Verdi's "Rigoletto" - a new Wichita Grand Opera production - Wichita Grand Opera ACT I. Scene 1: Ballroom of the Duke's Palace At his palace, the Duke of Mantua light-heartedly boasts to his courtiers of amorous conquests, escorting Countess Ceprano, his latest prize, to a private chamber as his hunchback jester, Rigoletto, makes fun of her husband. Marullo announces that Rigoletto is suspected of keeping a mistress and Ceprano plots with the courtiers to punish the hated buffoon. Attention is diverted when Monterone, an elderly nobleman, enters to denounce the Duke for seducing his daughter. Ridiculed by Rigoletto and placed under arrest, Monterone pronounces a curse on both the Duke and his jester. ACT I. Scene 2: Rigoletto's home That evening, Rigoletto broods on Monterone’s curse. Rejecting the services of Sparafucile, a professional assassin, he notes that words can be as deadly as a dagger.

Greeted by his daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps hidden from the world, he reminisces about his late wife, then warns the governess, Giovanna, to admit no one. As Rigoletto leaves, the Duke slips into the garden, tossing a purse to Giovanna to keep her quiet. The nobleman declares his love to Gilda, who he noticed on her way to church. He tells her he is a poor student named Gualtier Malde, but at the sound of footsteps he rushes away. Tenderly repeating his name, Gilda retires. Meanwhile, the courtiers stop Rigoletto outside his house and asks him to help abduct Ceprano’s wife, who lives across the way. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall. The courtiers break into his home and carry off Gilda. Rigoletto, hearing her cry for help, tears off his blindfold and rushes into the house, discovering only her scarf. He remembers Monterone’s curse. ACT II. The Duke's private rooms In his palace, the Duke is distraught over the disappearance of Gilda.

His courtiers return with news that they have abducted Gilda and that she is now in his bedchamber; the Duke joyfully rushes off to the conquest. Soon Rigoletto enters, warily looking for Gilda; the courtiers bar his way, though they are astonished to learn the girl is not his mistress but his daughter. The jester reviles them, then embraces the disheveled Gilda as she runs to tell of her courtship and abduction. As Monterone is led to the dungeon, Rigoletto vows to avenge them both. ACT III. Sparafucile's inn near the river At night, outside Sparafucile’s run-down inn on the outskirts of town, Rigoletto and Gilda watch as the Duke flirts with the assassin’s sister and accomplice, Maddalena. Rigoletto sends his daughter off to disguise herself as a boy for her escape to Verona, then pays Sparafucile to murder the Duke. As a storm rages, Gilda returns to hear Maddalena persuade her brother to kill not the Duke, but the next visitor to the inn instead.

Resolving to sacrifice herself for the Duke, despite his betrayal, Gilda enters the inn and is stabbed. Rigoletto comes back to claim the body and gloats over the sack Sparafucile gives him, only to hear his supposed victim singing in the distance. Frantically cutting open the sack, he finds Gilda, who dies asking forgiveness. Monterone’s curse is fulfilled. To read more about the story and history of Rigoletto, click here. It is said that Verdi was enraptured by the sound of the church organ, and to encourage his interest, his father bought him a beat-up old spinnet when the young maestro was seven years old. He enrolled in a music school in nearby Busetto in 1823, and in 1825, at only twelve years old, he was made assistant conductor of the Busetto orchestra. He left the school at the age of twenty, but by then was two years over the age limit to enter the Conservatory in Milan. It was in Milan that Verdi discovered opera, and he eagerly absorbed as many performances as he could attend, thus laying the groundwork for a future in theater music.

