Booklet - Chandos Records

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Mark
CHANDOS
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Giuseppe Verdi (1813 –1901)
Rigoletto
AKG
CHAN 3030 BOOK.qxd
An opera in three acts
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
English translation by James Fenton
The English National Opera production
Directed for the stage by Jonathan Miller
Rigoletto .................................................................................................. John Rawnsley baritone
Gilda, his daughter ........................................................................................ Helen Field soprano
The ‘Duke’ ......................................................................................................Arthur Davies tenor
Sparafucile .................................................................................................... John Tomlinson bass
Maddalena, his sister ..............................................................................Jean Rigby mezzo-soprano
Monterone ........................................................................................ Norman Bailey bass-baritone
Marullo .......................................................................................................... Alan Opie baritone
Giovanna ...................................................................................... Shelagh Squires mezzo-soprano
Borsa................................................................................................................ Terry Jenkins tenor
Ceprano ...................................................................................................... Mark Richardson bass
Ceprano’s wife..................................................................................Linda McLeod mezzo-soprano
Henchman .................................................................................................... Maurice Bowen bass
Secretary ...................................................................................................... Linda Rands soprano
Giuseppe Verdi, c. 1850
English National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Leslie Fyson chorus master
Mark Elder
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COMPACT DISC ONE
1
[p. 00
2
3
4
5
6
Time Page
Prelude
2:34
63
Act I
Scene One
11
12
‘That pretty girl I’ve been seeing in the city’
‘Duke’, Borsa
‘If a woman should happen to catch my eye’
‘Duke’
‘You’re going? That’s cruel’
‘Duke’, ‘Countess’, Rigoletto, Chorus
‘It’s happened! It’s happened!’
Marullo, Chorus, ‘Duke’, Rigoletto, Ceprano, Borsa, Courtiers
‘I demand to see him’
Monterone, ‘Duke’, Rigoletto, Borsa, Marullo, Ceprano, Courtiers
13
1:50
63
2:06
63
2:03
64
2:48
64
4:52
66
14
15
16
COMPACT DISC ONE
Time Page
‘Oh, dear Giovanna, guard my daughter’
Rigoletto, Gilda, Giovanna, ‘Duke’
‘Giovanna, I should have told him’
Gilda, Giovanna, ‘Duke’
‘Love is the source of life, love is our sunlight’
‘Duke’, Gilda, Ceprano, Borsa, Giovanna
‘Gualtier Maldè, you were the first to love me…
Dearest name of my first love’
Gilda, Borsa, Ceprano, Chorus, Marullo
‘I have returned. But why?’
Rigoletto, Borsa, Ceprano, Marullo
‘Softly, softly we move in to get her’
All, Gilda, Chorus, Rigoletto
5:46
72
3:12
73
5:27
74
6:20
75
2:19
76
3:01
77
TT 58:29
58
Scene Two
7
8
9
45
10
5:46
‘The old man laid his curse on me!’
Rigoletto, Sparafucile
‘We are equals’
Rigoletto
‘Gilda!
Rigoletto, Gilda
‘Ah, do not demand of one so sad’
Rigoletto, Gilda, Giovanna
4
5:10
68
3:52
69
2:03
70
1
5:03
70
2
COMPACT DISC TWO
[p. 00
Time Page
Act II
‘Somebody came and stole her but when?’
‘Duke’
‘Somewhere I see you weeping’
‘Duke’, All
5
2:30
78
3:055078
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COMPACT DISC ONE
Time Page
2:00
78
13
3:13
79
14
3:35
79
15
4:32
81
16
1:29
81
17
7:21
82
18
1:13
83
19
2:12
83
20
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‘We went to look for her last night together’
All, ‘Duke’
‘The power of love is calling’
‘Duke’, All
‘Poor little Rigoletto…’
Marullo, Rigoletto, Chorus, Ceprano, Secretary, Borsa
‘Filthy rabble, you liars, you cowards’
Rigoletto
‘My father!’
Gilda, Rigoletto, All
‘Speak now. They’ve left us’
Rigoletto, Gilda
‘I’ve one thing to do here before I am finished’
Rigoletto, Gilda, Henchman, Monterone
‘Old man, you’re mistaken’
Rigoletto, Gilda
[p. 00
Act III
3
78
4
58
5
6
7
8
9
10
21
11
12
‘You love him?’
Rigoletto, Gilda, ‘Duke’, Sparafucile
‘Women abandon us’
‘Duke’, Sparafucile, Rigoletto
6
2:24
84
3:04
84
22
COMPACT DISC ONE
Time Page
‘When first I came to talk to you’
‘Duke’, Gilda, Maddalena, Rigoletto
‘If you want a faithful lover’
‘Duke’, Maddalena, Gilda, Rigoletto
‘Eighty dollars you were asking’
Rigoletto, Sparafucile, ‘Duke’, Maddalena
‘He’s such a young man, handsome and friendly’
Maddalena, ‘Duke’, Sparafucile
‘I cannot think clearly’
Gilda, Maddalena, Sparafucile
‘Now for my vengeance, now the moment is ready’
Rigoletto, Sparafucile
‘He’s there, murdered, oh yes’
Rigoletto, ‘Duke’
‘But who can be inside here?’
Rigoletto, Gilda
‘It’s all my fault’
Gilda, Rigoletto
‘Ah, soon, in Heaven’
Gilda, Rigoletto
1:33
85
4:40
86
2:22
87
2:33
88
6:22
89
2:53
92
2:21
93
2:02
93
1:29
94
3:22
94
TT 66:18
58
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Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
Rigoletto: A Timeless Drama
Almost the most arresting aspect of all Verdi’s
mature operas is his ability to find exactly the
right colour and hue (what the Italians call
tinta), musically speaking, for each work. The
Prelude to Rigoletto is as good an example as
any of what I mean. Its dark tints and louring
aspect immediately tell us of a tragic, fearsome
drama to follow, while the opening scene just
as unerringly places us in the licentious court
of the libidinous Duke of Mantua, agent of
the unhappy events depicted within the work.
The Duke’s opening solo immediately
establishes him as a free-loving libertine while
Rigoletto’s jesting, as Verdi intends, is just that
bit too hectic to have us believe in it – and in
his reaction to Monterone’s fearful curse we
realise his convoluted, insecure nature and
precarious position at court. How vividly the
composer evinces these facets of his characters!
The night-haunted introduction to the
second scene at once conjures before us the
saturnine world of Sparafucile, the professional
assassin, and also the lone world of Rigoletto
himself. Rigoletto’s solo, in its blend of
recitative and snatches of melody, has rightly
been compared with a Shakespearean
monologue. Once Gilda enters we sense the
relief of the jester at meeting his beloved
daughter: the only joy in his otherwise bitter
life. At their meeting Verdi’s innate generosity
of spirit at last breaks through. This fleeting
moment of happiness, so memorably expressed,
is all-too-soon set aside by the action of
Giovanna, Gilda’s companion, who is bribed
by the Duke to acquiesce in Gilda’s downfall.
The Duke, disguised as Gualtier, a poor
student, declares his supposed love for Gilda in
phrases that she – and we – find irresistible: the
devil does indeed have the best tunes.
Once he has departed, the infatuated girl
declares her love for the young man in a
recitative and aria that exactly mirror her
deluded state of mind, yet they are so beautiful
in themselves that once again we live Gilda’s
own emotions and believe with her in the
apparently honourable intentions of her suitor.
The appearance of the music of the abducting
courtiers may seem an anti-climax, but Verdi is
surely telling us that these worthless, callous
creatures deserve no better than a trashy
chorus.
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When the Duke is back in his own territory
Verdi allows us a moment of sympathy for
him: this hardened rake is momentarily prey
to sentiment, perhaps sentimentality, his mood
expressed in an energetic recitative and aria.
But once his courtiers appear and describe
their misdeed to him, he reverts to type, sings
a raffish cabaletta and rushes off to rape Gilda.
Rigoletto at once appears before the courtiers
searching for his abducted child. Verdi catches
the pathos of his situation in music of
sorrowful despair followed by bitter anger,
then abject pity as he appeals to his
tormentors’ better side in paragraphs of searing
emotional power. At last his daughter appears,
ruined and distressed, to tell her tale of woe in
empty, dragging phrases. Still, her love is not
quelled and she is horrified as Rigoletto
decides on revenge, his mood underlined by
Monterone’s death-driven intervention. In this
whole scene Verdi moves with uncanny
mastery from one mood to the next in a
succession of separate numbers that coalesce
into a convincing whole.
Verdi crowns his achievement by an
inspired Act III in which the drama heads for
its inevitably tragic conclusion. Rigoletto
brings Gilda to see her beloved attempt his
next seduction at Sparafucile’s hideout. In a
passage of haunting recitative she
acknowledges that her feelings haven’t
changed. The Duke appears, sings his famous
ditty about fickle women – an even more
accurate character portrait than those already
heard – then flirts to elating music with the
seductive Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister. He
begins the famous Quartet with an expansive
phrase that seems perfectly to encapsulate his
aroused feelings, and all the while Verdi’s
music manages, at one and the same time, to
encompass Maddalena’s banter, Rigoletto’s
bitterness and Gilda’s broken-hearted
incredulity. The Quartet is justifiably
recognised as a number that epitomises opera’s
superiority to straight theatre: four emotions
individually expressed at the same time and
turned by Verdi’s genius into a magnificently
coordinated whole.
Gilda supposedly goes home, while
Rigoletto secures his murderous intentions
with the assassin by means of payment; again a
mood is perfectly adumbrated, here one of
dark, nocturnal conspiracy. Back in
Sparafucile’s shack, Maddalena pleads with her
brother to spare the handsome youth. He
refuses her appeals at first; money is involved
and he’ll keep his bargain, but she persuades
him to substitute for her loved one any
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success right from its premiere at the Teatro La
Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851 and has
never faltered in public estimation. That is
hardly to be wondered at given the humanity
of its story and its characters – the rich
contradictions in Rigoletto’s nature; the
inconsistencies in that of the Duke, as mobile
as the women who attract him; the
combination of disobedience (to her father
and eventually, in her self-destruction, to her
religion) and loyalty in Gilda’s makeup. Their
action and interaction, in a series of arias,
duets and ensembles that seem fresh at every
new encounter, are the very essence of what a
great opera should offer.
Moving the plot to New York in the 1950s
as Jonathan Miller has done is an updating
that has worked so successfully that the
production, now almost twenty years old,
refuses to be excised from the repertory. New
audiences continue to be drawn into the
gangland underworld of that city’s Little Italy,
and its relevance to Verdi’s original dramatic
conception is made strikingly apparent. This is
one re-creation that justifies itself.
In this classic recording we are reminded of
the production’s original interpreters, all
excellent singing-actors, and of Mark Elder’s
empathy with Verdi’s melody and rhythms.
traveller who knocks at their door. Gilda,
returning in male disguise, overhears their
intentions and decides to sacrifice her own life
for the man she still adores. In one of the most
frightening storms in all opera, she knocks,
enters, and is murdered, the music symbolic of
the turmoil of feelings afflicting all the main
characters.
When Rigoletto returns the music tells us of
his false sense of triumph as he receives the
body – he voices his thoughts in a fine passage
of recitative. But what is that voice imposing
on his consciousness? Surely it is his master’s!
Only music, and Verdi’s in particular, can
indicate that it is indeed the Duke, as he is
heard quietly reprising, from within, the close
of his aria. Horror-struck, Rigoletto opens the
sack and discovers that it contains his dying
daughter. They exchange a last, forlorn
farewell as she dies in the arms of her
distraught father. In just a few significant
phrases all the pathos of Gilda’s plight is
expressed. As throughout, Verdi’s sense of
timing is all, and the taut, unforgettable drama
ends as it began with crashing, tragic chords.
Francesco Maria Piave’s libretto, derived
from Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse,
provided just the inspiration Verdi needed in
burgeoning mid-career. The work was a
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James Fenton’s translation aptly fits the change
of milieu while never straying too far into slang.
atmosphere. The future may be just as
effective even if it happens to be one with
which the composer was unacquainted. The
only reliable test is one of internal consistency.
Is there a revealing correspondence between
the events which are represented in the opera
and the situation which one chooses as a
setting? If such a correspondence can be found
there may be a great advantage in moving the
production out of its conventional setting and
into one with which the audience can more
readily identify. That’s why I chose to set this
production in the world of organised crime.
It’s easy to map an Italian Renaissance court
onto a twentieth-century criminal-gang. Plus
ça change, etc. Meddlesome antics of this sort
are just one of the ways in which posterity
guarantees an afterlife for works which were
written in the rapidly vanishing past.
© 2000 Alan Blyth
A Note on the Production
The gangland limbo in which I’ve set this
production of Rigoletto is, of course, an
anachronism – critics who object to it keep
telling me that Verdi knew nothing about the
1950s. But the traditional setting is also an
anachronism, and it’s one which becomes
more glaringly apparent as we recede from the
period in which the opera was composed.
After more than a hundred years, the musical
idioms of a nineteenth-century score strike the
modern ear as being strangely at odds with the
sixteenth-century setting. In the modern
theatre this sort of discrepancy is often used
quite deliberately in the effort to remind the
audience that it is in the presence of art rather
than reality. But there’s no reason to suppose
that this is what Verdi had in mind, or that
the traditional setting is a more effective way
of realising the opera than any other.
Nineteenth-century composers were
comparatively haphazard in their choice of
historical period, and putting the action in the
distant past was one way of creating an exotic
Jonathan Miller
Director of the original stage production
If it was necessary to change the names, then the
locality had to be changed too, and a Duke or a
Prince of somewhere else introduced, for example
a Pier Luigi Farnese; or the action could be put
back to the time before Louis XI when France
was not a united kingdom, and a Duke of
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Burgundy or of Normandy could be made of
him, in any case an absolute ruler…
Verdi
Scene 2
A dead-end street in Little Italy. The tenement
where Rigoletto lives faces Ceprano’s place on the
other side of the street.
Rigoletto is accosted by a professional assassin,
Sparafucile, as he returns home. Sparafucile
warns him that he may need his services to deal
with a rival. Rigoletto dismisses him with
loathing but acknowledges to himself that he is
no better than a paid killer. At home he is met
by his daughter Gilda. Although he keeps her
hidden and in ignorance for her protection, she
longs to see the city and to know more about
her family and situation. Rigoletto refuses to
tell her and, as he leaves, he instructs his
housekeeper Giovanna to let no-one in. But
the ‘Duke’, who has seen Gilda at church, is
able to bribe Giovanna to admit him. He
describes himself as a student; when he declares
his love for Gilda, she quickly responds.
The kidnappers collect in the street.
Marullo tricks Rigoletto into joining the plot
under the pretence that they intend to abduct
Ceprano’s wife. Only after Gilda has been
taken does Rigoletto realise the deception.
Synopsis
In Jonathan Miller’s English National Opera
production of Rigoletto recorded here, it was felt
that the setting of the opera could be successfully
updated from an indeterminate Renaissance
period in Mantua to the Cosa Nostra world of
the New York Mafia in the 1950s. The action is
set in Little Italy, that part of New York under
the control of the Mafia, in the 1950s.
Act I
Scene 1
A hotel where a San Gennaro party is in progress.
The ‘Duke’, a Mafia boss, boasts of his success
with women. He makes advances to Ceprano’s
wife while Rigoletto, the barman, taunts her
husband. Another Mafioso, Marullo, has
discovered that Rigoletto keeps a woman
hidden at home and suggests that they kidnap
her in revenge for his humiliating insults.
Monterone, whose daughter has been seduced
by the ‘Duke’, interrupts the party. He returns
Rigoletto’s derision with a curse that strikes
terror in the barman – for the woman he keeps
hidden is not his mistress but his daughter.
