Rigoletto
Opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
German version by Bettina Bartz and Werner Hintze
2 hours (without intermission)
Introduction ... 30 minutes before the beginning of the performance, Foyer
Rigoletto is notorious for his sharp tongue. On behalf of the Duke he mercilessly mocks those, whose women and daughters have fallen victim to the sexual antics of his patron. However, in his private life he has created a little, protected idyll for his daughter Gilda and tries to keep her out of the system to which he so much belongs. Such a double life deforms in the long run and is soon revealed: On his Sunday way to church the Duke has discovered Gilda, his new object of desire. And if this wasn't enough, the courtiers take revenge on the jester by abducting Gilda, whom they believe to be his mistress. Rigoletto's world collapses and he swears bloody revenge. But it fails and results in a harrowing nightmare.
»Rigoletto« marks an apogee in the work of the 38-year-old Verdi, with an aesthetic based on dramatic style rather than musical conventions. Legend has it that Verdi composed his first opera, which was later merged with »Il Trovatore« and »La Traviata« to the »trilogia popolare«, in only 40 days. The tragic figure being a societal outsider – this is the central theme of the operas.
Verdi referred to Victor Hugo's verse play »Le Roi s’amuse«, in the tradition of the post-revolutionary French popular theatre, which was immediately forbidden after its debut performance. He also adopted the glaring contrast of naivety and cruelty, being characteristic for the dramaturgic composition of his »Rigoletto«.