Micaele Sparacino General Director

The story of Rigoletto

Act I, Scene 1: The opera opens in the salon of the palace of the Duke of Mantua, where a great ball is in progress. The sounds of laughter, merriment and music are heard as grand ladies with their attendant nobles move about. The Duke enters with a noble, Borsa. They discuss an unknown lady the Duke has seen recently in church. He is determined to make the young lady his next conquest, but for the present confers his attentions on the Countess Ceprano, leading her away under the very nose of her husband.

Rigoletto, the hunchbacked jester, comes on the scene. It is his habit to make bitter fun of everybody, not excepting the Duke. This time, however, he chooses for his victim the crestfallen Count Ceprano.

Suddenly, a commotion is heard and a newcomer bursts in. It is the aged Count Monterone, and before the startled revelers he denounces the Duke as the seducer of his daughter. The Duke summons his soldiers and Monterone is arrested and taken away to prison. Rigoletto jeers at the old count and mocks him as he is led away, whereupon Monterone turns and hurls a horrible father's curse upon the hunchback, terrifying all assembled. Rigoletto is horrified by the curse and abruptly drops his jeering pose. For others, the music and the party have already resumed.

Act I, Scene 2: It is night outside Rigoletto's house, which happens to be nearby the home of Count Ceprano. Rigoletto comes into the street still troubled by Monterone's curse. Sparafucile, a professional assassin, approaches him. The jester betrays an interest in this sinister individual's methods but for the moment he declines the assasin's offer of his services.

Rigoletto enters his house and his daughter Gilda comes forward and embraces him warmly. He warns her never to go out of the house except to go to church and orders her maid, Giovanna, to keep a careful watch on her. Footsteps are heard and Rigoletto goes out to investigate. As he opens the door of the courtyard, the Duke, disguised as a student, slips past him unobserved and hides himself behind a tree in the court. Rigoletto returns satisfied that no one is about. He bids farewell to his daughter with a final word of caution.

As soon as the jester has gone, the Duke motions for Giovanna to leave and then falls at Gilda's feet, declaring his love. The girl is already strangely moved by this handsome youth she has seen at church. He tells her he is a student by the name of Gualtier Maldé. After a passionate outburst in which he presses his suit to some avail he quickly departs as voices are heard approaching in the street outside.

Left alone, Gilda muses on his name in the famous coloratura aria "Caro nome che il mio cor," as she makes her way upstairs and into the house.

Outside in the darkness Borsa, Marullo and the other nobles and courtiers are waiting. They intend to take revenge upon the bitter-tongued Rigoletto by abducting this unknown young lady upon he seems to call upon so frequently. They are unaware that it is his daughter. Rigoletto however returns unexpectedly. Borsa and Marullo tell him that their intention is to abduct the Countess Ceprano from the house next door. They allay his suspicions so successfully that he offers his assistance. Marullo produces a mask on the pretext of making it more secure. He ties it to Rigoletto's head with a handkerchief so that he is blindfolded. He is made to hold a ladder against a wall he takes to be Count Ceprano's but in fact is his own. The others now climb over the wall, seize and bind Gilda, and carry her off to the Duke for his own lascivious sport. Rigoletto realizes too late that he has been fooled. He tears off the mask and rushes into his house calling for Gilda. There is no sign of her, only the scarf she has dropped lies on the floor. "Ah! The curse!" he cries.

Act II: A salon in the ducal palace. The Duke is unhappy because he cannot find Gilda. Marullo and the others arrive and inform him that they has abducted Rigoletto's mistress (as they suppose her) and brought her to the palace. Overjoyed at his luck, the Duke goes off to "comfort" his latest victim.

Rigoletto enters. He is convinced that his daughter is somewhere in the palace but is determined not to betray his anxiety and grief to these laughing courtiers. He will discover Gilda's whereabouts by stealth. This is one of the most impressive passages in the opera. Verdi's ability to convey the duality of the clown who must laugh while his heart is breaking with grief demonstrates the composer's increasing mastery of drama. While the courtiers enjoy the novelty of mocking the jester, the door bursts open and Gilda flies into her father's arms. Rigoletto does not have to ask what has happened. It is only too apparent from Gilda's distraught appearance that the Duke has not failed to live up to his reputation. He rails furiously at the courtiers and compels them to withdraw. Gilda relates the whole story: the disguised student, the meetings at the church, the abduction. In a moment of great melodrama, as if to drive home the curse, Monterone is now escorted through the room on his way to execution. Rigoletto swears that the curse will fall upon the seducer and that the Duke shall pay with his life.
Gilda, however, pleads with her father to spare him. Such is the power of her infatuation.

Act III

The scene is a dilapidated inn on the banks of the river Mincio, with the city of Mantua in the distance. It is night. This is the abode of the assassin Sparafucile, which he shares with his sister Maddalena. Outside, Rigoletto and Gilda are hiding. He has brought her here to prove to his daughter the fickleness of her lover, who is now seen approaching in the uniform of a cavalry officer and singing gaily. The Duke enters the inn and then with impressive effrontery and irony begins to sing of the fickleness of women in one of Verdi's most celebrated arias, "La donna è mobile". He turns his attentions to Maddalena, who repulses his advances with expressions of naïve alarm, which she has no difficulty feigning.

Gilda and Rigoletto, still outside the inn, join the Duke and Maddalena in the celebrated quartet "Bella figlia dell'amore." At the conclusion of the quartet, Sparafucile, who has been hired to murder the Duke, comes out of the inn and receives from Rigoletto half of his fee.
The balance is to be paid on delivery of the body in a sack at midnight.

Gilda, who has been watching the inn through a small crack in the door, despairs at the Duke's ardent wooing of Maddalena. It seems her father's worst accusations are correct, yet she would do anything to save her lover, even at the price of her own life. Storm clouds begin to gather and Rigoletto orders his daughter to return home, dress herself in male attire, and proceed to Verona to await him there. He also departs after she has gone.

A great storm breaks and vivid flashes of lightning reveal the Duke asleep on his bed, while below, Maddalena pleads with Sparafucile for the life of the handsome youth who has touched her heart in the rarely performed aria, "Prendi pieta". The assassin, however, intends to stick to his bargain. Maddalena's insistence finally persuades Sparafucile to agree to kill--in place of the Duke, another stranger who arrives at the inn before midnight. Concealed in a sack, one body is as good as another.

Gilda, in male attire, has returned and overheard this conversation. She resolves to sacrifice her own life in order to save her faithless lover. She knocks at the door of the inn and Maddalena admits her. A few moments of suspense in the dark, a frightened cry, and all is over. The storm abates and a bell is heard in the distance tolling midnight.

Rigoletto returns and knocks at the door of the inn. Sparafucile brings out the sack, hands it over to Rigoletto, and collects the other half of his money. Gloating over his victim, Rigoletto begins to drag the sack towards the river.

Another figure leaves the inn and heads toward the city. Through the night air come the strains of the Duke's aria, "La donna è mobile". Horror struck, Rigoletto tears open the sack to reveal his dying daughter. There is a touching final scene between the heart-broken father and the dying Gilda, while the orchestra plays for the last time the music of Monterone's curse.

—Micaele Sparacino