The newly enlightened Verdi returned to Busetto where he took up the post of town music master and began giving music lessons to Margherita Barezzi. Of course, Verdi and his protégé fell deeply in love, and in May of 1836, they were married. It was in this initial period of wedded bliss, at the tender age of twenty three, that Verdi began to compose his first opera. It is rumored that the work was initially entitled Rochester and that the title was later changed to Oberto. Tragedy struck just as Verdi, encouraged by the relative success of Oberto, began work on his second opera, Un Giorno de Regno (A One-Day Reign). His infant son died suddenly of an unexplained illness followed shortly by his infant daughter. Months later, Margherita was struck with encephalitis and passed away shortly afterwards. Un Giorno, which was – ironically – a comic opera, was a complete flop. With his entire family taken from him within a few short months and a failed opera hanging over his head, Verdi vowed to end his career before it had even begun.

He was convinced by the impresario at La Scala to give it one more try with Nabucco, a libretto entailing the story of the Israelite plight at the hands of the Babylonian king, Nebuchadnezzar. The opening night of Nabucco was nothing short of a triumph. The Italians, who were living under Austrian rule, found a new hope in their native son, and Nabucco marked the beginning of Verdi’s eternal fame. Following Nabucco’s wild success, Verdi spent the next decade writing prolifically and battling the artistic censorship of the Austrian rule. The fight against censorship was not the only rebellion Verdi became known for during this period. Around 1851, when he was 38, Verdi became romantically involved with Giuseppina Strepponi, a soprano who had been the jewel of many of his operas from Nabucco onward. He and Giuseppina lived together (a highly scandalous practice in the eyes of many) for nearly nine years before finally marrying in 1857.

It was around the time of his blossoming romance with Giuseppina that Verdi wrote and premiered Rigoletto—one of his greatest masterpieces. Rigoletto ushered in a new era for Verdi’s music as he created one masterwork after another: Il Trovatore, La Traviata, and La forza del destino, to name a few. By this time, Verdi had become so famous, it was said that a letter addressed simply to “G. Verdi, Italy” would make it into the composer’s mailbox. Verdi’s glorious music alone would have been enough to turn him into a veritable rock star of the era, but it was his unyielding nationalistic pride that made him a true icon to the Italian people, not only musically, but politically. At the close of each performance of a Verdi opera, the house shook with shouts of “Viva Verdi!” The shouting would continue until the crowd was forced from the building at which point, they would take to the streets, still shouting again and again into the night “Viva Verdi!” They weren’t merely wishing long life on their national hero.

“Viva Verdi” had become a secret code for the anti-Austrian current that was surging through the Italian people. What they were actually shouting was “Viva V.E.R.D.I.”, or “Long live Vittorio Emanuele, Re di Italia (King of Italy).” The death of another Italian operatic giant, Rossini, brought about a brief departure from opera for Verdi as he worked to compose a portion of a requiem to honor Rossini’s memory. This eventually led to the completion of an entire Requiem which premiered in May, 1874. Before the Requiem, however, Verdi worked on and premiered Aida, a huge tour de force that proved, not surprisingly, to be an instant success. A lengthy period of semi-retirement was followed by his first new opera in nearly 16 years, Otello, and his final opera, Falstaff, which premiered in 1893. After Falstaff had run its course, Verdi escaped to a home in the country with his beloved Giuseppina where they dwelt in happy retirement until Giuseppina’s death four years later.

Grief-stricken, Verdi died four years later from a massive stroke, but not before he’d taken the time to construct a retirement home for aging musicians—an accomplishment he hailed as his “most beautiful work.” Rigoletto | Opera Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851 Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi . The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo . It was first performed at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere and is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's beautiful daughter Gilda.

The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to the curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter had been seduced by the Duke with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda likewise falls in love with the Duke and eventually sacrifices her life to save him from the assassins hired by her father. Contents Edit The orchestra calls for 2 flutes , (Flute 2 doubles piccolo ), 2 oboes , (Oboe 2 doubles English horn ) 2 clarinets , 2 bassoons , 4 horns in Eb, D, C, Ab, G, and F, 2 trumpets in C, D, and Eb, 3 trombones , cimbasso , timpani , bass drum and cymbals , and strings.

