Rigoletto Synopsis

The Story

Act I
During a ball at his palace, the Duke of Mantua tells of his designs on a beautiful girl he has seen in church. Then, admiring Count Ceprano's wife, the Duke rejoices in the beauty of women and his libertine hedonism ("Questa o quella"). When the Duke's flirtatious dance with Countess Ceprano draws the couple into another room, Rigoletto, the court jester, mocks the woman's enraged but helpless husband. The nobles, delighted by the Duke's daring, are even more amused when Marullo bursts in with the latest gossip: Rigoletto is keeping a young mistress. The jester is so free with his jibes that Ceprano plots with other courtiers to punish him. Monterone, an elderly nobleman, forces his way in to denounce the Duke for seducing his daughter. Ridiculed by Rigoletto, Monterone hurls a father's curse at both jester and Duke.

On the way home that night, Rigoletto broods over Monterone's curse. Sparafucile steps from the shadows, offering his services as an assassin. The jester dismisses him, reflecting that his own tongue is as sharp as any murderer's dagger ("Pari siamo!"). As he enters his courtyard, Gilda, his daughter, comes out of the house to greet him. When she asks about her long-dead mother, Rigoletto nostalgically describes his wife as an angel ("Deh non parlare al misero"), adding that Gilda is everything to him. But he will not reveal his name or allow her to leave the house except to go to church. Rigoletto warns the housekeeper, Giovanna, to admit no one ("Ah! veglia, o donna"). He runs out into the street when he hears someone at the gate; at the same moment, the Duke slips into the courtyard, bribing Giovanna to keep her quiet. The Duke declares his love to Gilda, who has noticed him in church ("È il sol dell'anima"). He says he is "Gualtier Maldè," a poor student. At the sound of footsteps — Ceprano and Borsa are rallying courtiers outside — Gilda begs him to leave, and they exchange excited goodbyes ("Addio, speranza ed anima!"). Repeating his name ("Caro nome"), Gilda goes up to bed. Meanwhile, the courtiers stop Rigoletto and ask him to help abduct Ceprano's wife, who lives across the street. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall. The courtiers break into his house ("Zitti, zitti") and carry off Gilda. When Rigoletto hears her cry for help, he tears off the blindfold and rushes in. Not finding Gilda, he remembers Monterone's curse ("Ah! la maledizione!").

Act II
In his palace, the Duke is distraught over the kidnaping of Gilda, whom he imagines alone and in tears ("Parmi veder le lagrime"). When his courtiers return, saying they took her and she is now in his chamber, he dashes off to the conquest ("Possente amor mi chiama"). Soon Rigoletto enters, searching for Gilda. Though the courtiers are astonished to learn she is his daughter, they bar his way. He lashes out at their cruelty, then weeps for mercy ("Cortigiani! vil razza"). Gilda appears and runs in shame to her father. Alone with Rigoletto, Gilda tells of falling in love at church, of the Duke's courtship, of her abduction ("Tutte le feste al tempio"). When Monterone is led through on his way to the dungeons, Rigoletto declares he will avenge them both (duet: "Sì, vendetta").

Act III
Rigoletto and Gilda wait outside the inn where Sparafucile and his sister, Maddalena, live. Rigoletto makes Gilda look through an opening in the wall. She sees the Duke, disguised as a soldier and laughing about the fickleness of women ("La donna è mobile"), trying to seduce the assassin's sister. Rigoletto cautions his daughter and plots revenge as Maddalena draws out the libertine (quartet: "Bella figlia dell' amore"). Telling Gilda to dress as a boy, the jester sends her to Verona, then pays Sparafucile to murder the Duke and leaves. A storm breaks. Gilda returns to overhear Maddalena urging her brother to spare the stranger. Sparafucile agrees to substitute the next person who comes. Gilda, resolved to sacrifice herself, knocks at the door and is stabbed. Rigoletto returns to claim his prize — only to hear his supposed victim singing in the distance. Frantically opening the sack, he finds his daughter. Gilda dies asking forgiveness ("Lassù in cielo"). Rigoletto cries that Monterone's curse has been fulfilled.

The Background
In 1850, when the Teatro La Fenice asked Verdi for a new opera, he was contemplating King Lear, Hamlet or the contemporary Spanish play El Trovador. Finally he decided to adapt Hugo's Le Roi s'Amuse. Verdi's imagination was fired by the jester's paternal love, which Francesco Maria Piave emphasized in his libretto. The composer was working well with the music when the censor objected, fearing that a plot showing a monarch in an unfavorable light might provoke demonstrations. Verdi agreed only to change the locale and the names of the characters, the king becoming a fictional Duke of Mantua. Venice cheered the opera at its premiere on March 11, 1851. In America, Rigoletto was given first at the Academy of Music in New York on February 19, 1855; the Metropolitan Opera presented it in its first season, November 16, 1883.

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