RIGOLETTO

About the Story...

Vendetta, Tremenda Vendetta! Revenge, Terrible Revenge! A hunchbacked court jester seeks murderous revenge when his employer defiles the jester’s beloved daughter – with tragic results.

The first masterpiece of Giuseppe Verdi’s mid-to-late career, Rigoletto is among the top 10 most-performed operas. The opera was a dangerous venture for Verdi, who had to tame-down the scandalous story in order to get it performed. One of the most famous highlights: “La donna è mobile” – the womanizing Duke of Mantua’s wolfish canzone. The composer tried to keep the show-stopping tune a secret, but it proved so catchy every gondolier in Venice was singing it within days of the opera’s premiere. Don’t miss the chilling irony of its reprise at the opera’s tragic end.

About the Music...

"Rigoletto" marked an immense progress in Verdi’s style. There are brilliant touches of dramatic power and many highly effective passages, such as Rigoletto’s wrath at the stratagem of the courtiers in abducting his daughter; Gilda’s love-song, "Caro Nome;" and the Duke’s famous aria, "La donna e mobile." Here, and in other places, Verdi reached a level of art which he had never before attained, and which, indeed, he did not touch again until twenty years later in "Aida."

  – Adapted from MusicWithEase.com

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