Act II
The hotel, as in Act I. Next morning.
Returning on impulse to Rigoletto’s home the
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‘Duke’ finds that Gilda has disappeared. He
now senses for the first time a feeling of love
and of great loss. But his mood changes when
his gang tells him that they have brought her
to his bedroom.
Rigoletto pretends indifference while he
desperately searches for some clue to where
Gilda may be. The gang has reduced him to
abject pleading by the time Gilda herself
appears. In a terrible rage he swears to be
revenged on the ‘Duke’ for dishonouring her;
nothing she can do will dissuade him.
his victim. He gloats over the body in the sack
until the unmistakable sound of the ‘Duke’’s
voice is heard. Horrified, Rigoletto tears open
the sack to find his daughter stabbed and
dying. Monterone’s curse has been fulfilled.
Reprinted with permission from the
English National Opera Programme
John Rawnsley trained at the Northern School
of Music and the Royal Northern College of
Music, then joined the Glyndebourne Festival
Opera where his roles included Ford (Falstaff ),
Marcello (La bohème), Figaro (Il barbiere di
Siviglia) and Masetto (Peter Hall’s production
of Don Giovanni). He made his debut at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1979
as Schaunard (La bohème) and with English
National Opera in 1980 as Amonasro. Here he
also sang the title role in Jonathan Miller’s
production of Rigoletto, which toured North
America in 1984 and included performances
at the Metropolitan Opera House in New
York. He has performed in major opera houses
in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the
Netherlands, Denmark, the Far East, the USA
and Canada, playing roles as diverse as Tonio
(Pagliacci at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan), Ezio
(Attila), Renato (Un ballo in maschera),
Act III
A dilapidated riverside bar outside the city.
About a month later. Night.
Rigoletto has hired Sparafucile to kill the
‘Duke’, who has made an assignation with the
killer’s sister Maddalena. Gilda, still in love, is
brought by Rigoletto to see her lover’s true
character displayed as he seduces another
woman. Rigoletto sends her home to prepare
to leave the city in disguise. But she returns to
hear Maddalena persuade her brother not to
murder the ‘Duke’ if anyone else should come
in time for them to substitute one body for the
other. She resolves to sacrifice herself for him.
At the climax of a violent storm she goes into
the bar. Rigoletto returns at midnight to collect
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Germont, Papageno and the title roles in
Nabucco, Falstaff and Macbeth.
include The Greek Passion (Martinů), A Village
Romeo and Juliet (Delius) and, for
Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation, Osud
(Janáček) with Sir Charles Mackerras.
The soprano Helen Field was educated at the
Royal Northern College of Music and the
Royal College of Music, London. Her many
roles with British opera companies have
included Mimì, Musetta, Gilda, Marenka,
Tatyana, the Vixen, Jenůfa, Desdemona and
Cio-Cio San for Welsh National Opera,
Susanna, Daphne, Manon and Magda (La
rondine) for Opera North, Violetta, Donna
Anna, Pamina and Marguerite (Faust) for
English National Opera, and roles in Tippett’s
New Year and Birtwistle’s The Second Mrs Kong
at the Glyndebourne Festival. Among recent
performances are The Governess (The Turn of
the Screw), Salome, Aithra (Die ägyptische
Helena) and the title role in James MacMillan’s
Ines de Castro.
A busy international career has taken Helen
Field to Théâtre royal de la Monnaie, Deutsche
Oper Berlin, The Metropolitan Opera and
De Nederlandse Opera, as well as to Cologne,
Dresden, Montpellier, Ludwigshafen, Barcelona,
Los Angeles, Santa Fé, Liège and Bonn.
For the BBC she has appeared as Marzelline
in Fidelio as well as in Otello, The Cunning
Little Vixen and New Year. Her recordings
After studies at the Royal Northern College of
Music Arthur Davies joined Welsh National
Opera where his roles included Nemorino
(L’elisir d’amore), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles),
Rodolfo (La bohème) and Don Jose (Carmen).
He made his debut with The Royal Opera,
Covent Garden in Henze’s We Come to the
River and has since appeared there in Lucia di
Lammermoor, La traviata, Der Rosenkavalier,
Jenůfa, Madama Butterfly and Verdi’s Attila
among others. Roles at English National
Opera have included Gustavus (A Masked
Ball) and the title roles in Faust and Werther.
With Opera North he has appeared in The
Bartered Bride, Luisa Miller and Walton’s
Troilus and Cressida and with Scottish Opera
in Tosca (Cavaradossi) and The Cunning Little
Vixen. His international career has taken him
to cities all over Europe and North and South
America, as well as to Australia, Russia and
Israel. His discography with Chandos is
extensive and includes oratorios by Elgar and
Mendelssohn and Troilus in the Gramophone
Award-winning Troilus and Cressida.
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John Tomlinson studied music at the Royal
Manchester College of Music. He has sung
regularly with English National Opera, with
The Royal Opera, Covent Garden and has
appeared at the Bayreuth Festival every year
since 1988. His many Wagnerian roles include
Wotan/Wanderer, Titurel, Gurnemanz, King
Marke, Heinrich (Lohengrin), Hans Sachs,
Landgraf (Tannhäuser) and Hagen. In Great
Britain he has also appeared with Opera
North, Scottish Opera, Glyndebourne Festival
and Touring Operas and Kent Opera. He has
performed on major opera stages across
Europe and North America in roles such as
Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier), Moses (Moses
und Aron), Rocco (Fidelio), Philip II (Don
Carlos), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Lindorf,
Coppelius, Dr Miracle and Dapertutto in Les
Contes d’Hoffmann, Golaud (Pelléas et
Mélisande) and the title roles in Boris Godunov
and Verdi’s Oberto and Attila. John Tomlinson
appears in numerous sound and video
recordings, and his discography for Chandos
includes roles in Mary Stuart and Julius Caesar
as well as highlights from Boris Godunov and
Der Rosenkavalier and a solo recital of operatic
arias (to be released in autumn 2000), all
recorded in association with the Peter Moores
Foundation.
Educated at the Royal Birmingham School of
Music and the Royal Academy of Music, Jean
Rigby has appeared with major opera
companies and festivals both in Great Britain
and abroad and is a frequent soloist at the
BBC Promenade Concerts. With English
National Opera she has sung Penelope,
Jocasta, Carmen, Octavian, Lucretia, Rosina,
Helen of Troy (Tippett’s King Priam) and
Hippolyta (Britten’s A Midsummer Night’s
Dream). She appeared as Nicklausse (Les
Contes d’Hoffmann) with The Royal Opera,
Covent Garden and at San Diego Opera, as
Idamante (Idomeneo) and in the title role in La
cenerentola at Garsington Opera, as Charlotte
(Werther) at Seattle Opera, in L’italiana in
Algeri at the Buxton Festival, and as Irene
(Theodora), Genevieve (Pelléas et Mélisande)
under Sir Andrew Davis and Edwige
(Rodelinda) under Sir Charles Mackerras at the
Glyndebourne Festival. She has made several
recordings for Chandos, including Delius’s A
Mass of Life and Lucretia in Britten’s Rape of
Lucretia, both under Richard Hickox.
Norman Bailey, renowned as a leading
international bass-baritone, is one of the most
important Wagner singers of his generation,
closely associated with the title role in Der
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fliegende Holländer and Hans Sachs in Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg. During four years
as company member with English National
Opera his roles included Prince Gremin
(Eugene Onegin), Wotan (under Reginald
Goodall), Father (Hansel and Gretel ) and the
Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen). With The
Royal Opera, Covent Garden he has appeared
in Peter Grimes, Salome (Jochanaan), Ariadne
auf Naxos (Music Master), Falstaff (Ford), La
traviata (Germont) and Aida (the King). His
extensive international career has taken him to
The Metropolitan Opera, New York, Teatro
alla Scala, Milan, Vienna State Opera, the
Paris Opéra, Hamburg State Opera, Deutsche
Oper Berlin, Lyric Opera of Chicago and the
Bayreuth and Spoleto Festivals, working with
such conductors as Sir Colin Davis, Sir Georg
Solti, James Levine, Carlo Maria Giulini,
Wolfgang Sawallisch and Claudio Abbado.
Recent roles include Oroveso (Norma),
Banquo (Macbeth), the Doctor (Wozzeck) and
Schigolch (Lulu). For Chandos he has
recorded the title role in Tippett’s King Priam.
has sung with all the major British opera
companies. Abroad he has appeared at the
opera houses of Bayreuth, Paris (Opéra
national de Paris-Bastille), Amsterdam,
Chicago, Milan (Teatro alla Scala), Munich
(Bavarian State Opera), Berlin, Brussels and
New York (The Metropolitan Opera).
Recently he appeared as Beckmesser (Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg) at Vienna State
Opera and was invited to return as Balstrode
in Peter Grimes, a roll he also sang in Chandos’
Grammy Award-winning recording of the
opera. Other appearances on Chandos include
The Rape of Lucretia (Britten), Martin’s Lie
(Menotti), Troilus and Cressida (Walton), as
well as Mary Stuart, The Barber of Seville,
Pagliacci and La bohème (all in collaboration
with the Peter Moores Foundation).
Mozart Players. In September 2000 he will
become Music Director of the Hallé Orchestra.
He works regularly with leading orchestras
throughout Europe and North America,
including the Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Los
Angeles Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris
and the Symphony Orchestra of North
German Radio.
In the UK he enjoys close associations with
both the London Philharmonic Orchestra and
the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
and has appeared annually at the BBC
Promenade Concerts.
He conducts regularly in such prominent
international opera houses as the Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden, The Metropolitan
Opera, the Opéra national de Paris-Bastille,
Lyric Opera of Chicago, Glyndebourne
Festival Opera and Bavarian State Opera.
Other guest engagements have taken him to
the Bayreuth Festival and to Amsterdam,
Geneva, Berlin and Sydney.
With English National Opera he made
acclaimed tours of the USA (including
performances at The Metropolitan Opera) and
Russia (including performances at the Bolshoi
Theatre in Moscow and the Mariinsky Theatre
in St Petersburg). Most recently his operatic
engagements have included productions of
Mefistofele (Boito) and Otello at The
Metropolitan Opera.
Mark Elder, who was awarded the CBE in
1989, has held distinguished posts both in the
United Kingdom and abroad. These include
Music Director of English National Opera
(1979–93), Music Director of the Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra in the USA
(1989–94) and Principal Guest Conductor of
the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(1992–5), a position he has also held with the
BBC Symphony Orchestra and the London
Born in Cornwall, Alan Opie studied at the
Guildhall School of Music and the London
Opera Centre. He was Principal Baritone with
English National Opera for many seasons and
16
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Whilst still in his early twenties, Peter Moores had started giving financial support to various
young artists, several of whom – Joan Sutherland, Colin Davis and the late Geraint Evans
amongst them – were to become world-famous. In 1964 he set aside a substantial part of his
inheritance to establish the Peter Moores Foundation, a charity designed to support those
causes dear to his heart: to make music and the arts more accessible to more people; to give
encouragement to the young and to improve race relations.
Peter Moores was born in Lancashire, the son of Sir John Moores, founder of the giant
Littlewoods mail order, chain store and football pools group. He was educated at Eton and
Christ Church, Oxford, where he read modern languages – he was already fluent in German
and Italian. It was opera, however, which was his great love. He had worked at Glyndebourne
Festival Opera before going up to university, and after Oxford he became a production
student at the Vienna State Opera, combining this with a three-year course at the Vienna
Academy of Music and Dramatic Art.
By the end of his third year at the Academy Moores had produced the Vienna premiere of
Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia, had worked as Assistant Producer at the San Carlo Opera
House, Naples, the Geneva Festival and Rome Opera, and seemed set for a successful operatic
career. At this point he received a letter from his father asking him to come home as he was
needed in the firm. Family loyalty being paramount, he returned to Liverpool.
By 1977, he was Chairman of Littlewoods. Three years later
he stepped down from the post, although still remaining on
the Board. He was a director of a merchant bank from 1978
to 1992. From 1981 to 1983 he was a Governor of the BBC,
and a Trustee of the Tate Gallery from 1978 until 1985; from
1988 to 1992 he was a director of Scottish Opera. He received
the Gold Medal of the Italian Republic in 1974, an Honorary
MA from Christ Church, Oxford, in 1975, and was made an
Honorary Member of the Royal Northern College of Music in
1985. In May 1992 he became Deputy Lieutenant of
Lancashire, and in the New Year’s Honours List for 1991, he
Peter Moores, CBE, DL
was made a CBE for his charitable services to the Arts.
18
Christina Burton/PMF
PETER MOORES, CBE, DL
PETER MOORES FOUNDATION
In the field of music, the main areas supported by the Peter Moores Foundation are:
the recording of operas from the core repertory sung in English translation; the recording
or staging of rare Italian opera from the bel canto era of the early nineteenth century
(repertoire which would otherwise only be accessible to scholars); the nurturing of
promising young opera singers; new operatic work.
The Foundation awards scholarships annually to students and post-graduates for furthering
their vocal studies at the Royal Northern College of Music. In addition, project awards may be
given to facilitate language tuition in the appropriate country, attendance at masterclasses or
summer courses, specialised repertoire study with an acknowledged expert in the field, or
post-graduate performance training.
The Foundation encourages new operatic work by contributing to recordings, the
publication of scores and stage productions.
Since 1964 the Foundation has supported the recording of more than forty operas, many of
these sung in English, in translation. It has always been Peter Moores’s belief that to enjoy opera
to the full, there must be no language barrier, particularly for newcomers and particularly in the
popular repertoire – hence the Opera in English series launched with Chandos in 1995. This
includes many of the English language recordings funded by the Foundation in the 1970s and
1980s and is now the largest recorded collection of operas sung in English.
19
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John Rawnsley as Rigoletto and
Arthur Davies as the ‘Duke’
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Clive Barda
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Catherine Ashmore
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John Rawnsley
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Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
Rigoletto: ein zeitloses Drama
Einer der bemerkenswertesten Aspekte aller
reifen Opern Verdis ist seine Fähigkeit, für
jedes Werk musikalisch genau das richtige
Kolorit und den angemessenen Ton zu treffen
(was die Italiener tinta nennen). Das Vorspiel
zu Rigoletto ist ein besonders gutes Beispiel für
das, was ich meine. Seine düsteren Farbtöne
und bedrohlichen Anklänge lassen uns
unmittelbar ein tragisches, furchterregendes
Drama erwarten; ebenso unfehlbar versetzt uns
die erste Szene an den Hof des zügellosen
Herzogs von Mantua, der treibenden Kraft
hinter den unglückseligen Ereignissen, die in
der Oper dargestellt werden. Das erste Solo
des Herzogs etabliert ihn sofort als
ausschweifenden Libertin, während Rigolettos
Späße ganz wie von Verdi beabsichtigt ein
wenig zu hektisch ausfallen, um glaubhaft zu
sein – und in seiner Reaktion auf Monterones
schrecklichen Fluch erkennen wir seinen
komplizierten, unsicheren Charakter und seine
prekäre Stellung bei Hofe. Wie lebendig der
Komponist diese Facetten seiner Figuren an
den Tag bringt!
Die nächtlich verhangene Einleitung zur
zweiten Szene beschwört vor unseren Augen
unmittelbar die finstere Welt des
gewerbsmäßigen Mörders Sparafucile herauf,
und ebenso die einsame Welt des Rigoletto.
Rigolettos Solo mit seiner Verschmelzung von
Rezitativ und einzelnen Melodiefetzen ist zu
Recht mit einem Shakespeare-Monolog
verglichen worden. Als Gilda auftritt, spüren
wir die Erleichterung des Hofnarren, seiner
geliebten Tochter zu begegnen, der einzigen
Freude seines ansonsten verbitterten Lebens.
