{"id":29423,"date":"2014-05-20T06:00:10","date_gmt":"2014-05-20T13:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=29423"},"modified":"2014-06-02T10:46:40","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T17:46:40","slug":"rigoletto-at-the-israel-opera","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=29423","title":{"rendered":"Rigoletto at the Israel Opera"},"content":{"rendered":"

Revenge is the subject of the next opera to be staged in Tel Aviv and other select locations across Israel. It takes place in the court of a frivolous, womanizing duke, where Rigoletto is the Duke\u2019s disfigured, disgruntled court jester. You may remember this production from the 2011-2012 season, also starring Baggio and Almaguer, which won excellent reviews.<\/p>\n

The opera takes place in the court of the Duke of Mantua, a young and frivolous ruler who spends his time womanizing and throwing lavish parties for his courtiers. The jester Rigoletto hates life at court but has an important person to come home to \u2013 his daughter, who is kept hidden from the outside world. At one of the Duke\u2019s parties, Rigoletto mocks Count Ceprano, whose daughter is being harassed by the courtiers. The Count curses him \u2013 a father\u2019s curse. This curse \u2013 \u201cLa Maledizione\u201d \u2013 will send Rigoletto down a terrible path of vengeance and violence, ending in tragedy.<\/p>\n

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Rigoletto\/Photo courtesy of PR<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Not quite a victim but not truly a villain either, Rigoletto toys with our emotions, making us cheer for his vendetta one moment and hate him for it the next: he mocks the courtiers mercilessly \u2013 but this is what he’s paid for; he begs for their mercy \u2013 and then curses their entire race; he plots the Duke’s murder \u2013 but this is done to avenge his daughter’s honor; even his great aria of revenge, “Si, vendetta, tremenda vendetta”, which follows the Act II duet with Gilda, is borne out of the tender words he speaks to her.
\nVerdi, giving music to these troubled characters, might have given the role of Rigoletto to a bass, which was more popular at the time in Italian opera. Instead he crafted the jester as a baritone \u2013 between a tenor, associated with heroes, and a bass, associated with villains \u2013 blending the warring aspects of Rigoletto’s character not only in words, but also in music. Rigoletto would join the ranks of Verdi baritone roles that have been driving audiences wild ever since: the Conte di Luna, Rodrigo the Marquis de Posa, Falstaff, Macbeth \u2013 all diverse and scintillating characters.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a demanding role, physically as well as emotionally: Rigoletto is a hunchback, and the costume often necessitates the singer hobbling across the stage sporting a hunch and a limp. For years, Verdi baritones have been putting their own spin on the vocal demands of the role, creating, for example, the precedent of singing an A flat \u2013 and sometimes even a high A natural! \u2013 on the final notes of the opera: \u201cAh, la maledizione!\u201d (\u201cAh, the curse!\u201d):
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Rigoletto can certainly be classified as a revenge tragedy, but the opera’s comic scenes are just as powerful as the tragic. Where Verdi quickly moves from one genre to the other, you can usually find a moment of dramatic importance: the overture, for instance, is recognizable by its ominous C minor theme, and just as our ears are hit with its final dramatic chords, the music changes to the lively, playful melody of the Duke\u2019s party scene, which opens the opera.
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