Offstage: Banda , bass drum , 2 bells , thunder machine Onstage: Violins I and II, violas , and contrabasses History Edit Verdi was commissioned to write a new opera by the La Fenice opera house in Venice in 1850, at a time when he was already a well-known composer with a degree of freedom in choosing the works he would prefer to set to music. He then asked Francesco Maria Piave (with whom he had already created Ernani , I due Foscari , Macbeth , Il Corsaro and Stiffelio ) to examine the play Kean by Alexandre Dumas, père , but he felt he needed a more energetic subject to work on. [1 ] Verdi soon stumbled upon Victor Hugo's Le roi s'amuse . He later explained that "The subject is great, immense, and has a character that is one of the most important creations of the theatre of all countries and all Ages.". [1 ] It was a highly controversial subject and Hugo himself had already had trouble with censorship in France , which had banned productions of his play after its first performance nearly twenty years earlier (and would continue to ban it for another thirty years).

As Austria at that time directly controlled much of Northern Italy , it came before the Austrian Board of Censors. Hugo's play depicted a king ( Francis I of France ) as an immoral and cynical womanizer, something that was not accepted in Europe during the Restoration period . [2 ] From the beginning, Verdi was aware of the risks, as was Piave. In a letter which Verdi wrote to Piave: "Use four legs, run through the town and find me an influential person who can obtain the permission for making Le Roi s'amuse." [1 ] Correspondence between a prudent Piave and an already committed Verdi followed, and the two remained at risk and underestimated the power and the intentions of Austrians. Even the friendly Guglielmo Brenna, secretary of La Fenice, who had promised them that they would not have problems with the censors, was wrong. At the beginning of the summer of 1850, rumours started to spread that Austrian censorship was going to forbid the production. They considered the Hugo work to verge on lèse majesté , and would never permit such a scandalous work to be performed in Venice.

In August, Verdi and Piave prudently retired to Busseto , Verdi's hometown, to continue the composition and prepare a defensive scheme. They wrote to the theatre, assuring them that the censor's doubts about the morality of the work were not justified but since very little time was left, very little could be done. At the time, Piave and Verdi had titled opera La maledizione (The Curse), and this unofficial title was used by Austrian censor De Gorzkowski in an emphatic letter written in December 1850 in which he definitively denied consent to its production calling it "a repugnant [example of] immorality and obscene triviality." [3 ] In order not to waste all their work, Piave tried to revise the libretto and was even able to pull from it another operaIl Duca di Vendome, in which the sovereign was substituted with a duke and both the hunchback and the curse disappeared. Verdi was completely against this proposed solution and preferred instead to have direct negotiations with censors, arguing over each and every point of the work.

[4 ] At this point Brenna, La Fenice's secretary, showed the Austrians some letters and articles depicting the bad character but the great value of the artist, helping to mediate the dispute. By January 1851 the parties were able to agree that the action of the opera would be moved from the royal court of France to a duchy of France or Italy, and some of the characters would to be renamed. In the new version the Duke reigns over Mantua and belongs to the Gonzaga family. The House of Gonzaga had long been extinct by the mid-19th Century, and the Dukedom of Mantua no longer existed, thus no one could be offended. The scene in which the sovereign retires to Gilda's bedroom would be deleted and the visit of the Duke to the Taverna (inn) was no longer intentional, but provoked by a trick. The hunchback jester (originally called Triboulet) was renamed Rigoletto from a parody of Hugo's play, Rigoletti, ou Le dernier des fous (Rigoletti, or The last of the fools).

[5 ] By 14 January, the opera's definitive title had become Rigoletto. [6 ] Verdi finally completed the composition of the opera on 5 February 1851, a little more than month before the premiere, although as he worked on the final stages of Act 3, Piave had already arranged for the sets to be designed. The singers were given some of their music to learn on 7 February. However, Verdi kept at least a third of the score at Busseto. He brought it with him when he arrived in Venice for the rehearsals on 19 February and would continue to refine the orchestration during the rehearsal period. [7 ] For the première, La Fenice had cast Felice Varesi as Rigoletto, the young tenor Raffaele Mirate as the Duke, and Teresa Brambilla as Gilda (although Verdi would have preferred Teresa De Giuli Borsi ). [8 ] Due to the high risk of unauthorised copying, Verdi had demanded the maximum secrecy from all his singers and musicians.

