Programs · Episode

VERDI: Rigoletto

Program: At the Opera
Aired: Saturday, February 5, 2022 @ 6:00 pm
Hosted by Lisa Simeone

In this sensational drama, Verdi reveals his lifelong affinity for touching, father-daughter relationships, in a story that also serves up over-the-top passion and appalling violence — all conveyed in music that careens vividly through its characters' conflicting emotions. On At the Opera we'll explore Rigoletto through recordings featuring singers including June Anderson, Renata Scotto, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Carlo Bergonzi and Roberto Alagna.

FEATURED RECORDINGS:

Rafael Kubelik, conductor
La Scala Orchestra and Chorus
CAST: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (Rigoletto); Renata Scotto (Gilda); Carlo Bergonzi (Duke of Mantua); Ivo Vinco (Sparafucile); Fiorenza Cosotto (Maddalena); Mirella Fiorentini (Giovanna)
(DG 4775608)

Riccardo Chailly, conductor
Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro Comunale, Bologna
CAST: Leo Nucci (Rigoletto); June Anderson (Gilda); Luciano Pavarotti (Duke of Mantua); Nicolai Ghiaurov (Sparafucile); Shriley Verrett (Maddalena); Vitalba Mosca (Giovanna)
(London 425864)

Ricardo Muti, conductor
Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala
CAST: Renato Bruson (Rigoletto); Andrea Rost (Gilda); Roberto Alagna (Duke of Mantua); Dimitri Kavrakos (Sparafucile); Mariana Pentcheva (Maddalena); Antonella Trevisan (Giovanna)
(Sony 66314)

MORE ABOUT THE OPERA:

It's easy to wonder if events in the lives of great composers can be heard, directly reflected, in their music. Sometimes, people even argue about it. But in the case of personal tragedies early in Giuseppe Verdi's life, the case seems like a slam dunk.

Verdi wrote his first opera, Oberto, while in his late twenties, for Milan's historic opera house, La Scala. The 1839 premiere was successful enough for the company to offer him a contract for three more dramas. It seemed Verdi was on his way to a solid career. Then disaster struck.

Not long before, Verdi had endured the death of his young son. By the spring of 1840, he had also lost his second child, an infant daughter, and his wife. Later that year his next opera was a flop. Verdi's personal life and career were in tatters, and he considered giving up composing altogether.

Eventually, Verdi made a comeback with his third opera, the smash hit Nabucco. In it, he touched on a dramatic theme to which he would turn repeatedly throughout his long career. That theme is parental love, and in particular the complex relationship between father and daughter — a relationship that, tragically, Verdi himself had never had the chance to fully enjoy.

The father-child relationship crops up in a number of Verdi's finest operas, including Aida, Simon Boccanegra and La Traviata. But the composer never portrayed it more poignantly, or more tragically, than in Rigoletto.

Verdi completed Rigoletto in 1851, basing the opera on a play by Victor Hugo called Le roi s'amuse. The composer once said it was "perhaps the greatest drama of modern times," and went on to describe Hugo's main character as "a creation worthy of Shakespeare.”

That character, called Triboulet in the play, became the title character in Verdi's opera. He's a man whose harsh life is warmed only by the unconditional love of his daughter, a young woman eventually destroyed as an inadvertent result of Rigoletto's own anger and bitterness.

On At the Opera, host Lisa Simeone takes us through Verdi's opera using three exceptional recordings, featuring singers including Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Renata Scotto, June Anderson, Leo Nucci, Carlo Bergonzi and Roberto Alagna, and led by conductors Rafael Kubelik, Riccardo Chailly and Riccardo Muti.

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