Rigoletto

Rigoletto – Giuseppe Verdi

Running time: 3 hours, including two intervals

Language: Italian

Surtitles: Hungarian, English, Italian

The lecherous noblemen of the Mantuan court must be entertained, and a deformed jester spares no one his jeers to ensure that they are. And yet he prays that the scathing mockery he heaps on the suffering of others will not return to haunt him. All he must do is seal his work off from his family life. But when his daughter, following her own heart, leaves the safety of those walls, Rigoletto's secret double life leads her to her doom.The popularity of Verdi's work is no accident: with Shakespearean profundity and thrilling music, it depicts a tragedy of acceptance and schadenfreude, love and self-sacrifice.

Age restriction: The performance is not recommended for children under 12 years of age.

Synopsis

Act 1

First scene

A hall in the ducal palace

The Duke of Mantua is boasting about his most recent adventure to the assembled nobles: he has made the acquaintance of a young well-to-do maiden of the city, whom he has approached dressed in the simple clothes of a student with the intention of seducing her. In the meantime, he is also not giving up his courtship of the wife of the Count of Ceprano: in spite of her husband's presence, he makes advances at her.

Rigoletto, the court fool, arrives and mocks the married couple, who are at the mercy of the duke's whims. Nearly all of the courtiers have fallen victim to the jester's sharp tongue at one time or another, and when Marullo arrives with the news that Rigoletto is keeping a lover, they all resolve to repay him for his many humiliations by abducting the girl. The Count of Monterone storms into the ball to call the duke to account for seducing his daughter, only to be caricatured by Rigoletto. Monterone curses the jester.

Second scene

Rigoletto's house and garden and the adjacent street

Rigoletto is terrified by Monterone's curse. On his way home, he is stopped by the assassin Sparafucile, who offers the jester his services. Rigoletto dismisses him and hurries home to his daughter, Gilda, whom he has raised sequestered away from the world in complete ignorance of her father’s name and profession. The girl, however, is concealing from him the fact that for months now she has been meeting with an unknown student, with whom she has fallen in love. The student is none other than the duke in disguise. After Rigoletto departs, the courtiers arrive with the aim of abducting the woman whom they believe to be the jester's lover. Rigoletto suddenly returns, and they convince him that they are trying to kidnap Countess Ceprano. Rigoletto takes part in the game, and only when it is too late does he realise that he has assisted in the abduction of his own daughter.

Act 2

A hall in the ducal palace

The courtiers offer up the kidnapped girl to the duke. Also arriving, overcome with despair, is Rigoletto: this time, however, he is the one who is mocked by the courtiers. The jester informs his daughter of her mysterious suitor's identity and true nature nature, but Gilda remains unmoved: she loves the duke. Rigoletto swears deadly revenge.

Act 3

By the River Mincio and Sparafucile's house

During the night, Rigoletto finds Sparafucile and hires him to murder the duke, but first he wants to disillusion Gilda with him. He forces her to watch as the duke courts Sparafucile's lovely younger sister, Maddalena. The confused and distraught Gilda is ordered by her father to put on men's clothing and head for Verona right away. The girl, nevertheless, returns to Sparafucile's house, where she finds out about her father's murderous plan. Fancying the prince, Maddalena asks her brother to spare his life and instead kill the first stranger who enters the inn. Gilda decides to sacrifice herself. Wearing men's clothes, she knocks on the gate and, upon entering, is mortally wounded. Sparafucile hands over a sack to Rigoletto, claiming that it contains the duke's dead body. Upon hearing the duke's voice in the distance, however, Rigoletto opens the sack and discovers his dying daughter inside it. Monterone's curse has thus been fulfilled.

Program and cast

Conductor - Péter Halász

Duke of Mantua - Andrei Danilov, Gergely Boncsér

Rigoletto - Michele Kalmandy, Alexandru Agache

Gilda - Zita Szemere, Laura Topolánszky

Sparafucile - István Rácz

Maddalena - Viktória Mester

Count Monterone - László Szvétek

Marullo - N. N.

Borsa - Attila Erdős

Count Ceprano - Dávid Dani

Countess Ceprano - Anija Lombard (opera studio)

Giovanna - Lusine Sahakyan

Page - N. N.

Court usher - Zoltán Bátki Fazekas

Featuring the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra and Chorus, as well as students of the Hungarian Dance University and the Hungarian National Ballet Institute

Director: Mária Harangi

Director: Miklós Szinetár

Set designer: Attila Csikós

Costume designer: Rita Velich

Choreographer: Jenő Lőcsei

Anna Varsányi's rough translation revised for use as subtitles by Eszter Orbán

English translation by Arthur Roger Crane

Chorus director: Gábor Csiki