This article is the second installment in a series of my conversations with Washington, D.C.-based opera scholar, Saul Lilienstein, about the Verdi operas scheduled for broadcast this season on WETA Classical’s Opera Matinee Saturday afternoon feature. We’re delighted to hear Mr. Lilienstein’s insights into opera, many of which he has shared throughout the Washington, D.C. community through his involvement with professional arts organizations, universities and The Smithsonian. This conversation includes references to comments Mr. Lilienstein previously presented in his lecture series for Washington National Opera.
Here, we discuss Verdi’s Rigoletto, presented live by the Metropolitan Opera on Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025 at 1:00 pm (ET) and broadcast live on WETA Classical’s Opera Matinee.
Linda Carducci: We could talk for hours about Verdi’s mid-to-late career masterpiece, Rigoletto, (1853) -- its complexity, its taught structure, its supply of memorable melodies, its cast of larger-than-life characters, and of course, the tragic, heartbreaking story. Rigoletto has roots in a Victor Hugo play, but with a Shakespearian tinge.
Saul Lilienstein: There are certainly literary influences. Let’s start with the direct source material, Victor Hugo’s 1832 play, Le roi s’amuse (The King Amuses Himself), about the tragic life of a court jester, Triboulet (an historical character), who serves the womanizing 16th century King of France. But French authorities were not amused by Hugo’s portrayal of a licentious and corrupt king; they labeled Hugo’s play “immoral and obscene” and banned it after only one performance. Verdi became familiar with Hugo’s play and wrote to his librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, “There is a character in it named Triboulet who is a creation worthy of Shakespeare. The subject is immense.” Verdi’s reference to Shakespeare is noteworthy because he admired Shakespeare’s writings and composed three operas based on Shakespeare plays --Macbeth, Otello and Falstaff -- and intended to write another on his favorite Shakespeare play, Re Lear. So we can see the intersection of both writers in this Verdi work. There’s a richness in the juxtaposition of terrible and comic, purity and evil, found in Shakespeare and in this Hugo story of a cynical court jester, mocked and reviled, who loses the most pure and precious thing in his life.
So when Verdi received a commission from the famed La Fenice opera house in Venice to write an opera, he eagerly chose to set Hugo’s play. But he expected objection and censorship from Austrian authorities who ruled northern Italy. So he and Piave (who provided libretti for some of Verdi’s earlier operas, including Macbeth and Stifellio) were willing to negotiate with authorities and changed the character of the King of France to the Duke of Mantua. Triboulet became Rigoletto.
LC: I’m fascinated by the character of Rigoletto and how Verdi portrays him. Rigoletto struggles physically with a curvature of the spine, his daily life as a jester to a corrupt Duke makes him rough and cynical, he enables the Duke’s womanizing behavior by encouraging him to seduce married women and even murder or imprison the husband of one of the women, he is despised and suffers indignities. He even hires an assassin to murder the Duke after the Duke seduces Rigoletto’s beloved daughter, Gilda. Yet in certain moments Verdi portrays him with a sense of vulnerability; Rigoletto is affectionate and loving to Gilda and becomes frightened and cautious in his secret meeting with the assassin Sparafucile, whom Rigoletto eventually hires to murder the Duke.
SL: The character of Rigoletto is just one of the juxtapositions here; they’re a constant element in the opera. Let’s look at the very beginning. The work opens with a melodramatic prelude, set in a minor key with descending phrases that portend tragedy and include the curse theme that will recur as a thematic device. That leads to the action-packed and significant opening scene, set during a festive gathering of men at the Duke’s court, a game of sexual politics in which the Duke boasts of his sexual conquests even as he engages the fury of the husband and father of the women he intends to seduce. But one guest, Count Monterone, confronts the Duke about his seduction of Monterone’s daughter. The Duke and Rigoletto mock Monterone as being unable to protect his daughter. In fury, Monterone curses the Duke and Rigoletto, a curse that overshadows the entire work and is the direct cause of its tragic end. Verdi juxtaposes this tense setting with light and frivolous music. And more contrasts emerge in the character of Gilda as she evolves from a pure and hopeful girl so loved and protected by Rigoletto to a frightened young woman thrust into an adult world of romance, heartache and terror.
LC: Rigoletto was composed during a significant period of Verdi’s artistic development. It’s one of three Verdi masterpieces that include Il trovatore and La traviata written between the brief period of 1851 to 1853. With Rigoletto, Verdi said that he sought to compose in “a single breath.” How so?
