![]() In despair, he pleads for her to be released. But when a page is denied entry to the Duke’s room, he knows that Gilda is to be found there. ![]() ![]() He initially pretends indifference in front of the courtiers gloating maliciously. Rigoletto also suspects that Gilda is at the palace and looks for her. His worries are assuaged when the courtiers report that they have abducted Gilda to the palace. Rigoletto offers his help and only discovers the deception when it is too late and Gilda is already gone.ĪCT TWO The next morning, the Duke is deeply concerned, because when he returned to Gilda last night he was unable to find her. When he himself arrives, Marullo pretends that it is the Countess Ceprano they want to abduct. There, courtiers are planning to kidnap Gilda, whom they take for Rigoletto’s mistress. Sounds from outside force “Gualtier Maldé” to leave. In that very moment, he is standing before her in the shape of the Duke, who pretends to be a student named Gualtier Maldé and declares his love for her. Gilda remains behind with pangs of conscience, since she has kept it secret from her father that she has seen a young man at church whom she has fallen in love with. In the meantime, the Duke has bribed Giovanna and thus gets access to the home of the woman he so desires. After a conversation with her about her being his entire family after the death of her mother, Rigoletto departs again. She knows nothing about her father’s work, not even his name, and is only allowed to leave the house to attend mass, closely guarded by the housekeeper. Instead, he enters his home where his daughter Gilda awaits him. Thinking about the curse, Rigoletto makes his way home and on the way meets the hired killer Sparafucile, whose services he declines. Monterone curses the shameful shenanigans of the duke and his court jester before he is taken away. But Rigoletto only has ridicule for him, who was convicted of high treason, but only pardoned when his daughter offered the Duke sexual favors. Now Count Monterone crashes the festivities and demands angrily to be heard. ![]() To make his way free for the Countess, Rigoletto suggests that the Duke simply have Ceprano executed, a cynical suggestion that the Duke takes with humor, but Ceprano and the other courtiers demand punishment for Rigoletto. In the meantime, Marullo tells the other courtiers about his discovery that Rigoletto has a secret love. Court jester Rigoletto mercilessly mocks Count Ceprano for this. But first he dives into the festivities to seek companionship with Countess Ceprano, another object of his desire. DatesĪCT ONE At one of his lavish parties, the Duke tells the courtier Borsa of a beautiful stranger he has cast his eye upon. The contrasts between garish banda music and expressive cantilena form an uncompromising masterpiece of tremendous brevity and sharpness. In Verdi’s first mature work, the trivial, the grotesque, and high pathos are all intertwined. The universally known tenor hit »La donna è mobile« becomes a cynical code for failure. In the end, however, it is not the Duke but Gilda who falls victim to the plot. When Gilda succumbs to the Duke’s arts of seduction, Rigoletto plans a deadly revenge. Nonetheless, the Duke has his eye on her. Rigoletto, however, hides his daughter Gilda from the shameless goings-on. He is then cursed before the entire court by the distraught father of a woman he has dishonoured. Rigoletto incites the dissolute Duke to constantly seduce and abduct beautiful women, treating their families with derision. He had to change the name of his melodrama from »La maledizione« (»The curse«) to »Rigoletto« and change its setting to the court of a fictional Duke of Mantua, but he left the plot and its blatancy untouched.
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