Caro nome che il mio cor

THE SONGBIRD: Faith Esham was trained at Juilliard in New York, working with Jennie Tourel, Beverly Johnson, and Adele Addison. Her professional debut in 1977 was as Cherubino at the New York City Opera. Other roles at NYCO were Zerlina, Micaela, Mimi, Liu, and Leïla, but also some higher, more florid roles: Manon, Baby Doe, Gilda, and Olympia. She was engaged at Glyndebourne Festival, La Scala, Paris Opera, Vienna State Opera, Geneva, Cologne, and Cardiff. She only sang one performance at The Met -- Marzelline in "Fidelio" in December 1986. (Marie McLaughlin sang the other five performances of the opera that season.) In this video from the New York City Opera in 1988, Esham sings "Caro nome" -- but I've also included "Se vendetta," the short duet with Rigoletto in Act 3 (sung here by Brent Ellis) where he vows revenge while Gilda pleads for forgiveness. Esham interpolates a High E-flat.

THE MUSIC: Verdi's "Rigoletto" is a true operatic masterpiece and one of the most performed and recorded works in history. Its premiere in Venice in 1851 was a triumph with the public -- some critics at the time felt the plot was too dark and the music too tuneful, but simply put, they were wrong; "Rigoletto" has never faded from the core repertoire in 170 years. The opera contains many watershed innovations in plot and character, musical structure, and orchestration. Gilda's aria "Caro nome che il mio cor" is one example as there were really no arias prior to it that had its unusual structure, inventive blend of rhythm and melody, and shimmering orchestration, all elements that Verdi combined to effectively convey the breathless innocence of the naive young woman's first infatuation. The score as written tops out at a High C#, but it has become fairly standard practice for sopranos to insert a short cadenza with a staccato volley to a High D#. The full scene ends with a long coda where Gilda dreamily repeats phrases of its main theme, unaware that the conniving Courtiers are stealthily approaching in the dark to abduct her, and then softly diminishes on a long trill held over two and a half measures.