Mirate had use of his score only a few evenings before the première and had to swear that he would not sing or even whistle the tune of "La donna è mobile" except during the rehearsals. [9 ] Roles Edit Scene 1: A room in the palace At a ball in his palace, the Duke sings of a life of pleasure with as many women as possible: " Questa o quella " ("This woman or that"). He has seen an unknown beauty in church and desires to possess her, but he also wishes to seduce the Countess of Ceprano. Rigoletto, the Duke's hunchbacked court jester, mocks the husbands of the ladies to whom the Duke is paying attention, and advises the Duke to get rid of them by prison or death. Marullo informs the noblemen that Rigoletto has a "lover", and the noblemen cannot believe it. The noblemen resolve to take vengeance on Rigoletto. Subsequently Rigoletto mocks Count Monterone, whose daughter the Duke had seduced. Count Monterone is arrested at the Duke's order and curses the Duke and Rigoletto. The curse genuinely terrifies Rigoletto.

Scene 2: A street, with the courtyard of Rigoletto's house Thinking of the curse, Rigoletto approaches his house and is accosted by the assassin Sparafucile, who walks up to him and offers his services. Rigoletto considers the proposition but finally declines; Sparafucile wanders off, after repeating his own name a few times. Rigoletto contemplates the similarities between the two of them: " Pari siamo !" ("We are alike!"); Sparafucile kills men with his sword, and Rigoletto uses "a tongue of malice" to stab his victims. Rigoletto opens a door in the wall and returns home to his daughter Gilda. They greet each other warmly: " Figlia!" "Mio padre! " ("Daughter!" "My father!"). Rigoletto has been concealing his daughter from the Duke and the rest of the city, and she does not know her father's occupation. Since he has forbidden her to appear in public, she has been nowhere except to church and does not even know her own father's name.

When Rigoletto has gone, the Duke appears and overhears Gilda confess to her nurse Giovanna that she feels guilty for not having told her father about a young man she had met at the church, but that she would love him even more if he were a student and poor. As she declares her love, the Duke enters, overjoyed. Gilda, alarmed, calls for Giovanna, unaware that the Duke had sent her away. Pretending to be a student, the Duke convinces Gilda of his love: " E il sol dell'anima " ("Love is the sunshine of the soul"). When she asks for his name, he hesitantly calls himself Gualtier Maldè. Hearing sounds and fearing that her father has returned, Gilda sends the Duke away after they quickly trade vows of love: " Addio, addio " ("Farewell, farewell"). Alone, Gilda meditates on her love for the Duke, whom she believes is a student: "Gualtier Maldè!... Caro nome " ("Dearest name"). Later, a preoccupied Rigoletto returns: " Riedo!... perché? " ("I've returned!...

why?"), while the hostile noblemen outside the walled garden (believing Gilda to be the jester's mistress, unaware she is his daughter) get ready to abduct the helpless girl. Convincing Rigoletto that they are actually abducting the Countess Ceprano, they blindfold him and use him to help with the abduction: " Zitti, zitti " ("Softly, softly"). With her father's unknowing assistance Gilda is carried away by the noblemen. Upon realizing that it was in fact Gilda who was carried away, Rigoletto collapses, remembering the curse. Act 2 Edit The Duke's Palace The Duke is concerned that Gilda has disappeared: "Ella mi fu rapita!" ("She was stolen from me!") and "Parmi veder le lagrime" ("I seem to see tears"). The noblemen then enter and inform him that they have captured Rigoletto's mistress. By their description, he recognizes it to be Gilda, and he rushes off to the room where she is held: "Possente amor mi chiama" ("Mighty love beckons me").

