sees his daughter disgraced and his life destroyed. In another towering rage, he sees Monterone's ghost. Rigoletto swears bloody vengeance and intends to leave the city with Gilda, forever. Act 3 Gilda still loves the duke, in spite of everything. Rigoletto tries to show her his true character, making her look on as her beloved, disguised as a soldier, amuses himself with Maddalena. Rigoletto tells his daughter to leave the city, dressed as a man, and hires Sparafucile to kill the duke. Thunder clouds gather. Gilda has secretly come back and overhears Maddalena and Sparafucile arguing about murdering the duke. Maddalena feels sorry for him and persuades her brother to kill the first person who knocks on the door before midnight instead. Gilda enters, sacrificing her life for the duke's. Rigoletto comes to collect the body bag. He's about to dispose of it in triumph when he hears the duke's voice. He opens the sack, and finds his dying daughter.
Court jester Rigoletto, his daughter Gilda and his master, the Duke of Mantua, inhabit a gloomy world: Protagonists in a story about wounded souls, trying to avoid a tragic end. Rigoletto humiliates people, winding them up against each other and keeping his daughter prisoner in an artificial world. It only took Gilda and the Duke exchanging one glance, to make her guess what love could be. She identifies herself with deceptive freedom and sacrifices her life to save the Duke’s. Based on works by Victor Hugo and dark romantic romanticism, Verdi composed an unbelievably tight, revolutionary score. Director Hendrik Müller didn’t shy away from strong visual and harsh effects in his production, without losing sight of the title figure’s tragic self-destruction.