Bei ihrem Zusammentreffen kommt endlich
die Verdi eigene großzügige Gesinnung zum
Tragen. Dieser so denkwürdig zum Ausdruck
gebrachte Moment des Glücks wird allzu rasch
durch die Handlungen von Gildas
Gesellschafterin Giovanna aufgehoben – sie
läßt sich vom Herzog bestechen, an Gildas
Untergang mitzuwirken. Als der arme Student
Gualtier verkleidet erklärt der Herzog seine
vermeintliche Liebe zu Gilda in Phrasen, die
sie – genau wie das Publikum –
unwiderstehlich findet: Der Teufel hat
wahrhaftig die besten Melodien.
Als er gegangen ist, erklärt das betörte
Mädchen ihre Liebe zu dem jungen Mann
22
mit einem Rezitativ und einer Arie, die präzise
ihren verwirrten Geisteszustand wiedergeben,
jedoch so schön sind, daß wir wiederum an
Gildas Emotionen teilhaben und mit ihr an
die scheinbar ehrenhaften Absichten ihres
Freiers glauben. Das Einsetzen der Musik der
Höflinge, die zu ihrer Entführung angetreten
sind, mag danach enttäuschend wirken, aber
Verdi will uns sicherlich mitteilen, daß diese
nichtswürdigen, herzlosen Gesellen nichts
besseres verdienen als einen minderwertigen
Chor.
Wenn wir den Herzog wieder in seiner
gewohnten Umgebung antreffen, gestattet uns
Verdi, ihn einen Augenblick lang sympathisch
zu finden: Dieser hartgesottene Lebemann gibt
sich kurz dem Gefühl, ja geradezu der
Gefühlsduselei hin und bringt seine Stimmung
in einem lebhaften Rezitativ samt Arie zum
Ausdruck. Doch sobald seine Höflinge
auftreten und ihm ihre Missetat schildern,
schlägt sein Verhalten wieder um; er singt eine
liederliche Cabaletta und eilt hinaus, um Gilda
zu vergewaltigen. Gleich danach erscheint
Rigoletto auf der Suche nach seiner entführten
Tochter vor den Höflingen. Verdi fängt das
Elend seiner Lage in Musik voll trauriger
Verzweiflung ein, gefolgt von bitterer Wut und
schließlich unterwürfig geäußertem Jammer,
als er mit Passagen voll emotionaler Inbrunst
an die Menschlichkeit seiner Peiniger
appelliert. Endlich erscheint seine Tochter,
um vernichtet und verzweifelt in leeren,
schleppenden Phrasen ihr Leid zu klagen.
Ihre Liebe ist jedoch immer noch nicht
erloschen, und sie reagiert mit Entsetzen, als
Rigoletto Rache schwört, wobei seine
Stimmung noch von Monterones
mordlüsternen Einwürfen geschürt wird. In
dieser ganzen Szene geht Verdi in einer Folge
getrennter Nummern, die sich zum
überzeugenden Ganzen fügen, mit geradezu
unheimlicher Meisterschaft von einer
Stimmung zur nächsten über.
Verdi krönt sein Werk mit einem brillianten
dritten Akt, in dem das Drama seinem
unausweichlich tragischen Schluß zusteuert.
Rigoletto bringt Gilda in Sparafuciles
Unterschlupf, damit sie sieht, wie ihr Geliebter
sich an seine nächste Verführung macht. In
einem sehnsuchtsvollen Rezitativ bekennt sie,
daß ihre Gefühle sich nicht geändert haben.
Der Herzog erscheint, singt seine berühmte
Weise von den trügerischen Frauen – ein noch
treffenderes Charakterporträt als jene, die wir
schon gehört haben – und schäkert dann
begleitet von aufrüttelnder Musik mit der
verführerischen Maddalena, der Schwester des
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Sparafucile. Er beginnt das berühmte Quartett
mit einer ausladenden Phrase, die seine
Erregung perfekt einzufangen scheint, und
derweil gelingt es Verdis Musik, zugleich auch
noch Maddalenas Koketterie, Rigolettos
Verbitterung und Gildas zutiefst bekümmerte
Ungläubigkeit zu erfassen. Das Quartett wird
mit Recht als eine Nummer angesehen, die die
Überlegenheit der Oper gegenüber dem
Sprechtheater demonstriert: vier verschiedene
Gemütsverfassungen, die zugleich individuell
zum Ausdruck gebracht und durch Verdis
Genie zu einem großartig verwobenen Ganzen
geformt werden.
Gilda soll nach Hause gehen, während
Rigoletto durch eine Zahlung an den
gedungenen Mörder seinen tödlichen Plan
vorantreibt; erneut wird eine Stimmung genau
umrissen, diesmal die finsterer nächtlicher
Verschwörung. In Sparafuciles Hütte fleht
Maddalena ihren Bruder an, den stattlichen
Jüngling zu verschonen. Anfangs lehnt er ihr
Ansinnen ab; er hat Geld angenommen und
wird sich an seine Abmachung halten. Doch
sie überredet ihn, anstelle ihres Geliebten
einen beliebigen Reisenden zu töten, der an
ihre Tür kommt. Gilda ist in Männerkleidung
zurückgekehrt, hört mit an, was die beiden
vorhaben, und beschließt, ihr eigenes Leben
für den noch immer Angebeteten zu opfern.
In einem der furchterregendsten Gewitter der
Operngeschichte klopft sie an, tritt ein und
wird ermordet – die Musik symbolisiert die
inneren Konflikte sämtlicher Hauptpersonen.
Als Rigoletto zurückkehrt, kündet die
Musik von seinem irregeleiteten Triumph bei
der Übergabe der Leiche – er drückt seine
Gedanken in einem gelungenen Rezitativ aus.
Aber was für eine Stimme dringt da an sein
Ohr? Das ist doch die seines Herrn! Nur
Musik, und insbesondere die Musik Verdis,
kann zum Ausdruck bringen, daß es
tatsächlich der Herzog ist, den man drinnen
leise den Schluß seiner Arie wiederholen hört.
Von Entsetzen gepackt öffnet Rigoletto den
Sack und findet darin seine sterbende Tochter.
Sie tauschen ein letztes verzweifeltes Lebewohl
aus, ehe sie in den Armen ihres verstörten
Vaters ihr Leben aushaucht. In wenigen
bedeutungsvollen Phrasen drückt sich das
ganze Pathos von Gildas Schicksal aus. Wie in
der ganzen Oper bewährt sich auch hier Verdis
Gespür für wirkungsvolles Timing, und das
straff geführte, unvergeßliche Drama endet,
wie es begann: mit donnernden, tragischen
Akkorden.
Francesco Maria Piaves Libretto auf der
Grundlage von Victor Hugos Theaterstück Le
24
Roi s’amuse bot genau die Inspiration, die der
bereits mit einer blühenden Karriere gesegnete
Verdi brauchte. Das Werk war ab dem Tag
seiner Uraufführung am 11. März 1851 im
Teatro La Fenice ein Erfolg und ist seither in
der Gunst des Publikums nicht wieder
gesunken. Das ist auch kaum verwunderlich,
wenn man das allgemein Menschliche der
Fabel und ihrer Figuren bedenkt – da sind die
umfassenden Widersprüche in Rigolettos
Wesen, der unbeständige Charakter des
Herzogs, so trügerisch wie die Frauen, die er
anziehend findet, die Kombination aus
Ungehorsam (gegenüber ihrem Vater und
schließlich in ihrer Selbstzerstörung gegenüber
ihrer Religion) und Loyalität in Gildas
Persönlichkeit. Wie diese Figuren in einer
(auch bei wiederholtem Hören) unverbraucht
klingenden Serie von Arien, Duetten und
Ensembles agieren und aufeinander reagieren,
das ist der Inbegriff dessen, was eine große
Oper bieten sollte.
Die Handlung ins New York der 1950er
Jahre zu versetzen, wie es der Regisseur
Jonathan Miller tat, hat sich als derart
erfolgreiche Aktualisierung erwiesen, daß die
inzwischen beinahe zwanzig Jahre alte
Inszenierung bis heute nicht aus dem
Repertoire wegzudenken ist. Ein immer neues
Publikum läßt sich auf das Gangster-Milieu
des New Yorker Stadtteils Little Italy ein, und
dessen Bezug zu Verdis ursprünglichem
dramaturgischem Konzept wird ihm
einleuchtend klargemacht. Dies ist eine
Neuschöpfung, die sich ohne weiteres
rechtfertigt.
Mit der vorliegenden klassischen Aufnahme
werden wir an die ursprünglichen Interpreten
der Inszenierung erinnert, die allesamt
ausgezeichnete Sänger und Darsteller sind,
und an Mark Elders Einfühlung in Verdis
Melodien und Rhythmen. James Fentons
Übertragung ins Englische erweist sich als
passend zum Milieuwechsel, ohne jemals
allzusehr in Slang abzugleiten.
© 2000 Alan Blyth
Eine Anmerkung zur Inszenierung
Das freischwebende Gangster-Milieu, in dem
ich diese Rigoletto-Inszenierung angesiedelt
habe, ist natürlich ein Anachronismus –
Kritiker, die etwas dagegen einzuwenden
haben, teilen mir immer wieder mit, daß Verdi
nichts über die 1950er Jahre gewußt haben
kann. Aber der traditionelle Schauplatz ist
ebenso anachronistisch, was immer eindeutiger
zutage tritt, je weiter wir uns von der Epoche
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entfernen, in der die Oper komponiert wurde.
Über hundert Jahre danach klingt das
musikalische Idiom einer Partitur des
19. Jahrhunderts seltsam unvereinbar mit der
im 16. Jahrhundert angesiedelten Handlung.
Im modernen Theater wird diese Art
Widerspruch oft ganz bewußt eingesetzt, um
das Publikum daran zu erinnern, daß es ein
Kunstprodukt wahrnimmt und nicht Realität.
Aber es gibt keine Anhaltspunkte dafür, daß
Verdi etwas derartiges beabsichtigt hat, oder
daß der traditionelle Schauplatz sich zur
Realisierung der Oper besser eignet als ein
irgendein anderer. Komponisten des 19.
Jahrhunderts wählten die geschichtliche
Epoche ihrer Werke eher willkürlich aus; die
Handlung in einer fernen Vergangenheit
anzusiedeln, war eine Möglichkeit, eine
exotische Atmosphäre zu erzeugen. Die
Zukunft könnte sich dafür genauso eignen,
selbst wenn der Komponist mit ihr nicht
vertraut war. Das einzig verläßliche Kriterium
ist das des inneren Zusammenhalts. Gibt es
eine aufschlußreiche Entsprechung zwischen
den in der Oper dargestellten Ereignissen und
der Situation, in die man die Handlung
verlegt? Wenn eine solche Entsprechung
vorliegt, könnte es von erheblichem Vorteil
sein, die Inszenierung von ihrem
herkömmlichen Schauplatz an einen Ort und
in eine Zeit zu verlegen, mit denen sich das
Publikum eher identifizieren kann. Darum
habe ich mich entschieden, diese Inszenierung
in der Welt des organisierten Verbrechens
anzusiedeln. Es ist kein Problem, einen
Fürstenhof der italienischen Renaissance auf
eine Verbrecherbande des zwanzigsten
Jahrhunderts zu übertragen. Plus ça change…
usw. Spielerische Eingriffe dieser Art sind nur
eine der Methoden, mit denen die Nachwelt
Werken ein Fortleben garantiert, die in der
rasch verblassenden Vergangenheit geschaffen
wurden.
Jonathan Miller
Regisseur der Originalinszenierung
Sollte es nötig sein, die Namen zu ändern, müßte
auch der Schauplatz gewechselt und ein Herzog
oder Fürst von irgendwo anders eingeführt
werden, zum Beispiel ein Pier Luigi Farnese;
oder die Handlung könnte in eine Epoche vor
Ludwig XI. zurück verlegt werden, ehe
Frankreich ein vereinigtes Königreich war, und
man könnte einen Herzog von Burgund oder der
Normandie aus ihm machen, in jedem Fall einen
absoluten Herrscher…
Verdi
26
Inhaltsangabe
In Jonathan Millers Inszenierung für die English
National Opera, die hier aufgenommen wurde,
ist der Schauplatz der Oper von Mantua zu
einer nicht näher definierten Zeit während der
Renaissance in die New Yorker Welt der Cosa
Nostra während der 1950er Jahre verlegt
worden. Die Handlung spielt sich in Little Italy
ab, jenem Stadtteil von New York, der in den
50er Jahren von der Mafia kontrolliert wurde.
Szene 2
Eine Gasse in Little Italy. Das Mietshaus, in dem
Rigoletto wohnt, liegt dem von Ceprano auf der
anderen Straßenseite gegenüber.
Bei seiner Heimkehr wird Rigoletto von dem
Berufskiller Sparafucile angesprochen.
Sparafucile warnt ihn, daß er möglicherweise
seine Dienste brauchen wird, um mit einem
Rivalen fertigzuwerden. Rigoletto weist ihn
verachtungsvoll ab, gesteht sich insgeheim
jedoch ein, daß er kaum besser ist als ein
gedungener Mörder. Zu Hause begrüßt ihn
seine Tochter Gilda. Obwohl er sie zu ihrem
eigenen Schutz verborgen und in
Unwissenheit hält, sehnt sie sich danach, die
Stadt zu erkunden und mehr über ihre Familie
und ihre Situation in Erfahrung zu bringen.
Rigoletto weigert sich, ihr etwas zu verraten,
und ehe er die Wohnung verläßt, weist er seine
Haushälterin Giovanna an, niemanden
einzulassen. Doch der “Duke”, der Gilda beim
Kirchgang erspäht hat, kann Giovanna
bestechen, ihm die Tür zu öffnen. Er gibt sich
als Student aus; als er Gilda seine Liebe
gesteht, erwidert sie rasch seine Gefühle.
Die Kidnapper sammeln sich auf der Gasse.
Marullo bringt Rigoletto dazu, sich der
Verschwörung anzuschließen, indem er ihm
vorspiegelt, es gehe um die Entführung von
I. Akt
Szene 1
Ein Hotel, in dem eine Party zum San-GennaroFest im Gange ist.
Der “Duke”, ein Mafia-Boß, brüstet sich mit
seinem Erfolg bei den Frauen. Er macht
Cepranos Frau Avancen, während der
Barkeeper Rigoletto ihren Mann verhöhnt.
Marullo, ein weiterer Mafioso, hat
herausgefunden, daß Rigoletto daheim eine
Frau versteckt hält und schlägt vor, sie als
Rache für seine schändlichen Beleidigungen zu
kidnappen. Monterone, dessen Tochter vom
“Duke” verführt worden ist, unterbricht die
Party. Er erwidert Rigolettos Spott mit einem
Fluch, der dem Barkeeper panische Angst
einjagt – denn die Frau, die er verborgen hält,
ist nicht seine Geliebte, sondern seine Tochter.
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Cepranos Frau. Erst nachdem Gilda
gefangengenommen worden ist, erkennt
Rigoletto die Täuschung.
Maddalena vereinbart hat, der Schwester des
Killers. Gilda, die immer noch verliebt ist, wird
von Rigoletto mitgebracht, damit sie mit
eigenen Augen sehen kann, wie ihr Geliebter
seine wahre Natur offenbart und eine andere
Frau verführt. Rigoletto schickt sie wieder nach
Hause – sie soll sich darauf vorbereiten,
verkleidet die Stadt zu verlassen. Doch sie kehrt
zurück und hört, wie Maddalena ihren Bruder
überredet, nicht den “Duke” zu ermorden, falls
jemand anderes vorbeikommt, dessen Leiche
sich als die seine ausgeben läßt. Gilda beschließt,
sich für ihn zu opfern. Auf dem Höhepunkt
eines heftigen Gewitters betritt sie die Bar.
