Opera "Rigoletto": content, video, interesting facts, history

D. Verdi opera "Rigoletto"

The opera "Rigoletto" was written based on the play by V. Hugo "The King Amuses Him". At the heart of the drama were real acting heroes, only transferred to the original plot collisions. After the first premiere of the play was strictly forbidden by censorship, as undermining the authority of the king. Only after the fall of the Napoleon III regime, 50 years after the first production, did the drama again appear before the public. In Russia at that time there were no productions at all, for ethical reasons. This opera shows true and pure love, which forces a young girl to sacrifice herself for her lover. In addition, it has treason, betrayal, hired killer, mysticism and the deep pain of a father who lost his only daughter, but is forced to remain in his mask of a jester.

Summary of the opera Verdi "Rigoletto" and a lot of interesting facts about this work, read on our page.

Rigoletto Summary

The opera begins at the ball of the Herzog, where Rigoletto laughs at the court, playing his role of a jester. Suddenly the Count of Monterone appears, who came to avenge the loving Duke for his daughter and curses him, and along with him the fool Rigoletto. If the Duke did not attach any importance to this, the jester was frightened and began to see in this the cause of all the tragedies.

Rigoletto has a beautiful daughter, Gilda, who lives far away in a remote suburb. He tried in every way to protect her from harm, but did not take into account the main enemy - the Duke of Manua, who dressed as a poor student, fooled her and confessed his love. Meanwhile, the courtiers, wishing to take revenge on the evil and venomous Rigoletto, stole his daughter in the night and took him to the Duke's chambers. Wishing to take revenge, the desperate jester hires the killer Sparafuchile to do away with the loving traitor. But even here the Duke turns out to be smarter, he falls in love with the sister of the mercenary Maddalena, he himself confesses her feelings and she persuades her brother not to commit murder.

Sparafuchile agrees with his sister to kill the one who first knocks on the door. Overheard their conversation Dzhilda decides to sacrifice themselves, just to save his beloved and goes to the killer. A terrible storm is played, during which a terrible tragedy happens. Satisfied Rigoletto hurries to his quarters to enjoy revenge and finds the corpse of his daughter Gilda there.

Interesting Facts

• The opera "Rigoletto" was successfully staged in all theaters in Europe, except France. The author of the original source, Victor Hugo, could not accept the numerous edits made to the work, and protested in this way. He gave permission for staging only 6 years after the premiere.
• The first readers of the libretto of the opera, found it obscene and demanded a number of changes.
• Francesco Maria Piave wrote a total of 10 librettos for D. VerdiIt was he who helped the composer to conduct difficult negotiations with theater censors.
• In terms of popularity, the opera "Rigoletto" has always occupied a leading position in 2012, it was on the 9th place in the list of the best performances in the world.
• Some Italian theaters, after the loud premiere of "Rigoletto", immediately introduced opera into their repertoire, though it sometimes went under different names: "Viskardello", "Clara Perth".
• Verdi turned to the works of Hugo several times, so besides Rigoletto he also created the opera Ernani.

• The main work of the composer on the opera was done in the period from 1850 to 1851.
• Despite the fact that the original source was banned, a performance based on it was widely staged on all European stages.
• During the first opera staging in Russia, critics and the public met the performance surprisingly well. It was at this time that a protest against the "domination of Italianism" began, and many works were subjected to harsh criticism.
• Unlike the original source, the composer chose to name his work in the name of the main character - "Rigoletto".
• For the first time the play was filmed in 1946. The film was directed by K. Golonne, and T. Gobbi appeared as Rigoletto. The film-opera appeared only in 1983, thanks to the work of director Jean-Pierre Ponnel. The leading roles were played by L. Pavarotti, I. Wicksell and E. Gruberov.
• The premiere of the performance was very successful, and the fact that the audience, going home, for a long time singing and whistling the famous song of the Duke speaks about it.
• That opera "Rigoletto" Verdi considered his best creation.

Popular arias

The ballad of the Duke from the first act "That il this - I do not understand" - listen

Gilda's aria from the second act "Heart of joy is full" - listen

Monologue Rigoletto "We are equal to him" - listen

Song of the Duke from the fourth act "Heart of a beauty" - listen

Aria of the Duke from the third act "I see a dove cute" - listen

The history of the creation of "Rigoletto"

Amazing but Verdi He began to work on the opera at the very time when the play was strictly forbidden. The composer was so attracted by the romantic mood of the work that he took the risk. The libretto of the opera was entrusted to Francesco Maria Piave. They understood that they would have to work hard on the plot and changed the scene of action to Italy.

All sorts of pointers to King Francis the First were removed from the plot, the crowd scenes were cut and the political background was minimized. Drama author V. Hugo was against such changes, but Verdi remained adamant. He was more interested in the romantic plot, and not in the political game, and the main character was played by his jester, and not the reveler, the king. However, the composer had to concede in some ways. When the opera was finished, not a single theater agreed to accept it in this form, all demanded that the names of the heroes be urgently changed so that there were no hints of famous personalities. Verdi had to agree after the long refusals of almost all theaters in the world. Only when Francis I was transformed into the duke of Mantuan, and his jester of Triboule was in Rigoletto, the composer received consent to the production.

Productions

The long-awaited premiere of the play took place in Venice on March 11, 1851. The audience very warmly received another masterpiece of the genius composer. Party Rigoletto performed Felice Varezi, Herzog - Rafaele Mirate. The opera immediately began its triumphal march through the cities of Europe. The audience liked not only the new plot, but also the music of the composer. Unusual was the image of the main character - Rigoletto. He is rightly considered the brightest hero created by Verdi. A person with a very high intellect is forced to perform a role too humiliating for him at the court of a noble lord. Only in private with his own daughter, he appears real, without a mask.

In Russia, admirers of Verdi’s talent were able to appreciate his work on January 31, 1853 at the Bolshoi (Stone) Theater in St. Petersburg. Parties were performed by Italian artists. Domestic performers presented "Rigoletto" only in October 1859 at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. After that, the opera firmly entered the repertoire of both foreign and domestic theaters.

In 1925, the directors tried to bring the version closer to the original source and even put on an opera called “The King Amuses Himself”, the names of the characters were also changed. However, this version did not take root on the theater stage.

Among the modern productions should be noted the long-awaited premiere on the New Stage of the Bolshoi Theater in December 2014. Movie director Robert Carsen presented his version, where the action of the play took place under the circus dome. The critics recognized this statement only as a failure, indicating the director’s work as the main reason. Recognized as more successful is the 2015 version, staged by the Berlin Komish-operas. Barry Koski's directorial work has been noted by many theater critics. His version, though endowed with some attributes of the circus, but vulgarity and corruption are absent. Rigoletto appears in the first scene of the ball in a huge dress with hoops and a mask, with a very creepy grin. From under his "dress" gradually new heroes appear. This technique is recognized as very unusual and spectacular.

Another interesting version was presented to the public in the Paris Opera in the spring of 2016. Directed by Klaus Gut built on stage a real giant box, periodically on the walls of which there were video projections.

One of the best tragedies of Hugo, "The King Amuses Himself," inspired the talented composer G. Verdi to write the next work. As a result, the resulting opera "Rigoletto"is rightfully recognized as one of the best and is put on huge stages in various stages of the world. Agree that the famous Duke's Song is well known even to those who are far from the classical music world.