Pleased by the Duke's strange excitement, the courtiers now make sport with Rigoletto, who enters singing. He tries to find Gilda by pretending to be uncaring, as he fears she may fall into the hands of the Duke. Finally, he admits that he is in fact seeking his daughter and asks the courtiers to return her to him: "Cortigiani, vil razza dannata" ("Accursed race of courtiers"). The men beat up Rigoletto after his attempt to run into the room in which Gilda is being held. Gilda rushes in and begs her father to send the people away. The men leave the room believing Rigoletto has gone mad. Gilda describes to her father what has happened to her in the palace: "Tutte le feste al tempio" ("On all the blessed days"). In a duet Rigoletto demands vengeance against the Duke, while Gilda pleads for her lover: "Sì! Vendetta, tremenda vendetta!" ("Yes! Revenge, terrible revenge!").

Act 3 Edit A street outside Sparafucile's house A portion of Sparafucile's house is seen, with two rooms open to the view of the audience. Rigoletto and Gilda, who still loves the Duke, arrive outside. The Duke's voice can be heard singing "La donna è mobile" ("Woman is fickle") laying out the infidelity and fickle nature of women. Rigoletto makes Gilda realize that it is the Duke who is in the assassin's house and that he is attempting to seduce Sparafucile's sister, Maddalena: "Bella figlia dell'amore" ("Sweet daughter of love"). Rigoletto bargains with the assassin, who is ready to murder his guest for money, and offers him 20 scudi for killing the Duke. He orders his daughter to put on a man's clothes in order to prepare to go to Verona and states that he plans to follow later. With falling darkness, a thunderstorm approaches and the Duke determines to remain in the house. Sparafucile assigns to him the ground floor sleeping quarters. Gilda, who still loves the Duke despite knowing him to be unfaithful, returns dressed as a man.

She overhears Maddalena begging for the Duke's life, and Sparafucile promises her that if by midnight another can be found in place of the Duke, he will spare the Duke's life. Gilda resolves to sacrifice herself for the Duke and enters the house. She is immediately mortally wounded and collapses. At midnight, when Rigoletto arrives with money, he receives a corpse wrapped in a sack, and rejoices in his triumph. Weighting it with stones, he is about to cast the sack into the river when he hears the voice of the Duke singing a reprise of his "La donna è mobile" aria. Bewildered, Rigoletto opens the sack and, to his despair, discovers his mortally wounded daughter. For a moment, she revives and declares she is glad to die for her beloved: "V'ho ingannato" ("Father, I deceived you"). She dies in his arms.

Rigoletto's wildest fear materializes when he cries out in horror: "La maledizione!" ("The curse!") Libretto OPERA REVIEW; A Daughter Of a Jester With Notes That Soar - The New York Times The New York Times Arts |OPERA REVIEW; A Daughter Of a Jester With Notes That Soar Search Continue reading the main story In Verdi's ''Rigoletto'' the title character, a hunchback jester in the court of the licentious Duke of Mantua, dominates almost every scene. Yet the role of Gilda, the winsome daughter Rigoletto keeps secreted at his house, is so beautifully conceived for a coloratura soprano that a good Gilda can steal the show. That's what Ruth Ann Swenson did on Friday night in the Metropolitan Opera's revival of Otto Schenk's grimly powerful 1989 production. Since Ms. Swenson last sang Gilda at the house in 1996 she has taken on somewhat weightier roles that combine coloratura and lirico spinto qualities, like Massenet's Manon.

It's good that she is not giving up lighter roles like Gilda, which she sang last year on tour with the Met in Japan. Those who find Ms. Swenson's singing too cautious might think her Gilda temperamentally restrained. But for sheer vocal beauty, her singing here was hard to top. She floated high-lying phrases effortlessly, supporting her sound so surely that her voice, which is not really that big, easily filled the house. If her portrayal lacked a degree of urgency, her singing was exceptionally elegant. The singing of the powerful baritone Juan Pons, who made his Met debut in 1983, has always been marred by his penchant for attacking notes with glottal stops, a method (some would say bad habit) of giving an extra push to a note for supposedly expressive purposes. This performance as Rigoletto suggested that his voice is getting worn. He compensated with even more glottal huffing. Still, he did convey the inner hurt, seething anger and contradictions of this pitiable character. The promotional machine behind the Argentine tenor Marcelo Álvarez, who sang the duke, may have harmed him by building false expectations.