Rigoletto kehrt um Mitternacht wieder, um sein
Opfer abzuholen. Er weidet sich solange an dem
Leichnam im Sack, bis die unverwechselbare
Stimme des “Duke” zu hören ist. Entsetzt reißt
Rigoletto den Sack auf und findet darin seine
Tochter mit einer tödlichen Stichwunde vor.
Monterones Fluch hat sich erfüllt.
II. Akt
Das Hotel, wie ersten Akt. Am nächsten Morgen.
Als er spontan zu Rigolettos Wohnung
zurückkehrt, stellt der “Duke” fest, daß Gilda
verschwunden ist. Er verspürt nun zum ersten
Mal wahre Liebe und einen großen Verlust.
Doch seine Stimmung schlägt um, als die
Gangster ihm mitteilen, daß sie Gilda in sein
Schlafzimmer gebracht haben.
Rigoletto täuscht Gleichmut vor, während
er verzweifelt einen Hinweis darauf zu
erhaschen sucht, wo Gilda sein mag. Die
Gangster haben ihn dazu gebracht, sie
erbärmlich anzuflehen, als Gilda selbst
erscheint. In einem Anfall schrecklicher Wut
schwört er, sich am “Duke” dafür zu rächen,
daß der sie entehrt hat; nichts, was sie sagt,
kann ihn davon abbringen.
Englische Fassung nachgedrückt mit
freundlicher Genehmigung aus dem
Programmheft der English National Opera
III. Akt
Eine heruntergekommene Bar am Flußufer
außerhalb der Stadt. Etwa einen Monat später.
Nacht.
Rigoletto hat Sparafucile angeheuert, um den
“Duke” umzubringen, der ein Stelldichein mit
Übersetzung: Anne Steeb/Bernd Müller
John Rawnsley wurde an der Northern School
of Music und am Royal Northern College of
28
Music ausgebildet, ehe er der Glyndebourne
Festival Opera beitrat, wo zu seinen Rollen
Ford (Falstaff ), Marcello (La bohème), Figaro
(Il barbiere di Siviglia) und Masetto (in Peter
Halls Inszenierung von Don Giovanni)
gehörten. Sein Debüt am Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden gab er 1979 als Schaunard
(La bohème) und an der English National
Opera 1980 als Amonasro. Dort sang er
auch die Titelpartie in Jonathan Millers
Inszenierung von Rigoletto, die 1984 in den
USA auf Tournee ging, unter anderem mit
Aufführungen an der New Yorker
Metropolitan Opera. Er ist an bedeutenden
Openhäusern in Frankreich, Italien,
Spanien, Deutschland, den Niederlanden,
Dänemark, den USA, Kanada und im Fernen
Osten aufgetreten, in so unterschiedlichen
Rollen wie Tonio (Pagliacci am Mailänder
Teatro alla Scala), Ezio (Attila), Renato (Un
ballo in maschera), Germont, Papageno und
die Titelrollen in Nabucco, Falstaff und
Macbeth.
Opernhäusern zählen Mimì, Musetta, Gilda,
Marenka, Tatjana, die Füchsin, Jenůfa,
Desdemona und Cio-Cio San an der Welsh
National Opera, Susanna, Daphne, Manon
und Magda (La rondine) an der Opera North,
Violetta, Donna Anna, Pamina und
Marguerite (Faust) an der English National
Opera sowie Partien in Tippetts New Year und
in Birtwistles The Second Mrs Kong beim
Glyndebourne Festival. Zu ihren jüngsten
Rollen gehören die Gouvernante (The Turn of
the Screw), Salome, Aithra (Die ägyptische
Helena) und die Titelrolle in James
MacMillans Ines de Castro.
Eine arbeitsreiche internationale Karriere
hat Helen Field ans Théâtre de la Monnaie, an
die Deutsche Oper Berlin, die Metropolitan
Opera und die Nederlandse Opera geführt,
außerdem nach Köln, Dresden, Montpellier,
Ludwigshafen, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Santa
Fé, Liège und Bonn.
Für die BBC ist sie (als Marzelline) in
Fidelio aufgetreten, daneben in Otello,
Das schlaue Füchslein und New Year. Zu
ihren Tonaufnahmen gehören Martinůs
Griechische Passion, A Village Romeo and Juliet
von Delius und, für Chandos/Peter Moores
Foundation, Osud (Janáček) mit Sir Charles
Mackerras.
Die Sopranistin Helen Field wurde am Royal
Northern College of Music und am Londoner
Royal College of Music ausgebildet. Zu ihren
zahlreichen Rollen an britischen
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Nach dem Studium am Royal Northern
College of Music trat Arthur Davies der Welsh
National Opera bei, wo Nemorino (L’elisir
d’amore), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles), Rodolfo
(La bohème) und Don José (Carmen) zu seinen
Rollen gehörten. Er gab sein Debüt am Royal
Opera, Covent Garden in Henzes We Come to
the River und ist dort seither unter anderem in
Lucia di Lammermoor, La traviata, Der
Rosenkavalier, Jenůfa, Madama Butterfly und
Verdis Attila aufgetreten. Seine Partien an der
English National Opera haben Gustavus (Un
ballo in maschera) und die Tirtelrollen in Faust
und Werther umfaßt. An der Opera North hat
er in Die verkaufte Braut, Luisa Miller und
Waltons Troilus and Cressida gesungen, an der
Scottish Opera in Tosca (Cavaradossi) und Das
schlaue Füchslein. Seine internationale Karriere
hat ihn in europäische ebenso wie nord- und
südamerikanische Städte geführt, außerdem
nach Australien, Rußland und Israel. Er hat
zahlreiche Aufnahmen für Chandos
vorzuweisen, darunter Oratorien von Elgar und
Mendelssohn sowie den Troilus in der
Einspielung von Troilus and Cressida, die mit
dem Gramophone Award ausgezeichnet wurde.
regelmäßig an der English National Opera
sowie an der Royal Opera, Covent Garden
gesungen und ist seit 1988 jedes Jahr bei den
Festspielen von Bayreuth aufgetreten. Zu
seinen zahlreichen Wagner-Partien zählen
Wotan/der Wanderer, Titurel, Gurnemanz,
König Marke, Heinrich (Lohengrin), Hans
Sachs, der Landgraf (Tannhäuser) und Hagen.
In Großbritannien war er außerdem an der
Opera North, der Scottish Opera, beim
Glyndebourne Festival und dessen Touring
Opera sowie an der Kent Opera tätig. In ganz
Europa und Nordamerika haben ihn
bedeutende Opernbühnen engagiert, u.a.
als Baron Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier), Moses
(Moses und Aron), Rocco (Fidelio), Philipp II.
(Don Carlos), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte),
Lindorf, Coppelius, Le docteur Miracle und
Dapertutto (alle in Les Contes d’Hoffmann),
Golaud (Pélleas et Mélisande), für die
Titelrollen in Boris Godunow sowie Verdis
Oberto und Attila. John Tomlinson ist an
zahlreichen Ton- und Videoaufnahmen
beteiligt gewesen, und seine Diskographie bei
Chandos umfaßt Partien in Maria Stuarda
und Giulio Cesare ebenso wie Auszüge aus
Boris Godunow und Der Rosenkavalier sowie
eine Soloaufnahme mit Opernarien (die im
Herbst 2000 zur Veröffentlichung ansteht),
Nach seinem Studium am Royal Manchester
College of Music hat John Tomlinson
30
alle eingespielt in Verbindung mit der Peter
Moores Foundation.
Norman Bailey, der international berühmte
Baßbariton, ist einer der bedeutendsten
Wagnersänger seiner Generation, dessen
Namen man mit der Titelrolle des Fliegenden
Holländers und der Partie des Hans Sachs in
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg verbindet.
Während seiner vier Jahre als
Ensemblemitglied der English National Opera
sang er u.a. den Fürsten Gremin (Eugen
Onegin), Wotan (unter Reginald Goodall), den
Vater (in Hänsel und Gretel ) und den Förster
(Das schlaue Füchslein). An der Royal Opera,
Covent Garden ist er in Peter Grimes, Salome
(Jochanaan), Ariadne auf Naxos (Musiklehrer),
Falstaff (Ford), La traviata (Germont) und
Aida (der König) aufgetreten. Seine
weitgespannte internationale Karriere hat ihn
an die New Yorker Metropolitan Opera, ans
Teatro alla Scala in Mailand, an die Wiener
Staatsoper, die Pariser Opéra, die Hamburger
Staatsoper, die Deutsche Oper Berlin, die
Lyric Opera of Chicago sowie zu den
Festspielen von Bayreuth und Spoleto geführt,
wo er mit Dirigenten wie Sir Colin Davis, Sir
Georg Solti, James Levine, Carlo Maria
Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch und Claudio
Abbado gearbeitet hat. Zu seinen jüngsten
Rollen gehören Oroveso (Norma), Banquo
(Macbeth), der Doktor (Wozzeck) und
Nach ihrer Ausbildung an der Royal
Birmingham School of Music und der Royal
Academy of Music ist Jean Rigby mit
bedeutenden Operntruppen und bei Festspielen
in Großbritannien und außerhalb des Landes
aufgetreten und wirkt häufig als Solistin bei den
BBC Promenade Concerts. An der English
National Opera hat sie Penelope, Jokaste,
Carmen, Octavian, Lucretia, Rosina, Helena (in
Tippetts King Priam) und Hippolyta (in
Brittens A Midsummer Night’s Dream)
gesungen. Zu ihren Rollen zählen außerdem
Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) an der
Royal Opera, Covent Garden und an der San
Diego Opera, Idamante (Idomeneo) und die
Titelpartie in La cenerentola an der Garsington
Opera, Charlotte (Werther) an der Seattle
Opera, L’italiana in Algeri beim Buxton Festival
sowie Irene (Theodora), Genevieve (Pelléas et
Mélisande) unter Sir Andrew Davis und Edwige
(Rodelinda) unter Sir Charles Mackerras beim
Glyndebourne Festival. Sie hat für Chandos
mehrmals auf Tonträger aufgenommen, zum
Beispiel Delius’ A Mass of Life und die Lucretia
in Brittens Rape of Lucretia, jeweils unter der
Leitung von Richard Hickox.
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Schigolch (Lulu). Für Chandos hat er die
Titelrolle in Tippetts King Priam
aufgenommen.
Verbindung mit der Peter Moores
Foundation).
Mark Elder, der 1989 zum Commander of the
Order of the British Empire ernannt wurde,
hat sowohl in Großbritannien als auch
anderswo bedeutende Posten innegehabt. Er
war u.a. Musikdirektor der English National
Opera (1979–1993), Musikdirektor des
Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in den
USA (1989–1994) und Erster Gastdirigent des
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
(1992–1995), eine Position, die er auch beim
BBC Symphony Orchestra und den London
Mozart Players bekleidet hat. Im September
2000 wird er die Stelle des Musikdirektors
beim Hallé Orchestra antreten.
Er arbeitet regelmäßig mit führenden
Orchestern in ganz Europa und Nordamerika
zusammen, darunter das Chicago Symphony
Orchestra, das Royal Concertgebouw Orkest,
das Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, das
Orchestre de Paris und das Sinfonieorchester
des Norddeutschen Rundfunks.
In Großbritannien pflegt er enge
Beziehungen mit dem London Philharmonic
Orchestra ebenso wie mit dem Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment und ist alljährlich
bei den BBC Promenade Concerts aufgetreten.
Der in Cornwall geborene Sänger Alan Opie
hat an der Guildhall School of Music und am
London Opera Centre studiert. Er war viele
Spielzeiten lang erster Bariton im Ensemble
der English National Opera und hat mit allen
bedeutenden britischen Operntruppen
gesungen. Außerhalb Großbritanniens ist er an
den Opernhäusern von Bayreuth, Paris (Opéra
national de Paris-Bastille), Amsterdam,
Chicago, Mailand (Teatro alla Scala),
München (Bayerische Staatsoper), Berlin,
Brüssel und New York (The Metropolitan
Opera) aufgetreten. In jüngster Zeit hat er an
der Wiener Staatsoper den Beckmesser (Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg) gegeben und
wurde erneut dorthin eingeladen, um den
Balstrode in Peter Grimes zu singen – die
gleiche Rolle, die er auch in der mit einem
Grammy Award ausgezeichneten ChandosEinspielung der Oper übernommen hatte. Zu
seinen Chandos-Aufnahmen gehören neben
The Rape of Lucretia (Britten), Martin’s Lie
(Menotti), Troilus and Cressida (Walton)
außerdem Maria Stuarda, Il barbiere di
Siviglia, Pagliacci und La bohème (alle in
32
Er ist an berühmten internationalen
Opernhäusern wie dem Royal Opera House,
Covent Garden, der Metropolitan Opera, der
Opéra national de Paris-Bastille, der Lyric
Opera of Chicago, der Glyndebourne Festival
Opera und der Bayerischen Staatsoper
regelmäßig als Dirigent tätig. Weitere
Gastengagements haben ihn zu den
Bayreuther Festspielen sowie nach Amsterdam,
Genf, Berlin und Sydney geführt.
Mit der English National Opera
hat er gefeierte Tourneen durch die USA
(samt Aufführungen an der Metropolitan
Opera) und Rußland (mit Gastspielen am
Moskauer Bolschoi-Theater und am
Petersburger Marientheater) unternommen.
Zu seinen jüngsten Opernverpflichtungen
gehörten Produktionen von Mefistofele
(Boito) und Otello an der Metropolitan
Opera.
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Clive Barda
John Tomlinson as
Sparafucile
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John Rawnsley and
Helen Field as Gilda
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Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
Rigoletto: Un drame intemporel
L’aspect presque le plus frappant de tous les
opéras de la maturité de Verdi est la capacité
qu’il a de trouver exactement la couleur et la
teinte appropriées (ce que les italiens nomment
tinta), musicalement parlant, pour chaque
œuvre. Le Prélude de Rigoletto est un bon
exemple de ce que je veux dire. Ses teintes
sombres et son aspect menaçant nous informent
dès l’abord du drame effroyable qui va suivre,
tandis que la première scène nous introduit de
manière infaillible dans le cadre de la cour
licencieuse du libidineux Duc de Mantoue,
responsable des événements malheureux décrits
dans l’œuvre. Le premier solo du Duc le
présente immédiatement comme un libertin,
tandis que les bouffonneries de Rigoletto,
comme le veut Verdi, sont juste un peu trop
exagérées pour que l’on puisse vraiment y croire
– et lors de sa réaction à la terrible malédiction
lancée contre lui par Monterone, nous
prennons conscience de l’ambiguïté et de
l’insécurité de sa nature, ainsi que de la précarité
de sa position à la cour. Et avec quel panache le
compositeur met-il en évidence les différentes
facettes de ses personnages!
L’introduction hantée par la nuit de la
deuxième scène installe immédiatement devant
nous l’univers sombre de Sparafucile, le tueur
à gages, et également l’univers solitaire de
Rigoletto lui-même. Le solo de Rigoletto, avec
son mélange de récitatif et de lambeaux de
mélodies, a été comparé avec pertinence à un
monologue de Shakespeare. Quand Gilda
entre, nous ressentons le soulagement du
bouffon en présence de sa fille adorée: elle est
la seule joie de son existence amère. A leur
rencontre, la générosité d’esprit innée de Verdi
transparaît enfin. Ce rapide moment de joie,
exprimé de manière si mémorable, est bien
vite balayé par l’acte de Giovanna, la
compagne de Gilda, qui est soudoyée par le
Duc pour collaborer à la chute de Gilda. Le
Duc, déguisé sous les traits de Gualtier, un
pauvre étudiant, déclare à Gilda son amour
prétendu en des phrases qu’elle trouve – et
nous aussi – irrésistibles: vraiment, le diable
possède les meilleures mélodies.
