Discovering Opera -Rigoletto
31 August 2011 by CristinaDiscovering Opera presentd by Cristina Burns
Rigoletto by Verdi.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto is one of the most performed of all operas. It was an enormous hit at its opening in Venice in 1851 and has remained an enduring favourite ever since.
The plot is unremittingly dark. Rigoletto is a viper-tongued hunchback who is court jester of the womanizing Duke of Mantua and who delights in egging on the Duke to torment his courtiers and seduce their womenfolk. In Act I, he takes a jest too far and is cursed by the aged Monterone, whose daughter has been one of the Duke’s conquests. Rigoletto has a secret: his daughter Gilda, who lives hidden away at his home in the city. When the Duke finds and seduces Gilda, Rigoletto arranges to have him murdered, but the vengeance goes horribly awry and falls on himself instead.
Copyright. A BoMoJo Production for Deben Radio CIC