SL: Verdi went on to say that not composing in a single breath “is to run the risk of creating a mosaic without style or character.” At this point in his writing career, Verdi was interested in structural change to opera. With Rigoletto, his objective was to present, within the drama and musical lines, a compact work of reality; he said that creating something real was even better than copying reality. So he omitted the traditional practice, typical of his contemporaries Donizetti and Bellini, of creating a pause after arias for audience applause. Just look at the opening scene – at no point does the action stop! It’s the leanest, richest and most complex opening scene thus far in 19th century Italian opera. That’s emblematic of the entire work; Rigoletto is concise and tightly drawn, characters and events are introduced abruptly, like shots from a canon, action and music move with successive, quick strokes to create a heightened sense of tension that barrels breathlessly toward the fierce terribilitá -- the Italian description of art that evokes terror or awe -- of the conclusion.
LC: Verdi’s orchestration and his writing for the characters of Rigoletto are striking for their moods and blockbuster melodies. You’ve mentioned the foreboding overture. What else is notable?
SL: Verdi’s imaginative orchestration is key to underscoring the tension of this drama. Take, for example, the sinister conversation between Rigoletto and Sparafucile, held in the dark of night, in which Sparafucile offers to assassinate the Duke for Rigoletto. Supporting their clandestine meeting is a spare and almost shadowy orchestral commentary of its own consisting of for one cello and one bass, both muted; a sound sweet and sinister. An affectionate “goodnight” duet between Rigoletto and Gilda is a study in tenderness. And in the famous Act 3 quartet, “Bella figlia dell’amore” (Beautiful daughter of love), varying expressions from four different characters are brought together into a tight, confined space with no cessation of action. In this scene, we see the Duke unctuously seduce Maddalena, who responds in a flirtatious series of two-note phrases, like a swirling skirt. Watching from the sidelines is a heartbroken Gilda, who loves the Duke and expresses her betrayal with a series of drooping musical lines as Rigoletto consoles his daughter with soothing tones.
In writing for the character of Rigoletto (a baritone), Verdi purposefully strains the baritone range to a high tessitura. That creates tension in the voice to lend a sense of anxiety and power to this character who becomes increasingly anxious with a curse over his head and impending danger to his daughter. Ironically, the character of Rigoletto has no power at all over his life or the course of actions stemming from the curse. It’s considered one of the most difficult baritone roles in opera. So if a baritone performing this role can’t quite reach the higher stretches, the straining sound gives him a sense of power. And not only with this role or this opera, Verdi sometimes doubled the singing line with an instrument to intensify emotion and fuel power to sear through the concert hall.
LC: There are some blockbuster arias in Rigoletto. Even if you’re hearing the opera for the first time, you’re bound to recognize some of the melodies.
SL: Crafting melodies is only one of Verdi’s great talents! We’ll see the talent shine again and again, especially in Aida. Right off the bat in the first scene of Rigoletto, the Duke sings proudly of his promiscuity with the rolling rhythm of a street song, reminiscent of Louis Prima, in the aria “Questa o Quella” (This Girl or That Girl is Equal). Later, in Gilda’s tender aria, “Caro nome” (Dearest name), she expresses her love for a man she knows as Gualtier Maldé, who is really the Duke disguised as a poor student. And then there’s the eternally famous tenor aria, “La donna e mobile”, in which the Duke confidently proclaims that a woman is fickle. Verdi knew he had a hit on his hands with that melody, so he forbade the tenor from singing the aria outside of rehearsals for the premiere. And we’ve mentioned the beautiful quartet, “Bella figlia dell’amore”.
LC: Verdi and Richard Wagner were born the same year: 1813. Each was a titan of 19th century opera. Yet their styles were different. How can we view Rigoletto in context with Wagner’s evolution during this period?
SL: Verdi was aware of what Wagner was creating north of Italy, but found his own voice in creating his own new style. Each in his own way brought realism to opera and heightened the psychological intent of characters through new musical structures. With Rigoletto, the sense of realism is realized with a “single breath” technique and thematic musical devices. And Verdi did this even before Wagner’s music was heard in Italy. In this sense, Verdi was a great evolutionist. It’s worth noting, too, that both composers wrote poignantly for father-daughter relationships, so evident in Verdi’s Rigoletto, Luisa Miller, and Simon Boccanegra, and in Wagner’s Die Walküre.
LC: Rigoletto was a smash from its premiere in 1851, and it remains a staple in today’s repertoire. Just think of how many stellar musicians have admired this work through the ages.
SL: Both Victor Hugo and Gioachino Rossini attended performances of Rigoletto when it was staged in Paris after its Venice premiere. Hugo, it’s been reported, was envious of Verdi’s operatic rendition of his play. Rossini, who had had some previous reservations about Verdi, acknowledged this as Verdi’s masterwork. So how do you top this masterpiece? Well, Verdi’s masterful mind found a way. Yet to come was Il trovatore, La traviata, Un Ballo in Maschera, La forza del destino, Don Carlo, Aida, Otello and Falstaff!
Hear Verdi’s Rigoletto on WETA Classical’s Opera Matinee, Saturday, January 11, 2025 at 1:00 pm (ET).
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