Dès qu’il est parti, la jeune fille entichée
déclare son amour pour le jeune homme dans
un récitatif et une aria qui reflètent exactement
l’égarement dans lequel elle se trouve, mais
36
cette musique est si belle en elle-même que de
nouveau, nous vivons les émotions de Gilda et
nous croyons avec elle aux intentions
apparemment honorables de son prétendant.
Si l’irruption de la musique des courtisans
ravisseurs peut sembler être un anti-point
culminant, Verdi veut probablement nous dire
que ces créatures viles et dénuées de
sentiments ne méritent pas autre chose qu’un
vulgaire chœur.
Quand le Duc revient sur son propre
territoire, Verdi nous accorde un moment de
compassion pour lui: ce débauché endurci est
momentanément la proie des sentiments, de la
sentimentalité peut-être, son humeur
s’exprimant dans un récitatif et une aria
énergiques. Mais une fois que ses courtisans
apparaissent et lui décrivent leur méfait, son
naturel reprend le dessus, et il se met à chanter
une cabalette libertine avant de se précipiter
pour aller violer Gilda. Rigoletto apparaît
out de suite devant les courtisans à la
recherche de sa fille enlevée. Verdi saisit le
pathétique de sa situation avec une musique
chargée d’un désespoir douloureux suivi
d’une colère amère, puis d’un apitoiement
abject quand il fait appel au bon cœur de
ses bourreaux en des paragraphes d’une
puissance émotionnelle fulgurante. Enfin,
sa fille apparaît, anéantie et bouleversée, et
raconte son malheur en des phrases vides et
trainantes. Pourtant, son amour n’est pas
mort, et elle est horrifiée quand Rigoletto
décide de se venger, la fureur de ce dernier
étant accrue par la menace de mort de
Monterone. Pendant toute cette scène, Verdi
passe avec une maîtrise étonnante d’une
humeur à l’autre en une succession de
numéros séparés qui fusionnent pour former
un ensemble convaincant.
Verdi couronne sa réussite avec un Acte III
inspiré dans lequel le drame se dirige vers sa
conclusion inéluctablement tragique. Rigoletto
amène Gilda pour qu’elle puisse voir son bienaimé séduire sa nouvelle conquête dans la
cachette de Sparafucile. Dans un passage
récitatif lancinant, elle reconnait que ses
sentiments n’ont pas changé. Le Duc apparaît,
chante sa fameuse chanson sur l’inconstance
des femmes – un portrait de caractère encore
plus précis que ceux entendus auparavant –
puis se met à flirter sur une musique exaltée
avec Maddalena, la sœur aguichante de
Sparafucile. Il commence le célèbre Quatuor
par une longue phrase qui semble parfaitement
résumer son excitation, et tout du long, la
musique de Verdi parvient à contenir
simultanément le badinage de Maddalena,
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l’amertume de Rigoletto et l’incrédulité du
cœur brisé de Gilda. Le Quatuor est à juste
titre considéré comme un numéro qui illustre
la supériorité de l’opéra sur le théâtre parlé:
quatre émotions sont exprimées
individuellement et en même temps, et grâce
au génie de Verdi, elles sont transformées en
un magnifique tout coordonné.
Gilda est sensée rentrer à la maison tandis
que Rigoletto s’assure les services du tueur par
le moyen d’une somme d’argent; ici encore, un
climat est parfaitement préfiguré, celui d’une
conspiration noire et nocturne. De retour dans
la cabane de Sparafucile, Maddalena supplie
son frère d’épargner le beau jeune homme. Il
refuse d’abord de lui céder: de l’argent est en
jeu, et il tiendra son marché; cependant, elle le
persuade de substituer son amant avec le
premier voyageur qui frappera à leur porte.
Gilda, revenue déguisée en homme, surprend
leur conversation et décide de se sacrifier pour
l’homme qu’elle adore encore. Au cours de
l’une des tempêtes les plus effrayantes de toute
l’histoire de l’opéra, elle frappe à la porte,
entre et est assassiné, la musique symbolisant
le trouble des sentiments affectant tous les
personnages principaux.
Quand Rigoletto revient, la musique nous
avertit de son faux sentiment de triomphe
quand il reçoit le corps – il exprime ses
pensées au cours d’un remarquable passage
en récitatif. Mais quelle est cette voix qui
vient déranger sa conscience? Sûrement,
c’est celle de son maître! Seule la musique,
et celle de Verdi en particulier, peut indiquer
que c’est en effet celle du Duc, tandis qu’on
l’entend de l’intérieur reprendre doucement
la fin de son aria. Frappé d’horreur,
Rigoletto ouvre le sac et découvre qu’il
contient sa fille mourante. Ils échangent
un dernier adieu désespéré tandis qu’elle
expire dans les bras de son père bouleversé.
Avec seulement quelques phrases significatives,
toute la douleur de la situation de Gilda est
exprimée. Comme pendant tout l’opéra, le
sens de l’à-propos de Verdi est tout, et le
drame tendu et inoubliable s’achève comme il
a commencé, par des accords fracassants et
tragiques.
Le livret de Francesco Maria Piave, inspiré
de la pièce de Victor Hugo, Le Roi s’amuse,
fournit exactement l’inspiration dont avait
besoin Verdi au milieu d’une carrière en plein
essor. L’œuvre rencontra un succès immédiat
dès sa création au Teatro La Fenice de Venise
le 11 mars 1851, et depuis, elle n’a jamais
faibli dans l’estime du public. Et cela n’est pas
étonnant si l’on songe à l’humanité de son
38
histoire et de ses personnages – les
contradictions riches de la nature de Rigoletto,
l’inconstance du Duc qui est aussi mobile que
les femmes qui l’attirent, le mélange de
désobéissance (à son père et finalement, dans
son auto-destruction, à sa religion) et de
loyauté du caractère de Gilda. Leurs actions et
interactions, en une série d’arias, de duos et
d’ensembles qui paraissent toujours nouveaux
à chaque audition, sont l’essence même de ce
qu’un grand opéra devrait offrir.
Déplacer l’action dans le New York des
années 1950 comme le fit Jonathan Miller est
une modernisation dont le succès fut tel que la
production, qui a aujourd’hui presque vingt
ans, refuse de quitter le répertoire. De
nouveaux publics continuent à être attirés dans
le milieu des truands du quartier de Little
Italy, et sa correspondance avec la conception
dramatique originale de Verdi est mise en
lumière de manière frappante. C’est une
recréation qui se justifie elle-même.
Dans cet enregistrement maintenant devenu
classique, il nous est donné de réentendre les
interprètes de la production originale, tous
d’excellents chanteurs-acteurs, ainsi que la
profonde compréhension de Mark Elder
pour les mélodies et les rythmes de Verdi.
La traduction anglaise de James Fenton
convient parfaitement au changement de
milieu sans jamais aller trop loin dans l’usage
de l’argot.
© 2000 Alan Blyth
Une remarque concernant la production
Le milieu de gangsters dans lequel j’ai situé
cette production de Rigoletto est, bien entendu,
un anachronisme – les critiques qui s’y
opposent ne cesse de me dire que Verdi ne
connaissait rien des années 1950. Mais le lieu
de l’action traditionnel est également un
anachronisme, et ce fait devient de plus en
plus évident au fur et à mesure que nous nous
éloignons de l’époque où l’opéra fut composé.
Après plus de cent ans, le langage musical
d’une partition du XIXe siècle frappe les
oreilles modernes comme étant étrangement
en porte-à-faux avec le décor du XVIe siècle.
Dans le théâtre moderne, ce genre de
désaccord est souvent utilisé de manière
totalement délibérée dans un effort pour
rappeler à l’auditoire qu’il se trouve en
présence d’une œuvre d’art plutôt que de la
réalité. Cependant, il n’y a aucune raison de
supposer que c’est là ce que Verdi avait à
l’esprit, ou que le décor traditionnel est un
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moyen plus efficace de réaliser l’opéra
qu’aucun autre. Les compositeurs du XIXe
siècle choisissaient un peu au hasard telle ou
telle période de l’histoire, et le fait de situer
l’action dans un passé lointain était une
manière de créer une atmosphère exotique. Le
futur peut être aussi efficace même s’il se
produit que le compositeur ne le connaissait
pas. Le seul test valable est celui de la
cohérence interne. Existe-t-il un rapport
révélateur entre les événements qui sont
représentés dans l’opéra et la situation que l’on
choisit comme décor? S’il est possible de
trouver un tel rapport, il y a peut-être un
grand avantage à déplacer la production de son
décor habituel pour la situer dans un cadre
avec lequel l’auditoire peut s’identifier plus
immédiatement. C’est pourquoi j’ai choisi de
situer cette production dans le milieu du crime
organisé. Il est facile de transposer une cour de
la Renaissance italienne dans un milieu de
truands du XXe siècle. Plus ça change, etc. Ce
genre de procédé est juste l’un des moyens par
lesquels la postérité assure une survie à des
œuvres qui furent écrites dans un passé
s’évanouissant rapidement.
S’il était nécessaire de changer les noms, alors il
faudrait également changer le lieu, et introduire
un Duc ou un Prince d’ailleurs, par exemple un
Pier Luigi Farnese; ou bien l’action pourrait être
reculée à l’époque d’avant Louis XI quand la
France n’était pas un royaume unifié, et il
pourrait devenir un Duc de Bourgogne ou de
Normandie, dans tous les cas un chef absolu…
Verdi
Un autre Mafioso, Marullo, a découvert que
Rigoletto garde une femme cachée chez lui, et
suggère de la kidnapper pour se venger de ses
insultes et humiliations. Monterone, dont la
fille a été séduite par le “Duc”, interrompt la
fête. Il répond aux sarcasmes de Rigoletto par
une malédiction qui frappe de terreur le
barman – car la femme qu’il garde cachée n’est
pas sa maîtresse, mais sa fille.
Argument
Dans la production de Rigoletto de Jonathan
Miller réalisée pour l’English National Opera
enregistrée ici, il a semblé possible de transposer
avec succès le lieu de l’action de l’opéra d’une
période indéterminée de la Renaissance à
Mantoue dans le milieu de la Cosa Nostra de la
Mafia New-Yorkaise des années 1950. L’action se
situe dans Little Italy, ce quartier de New York
sous le contrôle de la Mafia, dans les années
1950.
Scène 2
Une rue en impasse dans Little Italy. L’immeuble
où vit Rigoletto fait face à celui de Ceprano situé
de l’autre côté de la rue.
En rentrant chez lui, Rigoletto est accosté par
Sparafucile, un tueur professionnel. Sparafucile
l’avertit qu’il pourrait avoir besoin de ses
services pour traiter avec un rival. Rigoletto
l’envoie sur les roses avec dédain, mais
reconnait en lui-même qu’il ne vaut pas mieux
qu’un tueur à gages. Rentré chez lui, il
retrouve sa fille Gilda. Bien qu’il la garde
cachée et ignorée de tous pour la protéger, elle
voudrait bien voir la ville et avoir plus de
détails concernant les membres de sa famille et
sa situation. Rigoletto refuse de lui répondre,
et en la quittant, il donne comme instruction
à Giovanna, sa gouvernante, de ne laisser
entrer personne. Mais le “Duc”, qui a vu Gilda
Acte I
Scène 1
Un hôtel où se déroule une fête de San Gennaro
Le “Duc”, un chef de la Mafia, se vante de ses
succès auprès des femmes. Il fait des avances à
la femme de Ceprano tandis que Rigoletto, le
barman, se moque cruellement de Ceprano.
Jonathan Miller
Metteur en scène de la production originale
40
à l’église, parvient à soudoyer Giovanna pour
le laisser entrer. Il se présente comme étant un
étudiant, et quand il fait sa déclaration
d’amour à Gilda, elle ne tarde pas à lui
répondre de la même manière.
Les ravisseurs se réunissent dans la rue.
Marullo dupe Rigoletto en le convaincant de
se joindre à eux sous le prétexte qu’ils ont
l’intention d’enlever la femme de Ceprano.
C’est seulement après l’enlèvement de Gilda
que Rigoletto comprend qu’il a été trompé.
Acte II
L’hôtel, comme à l’Acte I. Le lendemain matin.
Retournant subitement chez Rigoletto, le
“Duc” découvre que Gilda a disparu. Il prend
alors conscience pour la première fois d’un
sentiment amoureux et d’une grande perte.
Mais son humeur change quand les membres
de son gang viennent lui annoncer qu’ils ont
amené Gilda dans sa chambre.
Rigoletto fait semblant d’être indifférent
tandis qu’il cherche désespérément un indice
pouvant lui indiquer où se trouve sa fille. Le
gang l’a réduit à implorer de manière abjecte
au moment où Gilda apparaît. Emporté par
une terrible colère, Rigoletto jure de se venger
du “Duc” pour avoir déshonoré sa fille. Gilda
tente vainement de l’en dissuader.
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Acte III
Un bar délabré en bordure de rivière hors de la
ville. Environ un mois plus tard. Il fait nuit.
Rigoletto a engagé Sparafucile pour tuer le
“Duc” qui a pris rendez-vous avec Maddalena,
la sœur du tueur. Gilda, toujours amoureuse,
est amenée par Rigoletto qui veut lui faire
découvrir le véritable caractère de son amant
quand il séduit une autre femme. Rigoletto la
renvoie à la maison pour qu’elle se prépare à
quitter la ville sous un déguisement. Mais elle
revient et entend Maddalena convaincre son
frère de ne pas tuer le “Duc” si quelqu’un
d’autre arrive à temps pour qu’ils puissent
substituer le corps de l’un pour l’autre. Gilda
décide alors de se sacrifier pour lui. Au point
culminant d’une violente tempête, elle entre
dans le bar. Rigoletto revient à minuit pour
prendre sa victime. Il jubile à la vue du corps
enfermé dans le sac jusqu’au moment où il
entend le son reconnaissable de la voix du
“Duc”. Horrifié, Rigoletto déchire le sac et
découvre sa fille poignardée et mourante. La
malédiction de Monterone se voit ainsi réalisée.
John Rawnsley fit ses études à la Northern
School of Music et au Royal Northern College
of Music de Manchester, puis il devint
membre du Glyndebourne Festival Opera où il
a chanté les rôles de Ford (Falstaff ), Marcello
(La bohème), Figaro (Il barbiere di Siviglia) et
Masetto (dans la production de Peter Hall de
Don Giovanni). Il fit ses débuts au Royal
Opera, Covent Garden de Londres en 1979
dans le rôle de Schaunard (La bohème), et à
l’English National Opera en 1980 dans celui
d’Amonasro. Dans cette maison, il chanta
également le rôle titre dans la production de
Jonathan Miller de Rigoletto, production qui
partit en tournée en Amérique du Nord en
1984, passant notamment par le Metropolitan
Opera de New York. John Rawnsley s’est
produit dans les grands salles d’opéra en
France, Italie, Espagne, Allemagne, Pays-Bas,
Danemark, l’Extrême-Orient, aux USA et au
Canada, dans des rôles aussi divers que Tonio
(Pagliacci au Teatro alla Scala de Milan), Ezio
(Attila), Renato (Un ballo in maschera),
Germont, Papageno et les rôles titres de
Nabucco, Falstaff et Macbeth.