He has an essentially attractive voice and, though a little stocky, he cuts a dashing figure onstage. But his duke was vocally uneven, with patches of rough legato and wavering pitch. He dispatched some exciting full-voice top notes, but his softer singing was effortful. The bass Robert Lloyd was appropriately chilling as the hired assassin Sparafucile, and the mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves provided some glamour casting in the small role of Maddalena. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The Met's impressive orchestra has a tendency to go on automatic pilot whenever James Levine or a conductor of comparable authority in not in the pit. So Marco Guidarini, an energetic young Italian conductor in his company debut, deserves credit for eliciting passably good playing from the orchestra. Still, Ms. Swenson's Gilda is the reason to see this ''Rigoletto.'' Rigoletto (1982) - Plot Summary - IMDb Rigoletto (1982) Plot Summary Showing one plot summary This summary contains the complete plot of the opera Rigoletto by Guiseppi Verdi. Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua.

He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless if he couldn't chase every skirt he sees. In fact, we learn as the opera begins that he's recently been noticing a young lady every Sunday on her way to church, and he's vowed to have his way with her. What nobody realizes is that the girl is the jester's beloved daughter, Gilda, and that Gilda has seen the Duke every Sunday and is smitten with him. Suddenly Count Monterone appears at court, furious that the Duke has seduced his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them. Later, the courtiers discover that Rigoletto is secretly living with Gilda, whom they believe to be his mistress. In an attempt to humiliate Rigoletto, they kidnap Gilda and deliver her to the Duke's bedroom, where she is quite willing to let him have his way with her.

Rigoletto returns to the court and reveals to the courtiers' amusement that Gilda is his daughter. Consumed with the desire for revenge, Rigoletto contacts a murderous thief named Sparafucile (who just happens to have a beautiful sister named Maddalena), and he contracts with the two of them to lure the Duke to Sparafucile's tavern on the river where Sparafucile will murder the Duke. Knowing the Duke will find Maddalena irresistible, Rigoletto takes Gilda to stand outside the tavern so she can see for herself that the Duke is not a faithful lover. Gilda is crushed as she looks through the window to see the Duke wooing Maddalena, and at Rigoletto's urging she dons men's clothing so she can return home safely by herself. But she returns to the tavern to overhear Rigoletto and Sparafucile plotting to kill the Duke. Then, after Rigoletto leaves, she hears Maddalena pleading with Sparafucile not to kill the Duke, but instead to kill the first person who comes through the door and give that body to Rigoletto instead.

Sparafucile objects that he is an honest thief and murderer, but Maddalena's entreaties win him over and he agrees to the plan. Gilda now realizes what she must do: she knocks on the door, enters the tavern and is stabbed (nearly) to death by Sparafucile. The thief then wraps her in a rug and drops her body through a trap door to Rigoletto, who is waiting in a boat below. Thinking he has won vengeance at last on the Duke, Rigoletto paddles onto the river to dispose of the body. Then he hears the Duke singing in the distance, opens the rug, and to his horror he discovers his almost-dead daughter. They sing a heartbreaking duet, Gilda dies, and the wretched Rigoletto wails that the curse has come to pass. Rigoletto – Opera in Brief | Sheen Center Rigoletto – Opera in Brief Loreto Theater Two narrated “Opera-In Brief” performances for children and families Amore Opera closes the 2015-2016 season with Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto.

