rigoletto ii

8/10/2019 Rigoletto II

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Cast

Rigoletto, the dukes jester!Felice Varesi

Gilda, his daughter!

Teresa Brambilla

Duca di Mantova!Ra#aele Mirate

Sparafucile, an assassin !Paolo Damini

Maddalena, his sister!Annetta Casaloni


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musical form

Five arias!only one in double$aria form %Possente amor,Act II&, three in single movements

Five duets

No grand finales to acts Male chorus only, with only one formal chorus %near end of

Act I&

No aria di sortita %entrance aria&for prima donna

Elimination of recitative in Act II; sometimes unusual use ofrecit elsewhere %eg., parlante duet between Rigoletto andSparafucile in Act I; preface to storm in Act III&


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Dramma per Musica

Parker argues that the drama of the opera is centred aroundRigoletto, who typically expresses himself in a musical style%free, orchestrally accompanied arioso&that delivers the words

with a minimum of repetition or distortion, a style that

minimizes the formal constraints music may place uponwords. 'Parker, 298(

Yet these moments are juxtaposed with traditional,Rossinian fixed forms: areas in which the words frequently

lose their semantic freshness %through distortion, selectiverepetition, or rearrangement&in the service of strictly musicalclosure. 'Parker, 298(


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Musical Form and

characterisation

The duke remains musically immobile: hisopening ballata and final canzone are the moststylized numbers in the opera;

In contrast, Gilda matures emotionally throughthe opera, abandoning the vocal ornaments andformal conventions of her earlier music and

increasingly adapts her musical language to thatof her father. 'Parker, 298(


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Letter to Carlo Borsi, 8 September 1852:

I conceived Rigoletto without arias, withoutfinales, as an unbroken chain of duets, because I

was convinced that that was most appropriate.Cesari and Luzio %eds.&, I copialettere di Giuseppe Verdi, 497.


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Verdi to Piave

I have in mind a subject that would be one of thegreatest creations of the modern theatre if onlythe police would allow it. Who knows? They

allowedErnani, they might even allow us to dothis and at least there are no conspiracies in it.Have a try! The subject is grand, immense andtheres a character in it who is one of the greatest

creations that the theatre of all countries and alltimes can boast. The subject is Le roi samuse.


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Other innovative

elements

Onstage action juxtaposed by perspective of o#$

stage action

Incompleteness of words!duke falls asleepmid$word; Gilda dies mid$word

Operas reliance on dramatic irony


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What is irony?


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What is irony?

a rhetorical device playing on an incongruitybetween literal and implied meaning.


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what is

dramatic irony


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what is

dramatic irony

When the audience has information aboutevents within the narrative that the characterdoesnt.


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Dramatic Irony

I, i: The courtiers believe Rigoletto has a mistress; welearn later in the act that she is his daughter.

I, v: When the duke desires countess Ceprano, Rigoletto

advises him to kidnap her. I, vi: Rigoletto laughs at Monterones despair and threats

of vengeance; Monterone replies: You who laugh at afathers grief, may you be cursed!

I, viii: Gildas belief that the duke is a poor student;

I, x: The blindfolding of Rigoletto so that he connives inthe kidnap of his own daughter %end of Act I&


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Dramatic Irony

II, i: The duke thinks that he has lost Gilda; weknow she has been stolen by his courtiers;

II: Rigoletto does not know the whereabouts of his

daughter!we do; III: The duke thinks that La donna mobile!we

see Gilda sacrificing her life for his;

III: Sparafucile and Maddalena think Gilda is a boy;

III: Rigoletto thinks that the body in the sack isthat of the duke.


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Caro nome (Gilda), Act I


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Cortigiani, vil razza

dannata (Rigoletto, Act II)


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Rigoletto and Love

paternal/filial a#

ection

romance

eroticism


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Letter to Carlo Borsi, 8 September 1852:

There would be one place, but God help us! Wewould be flagellated. It would be necessary to see

Gilda with the Duke in the bedroom!! Do youunderstand me? In any case, it would be a duet. Amagnificent duet!! But the priests, the monks andthe hypocrites would cry scandal. Oh, happy were

the days when Diogenes could say in the public

piazza to whoever was questioning what he did:Hominen quaero! 'I am looking for a man(

Cesari and Luzio %eds.&,I copialettere di Giuseppe Verdi, 497.


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Seduction and rape

In nineteenth$century Italy, rape considered as a

crime against honour and social value, ratherthan as a crime against the body and psyche

Punishment therefore designed to correct loss

of value


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Penalties

Marriage with the victim %rape sometimes used

as a strategy to enforce marriage&

Payment of all ensuing childbirth costs

Prison!four$month term %1832&; three years

%1857&


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Gazzetta musicale di Firenze,

7 July 1853

What would 'Verdi(reply to his daughter if, takento Rigoletto, she asked him what the Duke did topoor Gilda? Is it thus the theatre is meant to be an

educator? And meanwhile those would$be geniusesdrag it into the mud; and, for the wretched

satisfaction of 'making(an e#ect, demoralise,brutalise and divide the public. Today beauty is

sought in the most peculiar formulae, in the mostatrocious crimes, in the most repugnant

immorality.


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Gazzetta musicale di Firenze,

29 September 1853

There you will learn that when youre at the keyhole %orbetter, at the crevice of a wall, if it has one&in order to see

whats happening in the room, and you see preparations forthe killing of a man, instead of arousing the

neighbourhood in order to save him '(you must allowyourself to be killed for him!even more so if the personwho is doing the looking is a woman, and if the one whomust be killed is the lover who has betrayed her. Perhaps

in this case another woman, if generous, would haveshouted for help or hammered immediately on the door inorder to interrupt that bloody work, or, if vengeful, would

have left him to be killed.


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Gildas death

This final scene met with little acclamation from the critics!even from those whom might be regarded as generally

supportive of Verdi. Abramo Basevi declared bluntly: The finalduetto makes very little e#ect. However, it must not be

forgotten that music has nothing to lend to a situation sodisgusting.

Even Marco Marcelliano Marcello, whose praise for the

storm scene was fulsome, was disappointed: the final scene,however well$treated, does not produce the e#ect one wouldwish; the spirit remains too lacerated to be able to feel other

impressions.


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Gildas death


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Extracts

Opening scene

Rigolettos scene with Sparafucile

Gilda and the Duke $Caro nome

Rigolettos curse

Quartet, storm, Gildas death


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Summary


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Summary

Verdis most fluid, dynamic opera to date

Characters exhibit di#erent musical personas

Characters are more psychologically developed

Duets play more dominant role

Innovative approach to vocality eg. use of male voices instorm scene

Parlante style very apparent Traditional conventions still used, but often put to specific

musico$dramatic e#ect

rigoletto ii

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