Version anglaise reproduit avec la gracieuse
autorisation de l’English National Opera
La soprano Helen Field a fait ses études au
Royal Northern College of Music de
Manchester et au Royal College of Music de
Traduction: Francis Marchal
42
Londres. Parmi les nombreux rôles qu’elle a
chantés avec des compagnies d’opéra
britanniques figurent Mimì, Musetta, Gilda,
Marenka, Tatyana, la Renarde, Jenůfa,
Desdemona et Cio-Cio San au Welsh
National Opera, Susanna, Daphne, Manon et
Magda (La rondine) à l’Opera North, Violetta,
Donna Anna, Pamina et Marguerite (Faust) à
l’English National Opera, et des rôles dans
New Year de Tippett et dans The Second
Mrs Kong de Birtwistle au festival de
Glyndebourne. Parmi ses récentes prestations,
on citera La Gouvernante (The Turn of the
Screw), Salomé, Aithra (Die ägyptische Helena)
et le rôle titre de Ines de Castro de James
MacMillan.
L’importante carrière internationale d’Helen
Field l’a conduite à chanter au Théâtre royal
de la Monnaie, au Deustche Oper Berlin, au
Metropolitan Opera de New York et au
Nederlandse Opera, ainsi qu’à Cologne,
Dresde, Montpellier, Ludwigshafen, Barcelone,
Los Angeles, Santa Fé, Liège et Bonn.
Pour la BBC, Helen Field s’est produite
dans Fidelio (Marzelline), Otello, La Petite
renarde rusée et New Year. Parmi ses
enregistrements figurent La Passion grecque
(Martinů), A Village Romeo and Juliet (Delius)
et, pour Chandos/Peter Moores Foundation,
Osud (Janáček) sous la direction de Sir Charles
Mackerras.
Après avoir fait ses études au Royal
Northern College of Music de Manchester,
Arthur Davies entra au Welsh National
Opera où il chanta les rôles de Nemorino
(L’elisir d’amore), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de
perles), Rodolfo (La bohème) et Don José
(Carmen). Il fit ses débuts au Royal Opera,
Covent Garden dans We Come to the River de
Henze, et depuis s’y est produit notamment
dans Lucia di Lammermoor, La traviata,
Der Rosenkavalier, Jenůfa, Madama Butterfly et
Attila de Verdi. A l’English National Opera, il
a chanté le rôle de Gustavus (Un ballo in
maschera) et les rôles titres de Faust et Werther.
A l’Opera North, il s’est produit dans La
Fiancée vendue, Luisa Miller et Troilus and
Cressida de Walton; au Scottish Opera dans
Tosca (Cavaradossi) et La Petite renarde rusée.
Sa carrière internationale l’a mené à travers
toute l’Europe, l’Amérique du Nord,
l’Amérique du Sud, en Australie, en Russie
et en Israël. Sa discographie avec Chandos
est importante, et comporte des oratorios
d’Elgar et de Mendelssohn, et Troilus dans
Troilus and Cressida qui remporta un
Gramophone Award.
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John Tomlinson fit ses études musicales au
Royal Manchester College of Music. Il a
chanté régulièrement à l’English National
Opera, au Royal Opera, Covent Garden, et se
produit chaque année au Festival de Bayreuth
depuis 1988. Ses nombreux rôles wagnériens
incluent Wotan/Wanderer, Titurel,
Guernemanz, le Roi Mark, Heinrich
(Lohengrin), Hans Sachs, Landgraf
(Tannhäuser) et Hagen. En Grande-Bretagne,
il a également chanté à l’Opera North, au
Scottish Opera, au Festival de Glyndebourne,
avec le Glyndebourne Touring Opera et au
Kent Opera. Il s’est produit sur les grandes
scènes lyriques d’Europe et d’Amérique du
Nord dans des rôles tels que celui du Baron
Ochs (Der Rosenkavalier), Moses (Moses und
Aron), Rocco (Fidelio), Philippe II (Don
Carlos), Sarastro (Die Zauberflöte), Lindorf,
Coppelius, Dr Miracle et Dapertutto dans Les
Contes d’Hoffman, Golaud (Pelléas et
Mélisande), et les rôles titres dans Boris
Godounov et dans Oberto et Attila de Verdi.
John Tomlinson figure dans de nombreux
disques et vidéos, et sa discographie pour
Chandos comporte des rôles dans Maria
Stuarda et Giulio Cesare, des extraits de Boris
Godounov et du Rosenkavalier, et un récital
solo d’arias d’opéras (à paraître à l’automne
44
2000). Tous ces enregistrements ont été réalisé
en association avec la Peter Moores
Foundation.
Lucretia dans The Rape of Lucretia de Britten,
tous les deux sous la direction de Richard
Hickox.
Jean Rigby fit ses études à la Royal
Birmingham School of Music et à la Royal
Academy of Music de Londres, et s’est
produite avec les grandes compagnies d’opéra
et dans festivals de Grande-Bretagne et à
l’étranger. Elle se produit souvent dans le cadre
des BBC Promenade Concerts de Londres.
Avec l’English National Opera, elle a chanté
Penelope, Jocasta, Carmen, Octavian, Lucretia,
Rosina, Helen of Troy (King Priam de Tippett)
et Hippolyta (A Midsummer Night’s Dream de
Britten). Elle a chanté le rôle de Nicklausse
(Les Contes d’Hoffmann) au Royal Opera,
Covent Garden et à l’Opéra de San Diego,
Idamante (Idomeneo) et le rôle titre dans
La cenerentola au Garsington Opera, Charlotte
(Werther) à l’Opéra de Seattle, dans L’italiana
in Algeri au Festival de Buxton, Irene
(Theodora), Genevieve (Pelléas et Mélisande)
sous la direction de Sir Andrew Davis, et
Edwige (Rodelinda) sous la direction de Sir
Charles Mackerras au Festival de
Glyndebourne. Jean Rigby a réalisé plusieurs
enregistrements pour Chandos, notamment
A Mass of Life de Delius et le rôle de
Célèbre dans le monde entier pour son
exceptionelle voix de basse-bariton, Norman
Bailey est l’un des plus grands chanteurs
wagnériens de sa génération. Il est étroitement
associé avec le rôle titre dans Der fliegende
Holländer, et celui de Hans Sachs dans Die
Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Pendant les quatre
années qu’il passa à l’English National Opera,
il se produisit dans les rôles du Prince Gremin
(Eugène Onéguine), de Wotan (sous la
direction de Reginald Goodall), du Père
(Hänsel und Gretel) et du Forestier (La Petite
renarde rusée). Au Royal Opera, Covent
Garden, il a chanté dans Peter Grimes, Salome
(Jochanaan), Ariadne auf Naxos (le Maître de
Musique), Falstaff (Ford), La traviata
(Germont) et Aida (le Roi). Son importante
carrière internationale l’a conduit au
Metropolitan Opera de New York, au Teatro
alla Scala de Milan, à l’Opéra d’Etat de
Vienne, à l’Opéra de Paris, à l’Opéra d’Etat de
Hambourg, au Deutsche Oper Berlin, au Lyric
Opera de Chicago, et aux festivals de Bayreuth
et de Spoleto. Il a travaillé sous la direction de
chefs tels que Sir Colin Davis, Sir Georg Solti,
James Levine, Carlo Maria Giulini, Wolfgang
Sawallisch et Claudio Abbado. Norman Bailey
a récement chanté les rôles de Oroveso
(Norma), Banquo (Macbeth), le Docteur
(Wozzeck) et Schigolch (Lulu). Pour Chandos,
il a enregistré le rôle titre dans King Priam de
Tippett.
Né en Cornouailles, Alan Opie étudia à la
Guildhall School of Music and Drama de
Londres et au London Opera Centre. Il fut
bariton principal à l’English National Opera
pendant de nombreuses saisons, et a chanté
avec tous les grandes compagnies d’opéra
anglaises. A l’étranger, il s’est produit à
Bayreuth, Paris (Opéra national de ParisBastille), Amsterdam, Chicago, Milan (Teatro
alla Scala), Munich (Opéra d’Etat de Bavière),
Berlin, Bruxelles et New York (The
Metropolitan Opera). Plus récemment, il a
chanté le rôle de Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger
von Nürnberg) à l’Opéra d’Etat de Vienne où il
a été réinvité à se produire dans Balstrode
(Peter Grimes), un rôle qu’il a également
chanté dans l’enregistrement réalisé par
Chandos qui remporta un Grammy Award. Ses
autres enregistrements pour Chandos incluent
The Rape of Lucretia (Britten), Martin’s Lie
(Menotti), Troilus and Cressida (Walton),
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Maria Stuarda, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Pagliacci
et La bohème (tous réalisés en association avec
la Peter Moores Foundation).
En Grande-Bretagne, il collabore
étroitement avec le London Philharmonic
Orchestra et l’Orchestra of the Age of
Enlightenment, et il se produit tous les ans
dans le cadre des Promenade Concerts de la
BBC.
Mark Elder dirige régulièrement dans des
salles lyriques internationales aussi importantes
que celles du Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden, du Metropolitan Opera de New
York, de l’Opéra national de Paris-Bastille,
du Lyric Opera de Chicago, du Glyndebourne
Festival Opera et de l’Opéra d’Etat de
Bavière. Il a également dirigé au Festival de
Bayreuth, et à Amsterdam, Genève, Berlin
et Sydney.
Avec l’English National Opera, Mark Elder
a effectué des tournées triomphales aux USA
(en passant par le Metropolitan Opera) et en
Russie (notamment au Bolchoï à Moscou et au
Théâtre Mariinski de Saint-Pétersbourg). Très
récemment, il a dirigé des productions de
Mefistofele (Boito) et d’Otello au Metropolitan
Opera de New York.
Mark Elder, qui a été fait Commandeur de
l’Empire Britannique (CBE) en 1989, a tenu
des postes prestigieux en Grande-Bretagne et à
l’étranger. Ainsi, il fut directeur de l’English
National Opera (1979 –1993), directeur
musical du Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
aux Etats-Unis (1989 –1994), et chef principal
invité du City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra (1992 –1995), un poste qu’il a
également assuré à la tête du BBC Symphony
Orchestra et des London Mozart Players. En
septembre 2000, il deviendra le directeur
musical du Hallé Orchestra.
Mark Elder dirige régulièrement de grands
orchestres en Europe et en Amérique du Nord,
notamment le Chicago Symphony Orchestra,
l’Orchestre Royal du Concertgebouw, le Los
Angeles Philharmonic, l’Orchestre de Paris
et l’Orchestre symphonique de la Radio
d’Allemagne du Nord.
Clive Barda
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Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto
Rigoletto: un dramma senza tempo
E’ l’aspetto quasi più stupefacente delle opere
composte da Verdi nella sua maturità quella
sua capacità di trovare esattamente il colore
giusto, quella sfumatura in senso musicale che
gli italiani chiamano “tinta”, per ognuna delle
sue composizioni. Il Preludio del Rigoletto vale
quanto ogni altro ad esempio di quello che
intendo. Le sue tinte buie ed il suo aspetto
minaccioso ci fanno immediatamente
presentire il dramma tragico e spaventevole
che seguirà mentre la prima scena ci insedia in
modo altrettanto infallibile nella corte
licenziosa del dissoluto Duca di Mantova,
agente dei calamitosi eventi descritti nel corso
dell’opera. La prima aria del Duca conferma
subito la sua natura di scostumato libertino,
mentre i lazzi di Rigoletto hanno – come Verdi
intende – quel tanto di concitazione eccessiva
che c’impedisce di prenderli interamente sul
serio e nella sua reazione alla tremenda
maledizione di Monterone ci rendiamo conto
della sua natura insicura e contorta e della
precarietà della sua posizione a Corte. Con
quanta vivezza il compositore mette in luce le
sfaccettature del suo carattere!
La notturna introduzione alla seconda scena
fa subito apparire ai nostri occhi il mondo
fosco di Sparafucile, il sicario di professione, e
quello solitario di Rigoletto. L’aria di
Rigoletto, nel suo amalgama di recitativo e
frammenti di melodia, è stata giustamente
paragonata ad un monologo shakespeariano.
Al momento in cui Gilda entra avvertiamo il
conforto del buffone all’incontro con l’amata
figlia, sua unica gioia in una vita altrimenti
amara. Al loro incontro l’innata generosità di
spirito di Verdi alfine trapela. Questo
fuggevole momento di felicità, espresso tanto
memorabilmente, è ben presto disperso
dall’intervento della governante di Gilda,
Giovanna, che il Duca ha assoldato come
complice nella seduzione della ragazza. Il
Duca, fingendosi uno studente povero,
Gualtier, dichiara a Gilda il suo presunto
amore in frasi che Gilda (e noi pure) trova
irresistibili: il diavolo ha davvero le note più
belle.
Partito il Duca l’infatuata fanciulla dichiara
il suo amore per il giovane pretendente in un
recitativo ed aria che rispecchiano esattamente
il suo illuso stato d’animo, eppure tale è la loro
48
intrinsica bellezza che ci fanno rivivere le stesse
emozioni di Gilda, e crediamo con lei nelle
intenzioni, apparentemente onorevoli, del suo
spasimante. L’arrivo della musica dei cortigiani
incaricati del rapimento può produrre un tono
più dimesso, ma indubbiamente Verdi ci sta
dicendo che queste infime e grossolane
creature non si meritano niente di meglio che
un coro pacchiano.
Quando il Duca è rientrato nel suo
territorio, Verdi ci consente un istante di
simpatia per questo libertino incallito che
momentaneamente si abbandona al
sentimento (o al sentimentalismo) esprimendo
i suoi sentimenti in un energico recitativo e
aria. Ma non appena rientrano i suoi cortigiani
che gli raccontano il loro malfatto, il Duca
torna in se stesso, canta una salace cabaletta e
corre a sedurre Gilda. Rigoletto subito
compare davanti ai cortigiani in cerca della
figlia rapita. Verdi coglie il patos della
situazione in note di cocente disperazione, poi
di amara furia, infine umiliandosi a chiedere
pietà facendo appello all’umanità dei suoi
aguzzini in frasi di struggente forza emotiva.
Alla fine appare sua figlia, disonorata e
distrutta, che racconta la sua disgrazia in frasi
vuote e stentate. Eppure il suo amore non è
del tutto estinto, ed è sconvolta dal proposito
di vendetta di Rigoletto che Monterone incita
all’assassinio. In tutta questa scena Verdi si
sposta con sovrannaturale bravura da
un’emozione all’altra in una sequenza di
numeri separati che si amalgamano in un
insieme avvincente.
Verdi corona la felice impresa con l’ispirato
Atto III in cui il dramma si avvia alla sua
inevitabilmente tragica conclusione. Rigoletto
conduce Gilda a scoprire il suo amante
impegnato nella sua prossima seduzione nel
covo di Sparafucile. In un passaggio di
angosciato recitativo Gilda riconosce che i suoi
sentimenti non sono mutati. Il Duca appare,
canta la sua famosa canzonetta sulla volubilità
delle donne – un ritratto del suo carattere
ancora più accurato di quello che abbiamo
scorto in precedenza – poi amoreggia in toni
esultanti con la seducente Maddalena, sorella
di Sparafucile. Comincia il famoso Quartetto
con una frase espansiva che sembra incapsulare
alla perfezione i suoi eccitati sentimenti; e
tutto il tempo la musica di Verdi riesce a
cingere, singolarmente e contemporaneamente,
i motteggi di Maddalena, l’amarezza di
Rigoletto e l’infelice incredulità di Gilda. Il
Quartetto è giustamente riconosciuto come
una scena che riassume la superiorità
dell’opera sul dramma convenzionale: quattro
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stati d’animo espressi individualmente al
medesimo tempo e realizzati dal genio
verdiano in un unico insieme magnificamente
coordinato.