This tale of innocence lost and vengeance gone tragically awry will be presented in full production with full orchestra conducted by Douglas Martin, with stage direction by Amore Opera’s Artistic Director Nathan Hull. Amore Opera’s production of Rigoletto features several talented casts. The part of Rigoletto is performed by baritones Thomas Canon, Mark Cotton and Robert Garner; Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda is sung by sopranos Katrin Bulke, Jessica Sandidge, Amy Palomo and Michelle Pretto; and the part of the roguish Duke is portrayed by tenors Aaron Blankfield, Lindell Carter, Kevin Courtmenache, and Jose Heredia. Rigoletto will be sung in Italian with English supertitles. About Amore Opera Now in its seventh season, the Amore Opera is continuing in its mission to entertain, educate and nurture music appreciation in youth, seniors and community members through affordable live performances of classical and overlooked operas, and provide a venue for a diversity of singers and musicians to perform in fully staged and orchestrated productions.

About Rigoletto Rigoletto, composed by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, is a tragic tale of a deformed court jester who wants nothing more than to protect his virtuous daughter from a licentious duke who seduces her. Verdi’s famous masterwork leads us on a chilling whirlwind of revenge that has entranced audiences since its first performance. Premiered in 1851, Giuseppe Verdi‘s Rigoletto is based on Victor Hugo‘s Le roi s’amuse (The King amuses himself) which was immediately forbidden following its world premiere in 1832 in Paris. Verdi was mindful that this choice of topic for a new opera was destined to be censured, but completed his composition with hardly an alternation to Victor Hugo’s original drama with the exception of changning the names and the locale. Rigoletto’s tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester, Rigoletto, and Rigoletto's beautiful daughter, Gilda.

The opera's original title, La Maledizione (The Curse), refers to the curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter had been seduced by the Duke with Rigoletto's encouragement. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda likewise falls in love with the Duke and eventually sacrifices her life to save him from the assassins hired by her father. Follow Us © Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen Center, Inc. 2017 Sheen Center - 18 Bleecker St - NY, NY 10012 - Box Office: (212) 925-2812 Search Verdi – RIGOLETTO | The Opera Platform Giuseppe Verdi The revolution kills its own children – in the shape of the hunchback jester Rigoletto. Follow director Jossi Wieler on his search for the explosive political and social content in Verdi’s masterpiece. The sovereign proves to be a young libertine who only lives for his own pleasure while he passes his political obligations to his jester. Rigoletto has established a reign of terror at the Mantua court. He stops at nothing to keep a grip on his powerful position.

But when he loses control, his own daughter Gilda is drawn into the intrigue. Giuseppe Verdi and librettist Francesco Maria Piave create RIGOLETTO on the basis of Victor Hugo’s play LE ROI S’AMUSE. Already before the premiere, they’re quarrelling with the Imperial and Royal authorities over the subject matter in the opera. In 1832, Hugo’s drama had been banned from theatres in Paris after only one performance; its criticism of the monarchy and King Louis-Philippe was too blatant, the memory of the 1830 July Revolution too fresh. Only three years after the Italian March Revolution of 1848, the Austrian government was skeptical of RIGOLETTO and prohibited any production. Only changes of names and places made it possible to stage the opera the way Verdi had imagined it. Today, RIGOLETTO is one of the most frequently performed operas in the world. It is, therefore, not easy to imagine its original explosive impact. Director Jossi Wieler and dramaturg Sergio Morabito go on a quest to search for the social and political radicalness of RIGOLETTO, reflecting on rebellions and failed ideals.

It is not a tyrant, but the revolution itself in the person of a jester that kills its own children. Information Rigoletto – Verdi Log out Rigoletto – Verdi Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Fabio Luisi – Juan Diego Flórez (Il Duca di Mantova), Zeljko Lucic (Rigoletto), Diana Damrau (Gilda) – Semperoper Dresden Embed this video <iframe src="" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe><p><a href="/#!/rigoletto-dresden-juan-diego-florez-diana-damrau">Verdi: Rigoletto – Nikolaus Lehnhoff, Fabio Luisi – Juan Diego Flórez – Semperoper Dresden</a> on <a href="">medici.tv</a>.</p> One of the world's leading stage directors, Nikolaus Lehnhoff (1939-2015) will always be remembered for his outstanding work on many operas, and notably for this spectacular production of Giuseppe Verdi's popular opera Rigoletto, here showcased at the Dresden Semperoper.

