After this summit of the drama the action runs its tragic course in increasing darkness, punctuated by the lightning flashes of an ominous thunderstorm. Maddalena takes pity on the handsome young man (0:59) (Povero giovin!...grazioso tanto! Dio! qual notte è questa!/Poor lad! He’s so handsome! God! What a night this is!), but Sparafucile only cares about the twenty gold scudi to be paid for his death. In the meantime, Gilda goes back to the place (3:12), disobeying her father. Watches Maddalena trying to convince Sparafucile to spare the handsome young man, but Sparafucile can't take it any more (3:34). Maddalena suggests to kill the jester when he comes back later to pay the other half, so they save the young man and keep all the money. Sparafucile refuses, as he is due to his customer. He is a professional, after all. Meanwhile, Gilda watches the whole scene.
Rigoletto is a melodrama in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi and libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on the drama Le Roi s’amuse by Victor Hugo. Originally named La Maledizione (“The Curseâ€), had a triumphant premiere in La Fenice in 1851, where people where allegedly singing “La donna è mobile†on the streets the following day.
Brief synopsis of Rigoletto (spoiler alert): Rigoletto is the story of Rigoletto, a jester in the palace of Duke of Mantua, whose beloved daughter, Gilda, whom he overprotects as the gift of his only love affair, is seduced by the Duke of Mantua, among many others. One of which was the daughter of Count of Monterone, who confronts the Duke and gets cruelly mocked by Rigoletto on its failure to defend his daughter’s honour. Enraged by the jester, Monterone casts a curse on Rigoletto. This is the main leit motiv of the work and will define the fatal ending. In revenge, Gilda is kidnapped by courtisans and taken to the palace, where she is raped by the Duke of Mantua. Rigoletto plans his own vengeance by hiring the hitman Sparafucile to murder the Duke. But Gilda, still madly in love with the Duke, hands herself to Sparafucile to die in his place. Finally, when Rigoletto comes to throw the corpse to whom he believes to be the Duke to the river, is astonished to hear the tune of such in the distance (“La donna é mobileâ€) and snaps in horror when discovers the body of Gilda inside the stead by the Monterone curse came to fruition.
Full Libretto:
Cast: Ingvar Wixell as Rigoletto and Count of Monterone, Luciano Pavarotti as Duke of Mantua, Edita Gruberova as Gilda, Ferruccio Furlanetto as Sparafucile, Victoria Vergara as Maddalena, Fedora Barbieri as Giovanna, Bernd Weikl as Marullo, Remy Corazza as Borsa, Roland Bracht as Count of Ceprano and Kathleen Kuhlmann as Countess of Ceprano.
Wiener Philharmoniker, directed by Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, 1981.
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