Si suppone che Gilda vada a casa mentre
Rigoletto suggella i suoi delittuosi propositi
con un pagamento al sicario; ancora una volta
lo spirito viene colto alla perfezione in
un’atmosfera di fosca congiura notturna.
Rientrata nella capanna di Sparafucile,
Maddalena scongiura il fratello a risparmiare
la vita del bel giovane. Egli dapprima rifiuta
ci va di mezzo del danaro e Sparafucile
intende stare ai patti, ma Maddalena lo
persuade a sostituire il suo amante con un
qualsiasi viandante che venga a bussare alla
porta. Gilda ritorna in abito maschile,
ascolta inosservata le loro intenzioni e
decide di sacrificare la propria vita per
l’uomo che tuttora adora. In una delle
tempeste più orrende di tutta la storia
operistica, Gilda bussa, entra e viene uccisa,
la musica simboleggiando il tumulto di
emozioni che travagliano tutti i personaggi
principali.
Quando torna Rigoletto la musica ci
descrive il suo falso senso di trionfo mentre
riceve il cadavere – esprime i suoi pensieri in
un bel passaggio di recitativo. Ma qual’è quella
voce che s’impone alla sua consapevolezza?
Senz’ombra di dubbio è quella del suo
padrone. Solo la musica, e quella di Verdi in
particolare, può indicare che è proprio il
Duca, la cui voce si sente, affievolita
dall’interno, ripetere le ultime note della sua
canzonetta. In preda all’orrore Rigoletto apre il
sacco e scopre che contiene la figlia morente.
Si scambiano un ultimo doloroso addio e
Gilda muore fra le braccia del padre disperato.
In poche frasi significative viene espresso tutto
il patos della tragedia di Gilda. Come in tutta
l’opera la tempestività di Verdi è suprema
e il convulso, indimenticabile dramma termina
così com’era cominciato con accordi tragici
e schiaccianti.
Il libretto di Francesco Maria Piave, tratto
dal dramma di Victor Hugo, Le Roi s’amuse,
fornì esattamente l’ispirazione che occorreva a
Verdi nel mezzo della sua sbocciante carriera.
L’opera fu un successo immediato sin dalla sua
prima rappresentazione al Teatro La Fenice a
Venezia l’11 marzo 1851 e non ha mai
vacillato nella sua popolarità. Cosa che non
desta meraviglia data l’umanità della sua storia
e dei suoi personaggi – le abbondanti
contraddizioni nella natura di Rigoletto; le
inconsistenze in quella del Duca, tanto
“mobile” quanto le donne che lo attraggono; la
50
combinazione di disobbedienza (al padre ed in
seguito alla religione, nel suo suicidio) e di
fedeltà nell’indole di Gilda. La loro azione ed
interazione, in una serie di arie, duetti e
concertati che risultano freschi ad ogni ascolto,
sono la quintessenza di quello che un
capolavoro operistico dovrebbe offrire.
Spostando la trama a New York alla
metà del nostro secolo, così come ha fatto
Jonathan Miller, ha prodotto un
aggiornamento così funzionante che
l’allestimento, dopo quasi ventanni di vita,
rifiuta di lasciarsi estromettere dal repertorio.
Nuovi ascoltatori continuano ad essere
trascinati nei bassifondi della malavita
newyorkese del quartiere di Little Italy, e la
sua rispondenza alla concezione verdiana
originale è resa in modo straordinariamente
evidente. Questa è una ricreazione che si
giustifica da sola.
Questa classica registrazione ci ricorda gli
interpreti della produzione originaria, tutti
eccellenti cantanti-attori e l’identificazione di
Mark Elder con la melodia e il ritmo della
musica verdiana. La traduzione di James Fenton
abilmente si adatta al cambiamento di ambiente
senza mai sconfinare nel gergo volgare.
Una nota sull’allestimento
Il limbo mafioso in cui ho ambientato questo
allestimento del Rigoletto è naturalmente un
anacronismo – i critici che lo contestano
continuano a dirmi che Verdi era all’oscuro di
quello che sarebbe accaduto negli anni
cinquanta del Novecento. Ma anche
l’ambiente tradizionale è un anacronismo: e
più che ci allontana dal periodo in cui l’opera
venne composta, più la cosa balza agli occhi.
Dopo oltre un secolo, gli idiomi musicali
dell’opera ottocentesca appaiono all’orecchio
di oggi stranamente in contrasto con
l’ambiente cinquecentesco. Nel teatro
moderno questa specie di discrepanza è spesso
usata, del tutto deliberatamente, nel tentativo
di ricordare al pubblico che ci si trova di
fronte all’arte piuttosto che alla realtà. Ma non
c’è ragione di supporre che fosse questa la
ragione che Verdi si era posta; nè che
l’ambiente tradizionale sia più efficace di
qualsiasi altro a realizzare l’opera. I
compositori dell’Ottocento erano
relativamente disinvolti nella loro scelta del
periodo storico, e la collocazione dei fatti in
un lontano passato era un modo di creare
un’atmosfera esotica. Il futuro può essere
altrettanto efficace anche se capita che sia un
futuro sconosciuto al compositore. L’unica
© 2000 Alan Blyth
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prova affidabile è quella di una coerenza
interna. C’è una corrispondenza rivelante
fra gli avvenimenti rappresentati nell’opera
e la situazione in cui si sceglie di ambientarli?
Se questa corripondenza esiste allora si può
trarre grande vantaggio dallo spostare
l’allestimento dal suo ambiente convenzionale
a quello con il quale il pubblico trova più
facile identificarsi. È perciò che ho scelto
d’ambientare questa produzione nel mondo
della criminalità organizzata. È facile
riconoscere una Corte rinascimentale nel
mondo della moderna delinquenza; Plus ça
change, ecc. Intromettenze di questa sorta sono
una delle tante maniere con le quali i posteri
possono garantire un domani ad opere
composte in un passato che sta rapidamente
scomparendo.
potrebbe esser messo al suo posto, ma comunque
un monarca assoluto….
Verdi
Rigoletto con una maledizione che agghiaccia
il barista, giacché la donna che egli tiene
nascosta non è la sua amante ma sua figlia.
La trama
Nell’allestimento del Rigoletto prodotto da
Jonathan Miller per l’English National Opera
qui inciso, fu ritenuto che l’ambientazione
dell’opera potesse essere felicemente trasportata da
un indeterminato periodo rinascimentale a
Mantova al mondo di Cosa Nostra della Mafia
di New York alla metà del nostro secolo. L’azione
si svolge nel quartiere di Little Italy, quella parte
di New York che negli anni cinquanta era sotto il
controllo della Mafia.
Scena 2
Una strada senza sfondo in Little Italy. L’alloggio
di Rigoletto è dirimpetto alla casa di Ceprano
sull’altro lato della strada.
Rigoletto, entrando in casa, viene accostato da
Sparafucile, un sicario di professione, il quale
lo avvisa che potrebbe aver bisogno di lui per
sbarazzarsi di un rivale. Rigoletto lo licenzia
con disgusto ma riconosce a se stesso di non
essere migliore di un killer prezzolato. Quando
entra in casa gli viene incontro la figlia Gilda.
Nonostante il padre, per proteggerla, la tenga
nascota in casa ed ignara del mondo, Gilda ha
una gran voglia di vedere la città e di
conoscere qualcosa di più della sua famiglia e
della sua situazione. Rigoletto si rifiuta di dirle
qualcosa e, uscendo, dice alla donna,
Giovanna, di non lasciare entrare nessuno in
casa. Ma il “Duca” che ha visto Gilda in chiesa
riesce a corrompere Giovanna che lo lascia
entrare. Si presenta come studente e quando
dichiara a Gilda il suo amore questa
prontamente lo corrisponde.
I rapitori si radunano nella strada.
Pretendendo di esser venuti a rapire la moglie
Atto I
Scena 1
Un albergo in cui si sta svolgendo una festa di
San Gennaro.
Il “Duca”, un capomafia, si vanta dei suoi
successi con le donne. Circuisce la moglie di
Ceprano mentre Rigoletto, il barista, si beffa
di lui. Un altro mafioso, Marullo, ha scoperto
che Rigoletto tiene una donna celata in casa
sua e propone di rapirla per vendicarsi dei
commenti ingiuriosi di Rigoletto. Monterone,
la cui figlia è stata sedotta dal “Duca”,
interrompe la festa. Ricambia i sarcasmi di
Jonathan Miller
Direttore dell’allestimento originale
Se fosse necessario cambiare i nomi, allora si
dovrebbe cambiare anche la località e introdurre
un Duca o un Principe di altre parti, per
esempio, un Pier Luigi Farnese; o l’azione
potrebbe essere anticipata al tempo prima di
Luigi XI quando la Francia non era un reame
unito, e un Duca di Borgogna o di Normandia
52
di Ceprano, Marullo riesce ad abbindolare
Rigoletto ad unirsi alla loro impresa. Solo
dopo che Gilda è stata portata via, Rigoletto si
accorge dell’inganno.
Atto II
L’albergo, come nell’Atto I. La mattina dopo.
Tornando d’impulso alla casa di Rigoletto, il
“Duca” scopre che Gilda è scomparsa. Per la
prima volta avverte un sentimento d’amore e
la sensazione di una grande perdita. Ma
cambia d’umore quando i suoi accoliti gli
dicono che gliel’hanno portata in camera.
Rigoletto finge indifferenza mentre
disperatamente cerca indizi sulla sorte di
Gilda. La banda lo ha ridotto a raccomandarsi
vilmente quando la stessa Gilda appare. Fuori
di se dall’ira Rigoletto giura di vendicarsi del
“Duca” che l’ha disonorata. Gilda non può far
nulla per dissuaderlo.
Atto III
Una taverna diroccata in riva al fiume, fuori
città. Circa un mese dopo. Notte.
Rigoletto ha ingaggiato Sparafucile per
uccidere il “Duca” che ha un appuntamento
con la sorella del killer, Maddalena. Gilda,
tuttora innamorata, viene condotta da
Rigoletto a vedere con i propri occhi il vero
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carattere del suo amante il quale si accinge a
sedurre un’altra donna. Rigoletto la spedisce a
casa perché si prepari a lasciare, travestita, la
città. Ma Gilda ritorna per sentire Maddalena
che persuade suo fratello a non uccidere il
“Duca” se qualcuno arriverà in tempo per
sostituire un cadavere per l’altro. Gilda risolve
di sacrificarsi per lui. Al culmine di una
violenta tempesta entra nella taverna. Rigoletto
torna a mezzanotte per raccogliere la sua
vittima. Si china giubilante sul cadavere nel
sacco quando sente il suono inconfondibile
della voce del “Duca”. Raccapricciato,
Rigoletto squarcia il sacco e vi trova sua figlia,
pugnalata e morente. La maledizione di
Monterone si è avverata.
Peter Hall). Ha debuttato alla Royal Opera
House, Covent Garden nel 1979 nella parte di
Schaunard (La bohème) e con l’English
National Opera nel 1980 nella parte di
Amonasro. Sempre per l’English National
Opera ha cantato la parte di protagonista in
Rigoletto, nell’allestimento di Jonathan Miller,
successivamente portato nel Nord America in
tournée nel 1984, tournée che ha incluso
rappresentazioni al Metropolitan Opera di
New York. John Rawnsley ha cantato nei
principali teatri lirici in Francia, Italia, Spagna,
Germania, Olanda, Danimarca, Estremo
Oriente, Stati Uniti e Canada, in ruoli così
diversi come Tonio (Pagliacci) al Teatro alla
Scala, Ezio (Attila), Renato (Un ballo in
maschera), Germont, Papageno ed in Nabucco,
Falstaff e Macbeth nei ruoli di protagonista.
Traduzione dalla ristampa autorizzata del
programma della English National Opera
Il soprano Helen Field ha studiato al Royal
Northern College of Music e al Royal College
of Music di Londra. I suoi numerosi ruoli per
compagnie liriche britanniche hanno incluso
Mimì, Musetta, Gilda, Marenka, Tatyana, la
Volpe, Jenůfa, Desdemona e Cio-Cio San per
la Welsh National Opera, Susanna, Daphne,
Manon e Magda (La rondine) per Opera
North, Violetta, Donna Anna, Pamina e
Marguerite (Faust) per l’English National
Traduzione: Marcella Barzetti
John Rawnsley ha studiato alla Northern
School of Music, e al Royal Northern College
of Music, dopo di che è entrato a far parte
della compagnia della Glyndebourne Festival
Opera dove i suoi ruoli hanno incluso Ford
(Falstaff ), Marcello (La bohème), Figaro
(Il barbiere di Siviglia) e Masetto
(nell’allestimento del Don Giovanni diretto da
54
Opera, ruoli nell’opera di Tippett New Year e
The Second Mrs Kong di Birtwistle al Festival
di Glyndebourne. Fra le sue recenti
interpretazioni vi sono La Governante (The
Turn of the Screw), Salome, Aithra (Die
ägyptische Helena) e la parte di protagonista in
Ines de Castro di James MacMillan.
Un’intensa attività internazionale ha portato
Helen Field a Théâtre royal de la Monnaie,
Deutsche Oper Berlin, The Metropolitan
Opera e De Nederlandse Opera, ed a Colonia,
Dresda, Montpellier, Ludwigshafen,
Barcellona, Los Angeles, Santa Fé, Liegi e
Bonn.
Per la BBC è apparsa in Fidelio (nella parte
di Marzelline) e in Otello, L’astuta piccola volpe
e New Year. La sua discografia include La
Passione greca (Martinů), A Village Romeo and
Juliet (Delius) e, per Chandos/Peter Moores
Foundation, Osud (Janáček) con Sir Charles
Mackerras.
Garden, in We Come to the River, di Henze, e
da allora è apparso in Lucia di Lammermoor,
La traviata, Der Rosenkavalier, Jenůfa, Madama
Butterfly e Attila di Verdi, ed in altre opere. I
suoi ruóli per l’English National Opera hanno
incluso Gustavo (Un ballo in maschera) e la
parte di protagonista in Faust ed in Werther.
Con la compagnia di Opera North ha cantato
in La sposa venduta, Luisa Miller e Troilus and
Cressida, di Walton; con la Scottish Opera è
apparso in Tosca (Cavaradossi) ed in L’astuta
piccola volpe. La sua carriera internazionale si è
estesa a città di tutta l’Europa, Nord e Sud
America, così come all’Australia, Russia e
Israele. La sua discografia con la Chandos è
vasta ed include oratori di Elgar e
Mendelssohn, nonchè Troilus nel disco di
Troilus and Cressida, vincitore di un premio
Gramophone.
