Rigoletto

The Duke of Mantua loves pleasure and women. In his court jester Rigoletto, he has a cynical henchman, because nothing and no-one is sacred to the hunchback – except for Gilda, his only child. To protect her from the amorous advances of his master, he keeps her hidden away from the world. But the curse of the Count of Monterone, whose daughter was dishonoured by the Duke, falls on Rigoletto, and a brutal fate takes its course …

»Rigoletto« formed the basis for Giuseppe Verdi's world fame as the absolute king of Italian opera. He himself believed that he would never be able to create anything as beautiful again. The opera, based on Victor Hugo's atmospheric drama »Le roi s’amuse«, combines all the elements that the opera-going public of around 1851 loved, and which still enthral everyone today: a cynical outsider figure in the midst of lust and power, guilt and innocence. In the production by the Viennese theatre and stage director Herbert Föttinger, the Gärtnerplatztheater presents one of the most touching and yet most gruesome works in opera literature.

Strobe effects are used during the performance.

Programmheft RIGOLETTO Leseprobe