notes on the program
BY HELEN M. GREENWALD
Giuseppe Verdi Born October 10, 1813 in Le Roncole, Italy Died January 27, 1901 in Milan, Italy
RIGOLETTO [ 1851 ] Giuseppe Verdi, Rigoletto
Verdi’ s Rigoletto was born of a scandal. To understand that claim, it’ s necessary to back up to 1842, when Verdi, still despairing over the loss of his wife and two children( in quick succession, 1838-40, finally returned to opera composition with Nabucco. Nabucco was to change Verdi’ s life in more ways than one. The leading role of Abigaille was sung by Giuseppina Strepponi, a free spirit, who had been the mistress of tenor Napoleone Moriani, and the mother of three illegitimate children, none of whom survived. Verdi was fascinated by her; they soon moved in together and stayed together until her death in 1897. But they were not married until 1859, and gossip was rampant, enraging, in particular, Antonio Barezzi, Verdi’ s ex-father-in-law with whom he had remained very close. Verdi responded to Barezzi defiantly( letter of January 21, 1852):“ I have nothing to hide. In my house there lives a lady, free and independent … Neither I nor she is obliged to account to anyone for our actions … I claim my freedom of action, because all men have a right to it, and because my nature rebels against mere conformity.”
Verdi’ s aggressive retort may be understood as yet another facet of an insurrectionist nature, strengthened by his relationship with Strepponi. Artistically, Verdi also experienced a new ambition to assert his individuality and made his revolutionary musical desires eminently clear in his letter of February, 25 1850 to librettist Salvatore Cammarano, regarding a never fully realized opera based on Shakespeare’ s King Lear:“ You know that we should … treat it in an entirely novel manner … without regard to conventions of any kind.” Such clearly articulated personal and artistic radicalism would soon manifest itself in his choice of outré subjects and situations for the three operas written between April 1850 and March 1853. In Rigoletto( 1851), a hunchback’ s beautiful daughter is abducted and raped; in Il trovatore( 1853), a mad gypsy’ s vengeful act of throwing an infant into a fire leads to fratricide; and in La traviata( 1853) a consumptive courtesan’ s love for a man above her social class climaxes in a passionate reunion and a tragic death.
Francesco d’ Andrade in the title role in the opera Rigoletto at Kungliga Operan 1891. Guest performance.
The librettos for Rigoletto would be written by the Venetian Francesco Maria Piave, who would also write the libretto for La traviata( he had already written libretti for I due Foscari, Atilla, and Macbeth). In 1851, after Verdi received the new commission and signed the contract with La Fenice for a new opera, he wrote to Piave; it was a“ loaded” letter that revealed the composer was clearly up for a tussle with the powers that
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