The version released here stars two internationally-acclaimed singers, tenor Juan Diego Flórez and soprano Diana Damrau. Rigoletto (1851) is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Writting the libretto took time because the Austrian censors judged the opera immoral. On the other hand, its composition took only forty days. The staging of Nikolaus Lehnhoff is exceptional. The distribution combines incomparable voices to intense stage presence. Serbian baritone Željko Lučić interprets Rigoletto, Juan Diego Flórez is the seductive Duca di Mantova and Diana Damrau is Gilda. The most popular arias "Cortigiani vil razza dannata" and "La donna è mobile" are beautifully sung by these interprets. As head of the Staatskapelle Dresden, the conductor Fabio Luisi enhances Rigoletto's score. Argument: The argument of Rigoletto deals with the amatory escapades of the Duca di Mantova.

Rigoletto, his jester, is a hunchback. He has made many enemies at court by his unscrupulous conduct. Count Monterone, who comes to the court to demand the restoration of his daughter, who has been dishonoured by the Duke, is met by the jester with laughter and derision. The Count curses Rigoletto, who is stricken with superstitious terror. Nikolaus Lehnhoff stage director Rigoletto court jester o Gilda Rigolettos daughter o The - SOCIOLOGY - 1 Rigoletto-court jester o Gilda-Rigoletto’s daughter o The Duke of Mantua-a serial seducer o o Maddalena-Sparafucile’s sister 19 th Century Opera Chart Wagner German Norse Mythology; Germanic Legend Verdi Italian Novels and Plays (new and old) This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version.

View Full Document European Modernism 07:42 Complex melodies; Leitmotifs Epic drama Continuous: no separate movements More accessible and catchy melodies More human Movements, but with smooth transitions The Twentieth Century • Age of modernism • Overwhelming sense of progress in society and a nostalgia for a simpler past*** o Electrification of industry, business, homes o Internal combustion engine o Factory production o airplanes • RAPID modernization Music in the Age of Modernism • Modernism: A 20 th century movement in art and literature that centered around making a self-conscious break with the past in order to create works that were wholly new.

• “Make it new” (Ezra Pound) • in music, umbrella term for many “isms” o impressionism (Debussy) o primitivism (Stravinsky) European Modernism 07:42 o expressionism (Schoenberg) Modernism in Music • Plot or theme of ballet or opera • Concept of performance style of the music • Harmonic language of the music A Short History of Harmony • 1600s: tonality established • 1700s: system becomes standardized o major and minor keys o more flexibility • 1800s: Harmonic boundaries are pushed o more “colorful” harmonies o composers like Wagner use more dissonance Three Options After 1900 • Continuation of tonality • Addition of new harmonic elements o Folk or ethnic music, sometimes jazz • Complete rejection of tonality: atonality Claude Debussy (1862-1918) • French This preview has intentionally blurred sections. Sign up to view the full version.

View Full Document European Modernism 07:42 • Influenced by: o Impressionism in painting:  Monet o Symbolism in poetry:  Late 19 th century French movement  Characteristics:  Suggest, don’t describe  Free verse  Main proponent – Stephane Mallarme o Exotic scales • Music often called impressionistic • Composed piano music, one opera, several symphonic poems Debussy’s Music • Floating sensation • Meter obscured; avoid accents • Exotic scales that avoid feeling of one tonic o Not lush sounds of big Romantic orchestra o Many individual instruments audible flute horn Debussy: Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun (1894) • Genre: symphonic poem • Inspired by a poem by Mallarme • In 1912, turned into a modernist ballet by the Ballet Russes o Choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky The Ballet Russes • Founded in Paris by Serge Diaghilev, the ballet’s impresario (i.e.

producer) • Employed many of the great dances and choreographers of the day • Became a focus of cultural life in Paris during its prime • Many modernist productions Sergei Diaghilev European Modernism 07:42

Question: In which Verdi opera is 'Gilda' the jester's daughter?
Answer: Rigoletto