John Tomlinson ha studiato musica al Royal
Manchester College of Music. Ha cantato
regolarmente con le compagnie dell’English
National Opera e della Royal Opera, Covent
Garden, ed è apparso al festival di Bayreuth
ogni anno dal 1988. I suoi numerosi ruoli
wagneriani includono Wotan/Viandante,
Titurel, Gurnemanz, Re Marco, Heinrich
(Lohengrin), Hans Sachs, Landgraf
Dopo i suoi studi al Royal Northern College
of Music Arthur Davies è entrato a far parte
della compagnia della Welsh National Opera
dove i suoi ruoli hanno incluso Nemorino
(L’elisir d’amore), Nadir (Les Pêcheurs de perles),
Rodolfo (La bohème) e Don Jose (Carmen). Ha
debuttato con la Royal Opera, Covent
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Page 56
(Tannhäuser) e Hagen. In Gran Bretagna ha
cantato inoltre per Opera North, Scottish
Opera, Glyndebourne Festival e Touring
Opera e Kent Opera. E’ apparso sulla scena
dei maggiori teatri lirici in Europa e nel Nord
America in ruoli quali Baron Ochs (Der
Rosenkavalier), Mosè (Moses und Aron), Rocco
(Fidelio), Filippo II (Don Carlos), Sarastro (Die
Zauberflöte), Lindorf, Coppelius, Dr. Miracle e
Dapertutto (Les Contes d’Hoffmann), Golaud
(Pelléas et Mélisande); ha inoltre cantato le
parti di protagonista in Boris Godunov,
nell’Oberto e Attila di Verdi. John Tomlinson
appare in numerosi dischi e videoregistrazioni;
la sua discografia per la Chandos include ruoli
in Maria Stuarda e Giulio Cesare, selezioni del
Boris Godunov e Der Rosenkavalier, ed un
recital di arie operistiche che verrà lanciato
nell’autunno del 2000: tutti questi dischi sono
stati incisi in collaborazione con la Peter
Moores Foundation.
Opera ha cantato Penelope, Jocasta, Carmen,
Ottavio, Lucrezia, Rosina, Elena di Troja (King
Priam, di Tippett) e Ippolita (A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, di Britten). E’ apparsa nei ruoli
di Nicklausse (Les Contes d’Hoffmann) alla
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden e alla San
Diego Opera, d’Idamante (Idomeneo) e nella
parte di protagonista ne La cenerentola per la
Garsington Opera, nei ruoli di Charlotte
(Werther) per la Seattle Opera, L’italiana in
Algeri al festival di Buxton, Irene (Theodora) e
Genevieve (Pelléas et Mélisande), sotto la
direzione di Sir Andrew Davis, ed Edwige
(Rodelinda), diretta da Sir Charles Mackerras al
festival di Glyndebourne. Per la Chandos ha
inciso vari dischi, fra i quali A Mass of Life, di
Delius, The Rape of Lucretia, di Britten
(Lucrezia), ambedue diretti da Richard Hickox.
Norman Bailey, noto come basso-baritono di
rango internazionale, è uno dei più apprezzati
cantanti wagneriani della sua generazione. Il
suo nome è strettamente legato al ruolo di
protagonista in Der fliegende Holländer ed a
quello di Hans Sachs ne Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg. Durante i quattro anni in cui ha
fatto parte della compagnia dell’English
National Opera i suoi ruoli hanno incluso il
Principe Gremin (Eugene Onegin), Wotan (con
Jean Rigby, cha ha studiato presso la Royal
Birmingham School of Music e la Royal
Academy of Music, ha cantato con le principali
compagnie liriche ed in festivals in Gran
Bretagna e all’estero; è inoltre apparsa
frequentemente come solista nei Promenade
Concerts della BBC. Per l’English National
56
Bastille), Amsterdam, Chicago, Milano (Teatro
alla Scala), Monaco di Baviera (Bayerische
Staatsoper), Berlino, Brusselle e New York
(The Metropolitan Opera). Recentemente ha
cantato Beckmesser (Die Meistersinger von
Nürnberg) per la Staatsoper di Vienna ed è
stato invitato a tornarvi nel ruolo di Balstrode
in Peter Grimes, una parte che ha pure cantato
nel disco Chandos dell’opera che ha vinto il
premio Grammy. Altre sue incisioni per la
Chandos includono The Rape of Lucretia
(Britten), Martin’s Lie (Menotti), Troilus and
Cressida (Walton), nonchè, Maria Stuarda,
Il barbiere di Siviglia, Pagliacci e La bohème
(tutte in collaborazione con la Peter Moores
Foundation).
Reginald Goodall, direttore), il Padre (Hänsel
und Gretel ) e il Guardiaboschi (L’astuta piccola
volpe). Per la Royal Opera, Covent Garden, è
apparso in Peter Grimes, Salome (Jochanaan),
Ariadne auf Naxos (Maestro di musica), Falstaff
(Ford), La traviata (Germont) e Aida (il Re).
La sua estesa carriera internazionale lo ha
portato al Metropolitan Opera di New York, al
Teatro alla Scala, alla Staatsoper di Vienna,
all’Opera di Parigi, Staatsoper di Amburgo,
Deutsche Oper, Berlino, Lyric Opera di
Chicago e ai festival di Bayreuth e Spoleto,
cantando sotto la direzione di Sir Colin Davis,
Sir Georg Solti, James Levine, Carlo Maria
Giulini, Wolfgang Sawallisch e Claudio
Abbado. I suoi ruoli recenti includono
Oroveso (Norma), Banquo (Macbeth), il
Dottore (Wozzeck) e Schigolch (Lulu). Per la
Chandos ha inciso il ruolo di protagonista in
King Priam, di Tippett.
Mark Elder, che è stato insignito della Croce
di Commendatore (CBE) nel 1989, ha
ricoperto importati cariche nel Regno Unito
ed in altri paesi: fra queste, la carica di
Direttore Musicale dell’English National
Opera (1979–93) e della Rochester
Philharmonic Orchestra negli Stati Uniti
(1989–94) e di Direttore Principale Ospite
della City of Birmingham Symphony
Orchestra (1992–95), carica che ha tenuto
inoltre presso la BBC Symphony Orchestra e
London Mozart Players. Nel settembre 2000
Nato in Cornovaglia, Alan Opie ha studiato
alla Guildhall School of Music e al London
Opera Centre. E’ stato baritono principale
nella compagnia dell’English National Opera
per molte stagioni ed ha cantato per tutte le
principali compagnie liriche britanniche.
All’estero è apparso nei teatri lirici di
Bayreuth, Parigi (Opéra national de Paris57
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Page 58
diventerà Direttore Musicale della Hallé
Orchestra.
Mark Elder lavora regolarmente con
orchestre d’alto rango in tutta l’Europa e nel
Nord America: fra queste, la Chicago
Symphony Orchestra, la Royal Concertgebow
Orchestra, la Los Angeles Philharmonic,
l’Orchestre de Paris e l’Orchestra sinfonica
della Radio Tedesca (Nord Deutscher
Rundfunk).
Nel Regno Unito Mark Elder è strettamente
legato sia alla London Philharmonic Orchestra
sia all’Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment;
appare inoltre ogni anno nella stagione dei
Promenade Concerts della BBC.
Mark Elder dirige regolarmente in distinti
teatri lirici di rango internazionale quali la
Clive Barda
CHAN 3030 BOOK.qxd
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, The
Metropolitan Opera, Opéra national de ParisBastille, la Lyric Opera di Chicago,
Glyndebourne Festival Opera e Bayerische
Staatsoper. Altri ingaggi l’hanno portato al
festival di Bayreuth e ad Amsterdam, Ginevra,
Berlino e Sydney.
Con la compagnia dell’English National
Opera ha compiuto acclamate tournées negli
Stati Uniti (che hanno incluso
rappresentazioni alla Metropolitan Opera) ed
in Russia (che hanno compreso
rappresentazioni al Teatro Bolshoi di Mosca e
al Teatro Mariinsky di Pietroburgo). Più
recentemente i suoi impegni operistici hanno
compreso rappresentazioni del Mefistofele di
Boito e dell’Otello per la Metropolitan Opera.
Helen
Field
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Catherine Ashmore
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John Rawnsley
Richard H. Smith
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Jean Rigby as Maddalena and Arthur Davies
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Borsa
Come take a look! A beauty.
Catherine Ashmore
COMPACT DISC ONE
1
Prelude
‘Duke’
Lucky Ceprano, his wife is really charming.
Act I
Scene One
A hotel in New York under the control of a
criminal gang. A party is in progress. ‘Ladies’ and
‘Gentlemen’, and waiters.
Borsa (quietly)
Don’t let him hear you say that.
‘Duke’
So what’s the problem?
(Enter the ‘Duke’ and Borsa)
2
Borsa
He could mention to someone…
‘Duke’
That pretty girl I’ve been seeing in the city,
what say we bring the matter to a climax?
Borsa
That little thing you hang about at mass for?
3
‘Duke’
Seen her praying every Sunday.
Borsa
So have you traced her?
‘Duke’
I know where she is living.
This strange man goes in there every evening.
Obligations and vows of devotion,
I detest them as cruel diseases.
Let the faithful keep faith if he pleases.
There’s no point in love if a man is not free.
For the husband, the slave of emotion,
for the passions of rivals – I scorn them.
As for Argos and his brothers I warn them,
They’re no terror or no worry for me.
Borsa
Has she no notion who her lover is yet?
John Rawnsley
62
‘Duke’
Let him say what he wants.
I’m not too worried.
If a woman should happen to catch my eye,
it’s always a pleasure to love her.
Do not tell her but let her discover,
when I’m loving there’s no guarantee
for her beauty should hold me enraptured.
Who can tell what the future is holding.
Though today she seems utterly charming,
still tomorrow perhaps we will see.
‘Duke’
No notion.
(A group of ‘Ladies’ and ‘Gentlemen’ crosses the
stage.)
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(Enter Ceprano, watching his wife, who is followed
by a henchman, at a distance. ‘Ladies’ and
‘Gentlemen’ enter from all sides. At the back there is
dancing.)
4
‘Duke’ (approaching Ceprano’s wife and speaking
to her, with much gallantry)
You’re going? That’s cruel.
‘Countess’
My husband is leaving.
I have to go with him.
‘Duke’
Oh stay a little longer.
Your place is among us, the star of the party.
For you every heart here will long for possession.
For you have a power, for you have a passion,
destructive, alluring, a fatal attraction.
(He kisses her hand.)
‘Countess’
Don’t talk like that…
‘Duke’
For you have a passion, etc.
(To the crowd )
He’s angry. You saw that?
Chorus
Come on then, impress us!
Chorus
What a party!
Marullo
Ha! Ha!… Rigoletto…
‘Duke’ (to Rigoletto)
Ceprano’s a nuisance.
He won’t let us be.
His lovely young wife seems an angel to me!
Rigoletto
I know.
Chorus
The fool?
Rigoletto
Get off with her.
Chorus
He’s after the wife of Ceprano.
Marullo
It’s revolting!
‘Duke’
You’ve said it. But how to?
Rigoletto
It’s always the same here.
And part of the game here.
The gambling, the drinking,
the parties, the dances,
the shooting, the eating,
it’s all fine for him.
And now there’s a lady,
he’s making advances.
The husband goes off
with his head in a spin.
Chorus
A new operation?
They’ve made him look normal?
Rigoletto
This evening.
(Exit)
Chorus
A lover? You’re lying!
(Enter Marullo, in excitement)
‘Countess’
Don’t talk like that…
5
(Enter Rigoletto, who meets Ceprano and the crowd)
Rigoletto
What’s this that I see on your forehead, Ceprano?
(The ‘Count’ makes an impatient gesture and
follows the ‘Duke’.)
64
Marullo
It’s happened! It’s happened!
‘Duke’
And what of her husband?
Marullo
It’s stranger than fiction!
The hunchback is hiding…
Rigoletto
Preventive detention.
Chorus
Is hiding?
‘Duke’
Not that.
Marullo
A lover…
Rigoletto
Well then… retirement.
‘Duke’
Come on now, you’re joking.
Marullo
From hunchback to Cupid in three simple lessons!
Chorus
Marullo, what is it?
Chorus
The hunchback, a cupid?
There’s hope for us all then!
Marullo
You’ll never believe it…
(Enter the ‘Duke’, followed by Rigoletto, afterwards
Ceprano)
Rigoletto (gesturing to suggest decapitation)
All right… so then he goes missing.
Ceprano (to himself )
(He means what he’s saying.)
‘Duke’ (tapping the ‘Count’ on the shoulder)
Our friend here goes missing?
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Rigoletto
An easy solution. Is he so important?
What use is he living?
Ceprano (reaching for his knife, in a fury)
You bastard!
‘Duke’ (to the ‘Count’ )
Lay off him!
Borsa, Marullo and Courtiers
But how to?
Monterone (entering)
How dare you!
Rigoletto
A madman!
Ceprano
Tomorrow at my place.
You’d better come armed.
At nightfall.
All
Monterone!
Borsa, Marullo and Ceprano
He’s finished!
Monterone (proudly addressing the ‘Duke’)
Yes, Monteron…
My voice will strike like thunder shaking your
heart’s foundations.
Monterone (to the ‘Duke’ and Rigoletto)
You and this joker, hear how I curse you.
Borsa, Marullo and Courtiers
Yes.
Rigoletto
I laugh in his face!
Borsa, Ceprano, Marullo and Courtiers
Revenge upon the hunchback…
We all have every reason
For hating him for what he’s done to put our
lives in danger.
Now vendetta!
Now vendetta!
Borsa, Marullo and Courtiers (to themselves)
He’s angry and dangerous!
‘Duke’ (to Rigoletto)
You idiot, come here.
Borsa, Marullo and Courtiers (to themselves)
He’s angry and dangerous!
‘Duke’ and Rigoletto
Let’s have music, let’s have women.
‘Duke’
You always are pushing the joke to the limit.
The anger you challenge could turn and destroy
you.
Monterone (offstage)
I demand to see him.
‘Duke’
No.
‘Duke’
Enough. Get rid of him.
All
Let’s have music, let’s have women,
Let’s have dancing through the day!
Keep the couples always turning,
Dance and dance our lives away!
Rigoletto
I have your protection. These people don’t scare
me.
You vowed to protect me. I will not come to harm.
Ceprano (to the Courtiers)
Revenge on the hunchback.
We all have a reason for hating the fool.
Vendetta.
6
66
Rigoletto (to the ‘Duke’, mimicking Monterone’s
voice)
I demand to see him.
(walking up to Monterone with mock gravity)
You were discovered in your plot against me.
But we took pity and forgave your treachery.
Are you out of your mind now…
to come here raving about your daughter
and her beloved honour?
Monterone (looking at Rigoletto contemptuously)
You dare insult me!
(to the ‘Duke’)
I’ll always be here to plague your banquets.
I’ll come and shout here,
I will torment you until I’m given a proper
vengeance and satisfaction of our lost honour.
And if you torture me as well you may do
you’ll see me come again to haunt your table.
I will return here until I’m given a proper
vengeance from the world and Heaven.
(The dancers fill the stage.)
Borsa, Marullo, Ceprano and Courtiers
Ah!
Monterone
You set your jackal on the dying lion.
How I despise you…
(to Rigoletto)
and you, you serpent.
You who can laugh at this father’s sorrow,
my curse upon you!
Rigoletto (aside)
(He cursed me. Oh horror.)
‘Duke’, Borsa, Marullo, Ceprano and Courtiers
You dare to break in on today’s celebration,
a monster from Hell with a voice of damnation.
Rigoletto
Oh horror!
‘Duke’, Borsa, Marullo, Ceprano and Courtiers
Your words are all vain, do not speak any longer.
Go tremble old man, go in fear of our anger.
You dared to provoke us.
Your hopes are all through.
Your curse will be fatal to no one but you.
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Rigoletto
Oh horror!
Sparafucile
A man who’ll help you to dispose of any
rivals.
And you’ve a rival.
Monterone
See how I curse you!
Rigoletto
Rival?
(Monterone is taken away by two henchmen; all
the others follow the ‘Duke’ into another room.)
Sparafucile
You keep a woman in there.
(The curtain falls for a short time so that the set
may be changed.)
Scene Two
A run-down street in the poorer section of the city.
The tenement, where Rigoletto lives, is on the left;
next to it, in a disused open space where a building
has been pulled down, is a net-ball court. Ceprano’s
place is on the opposite side of the street. Night.
Enter Rigoletto, followed by Sparafucile.
7
Rigoletto
I follow.
Sparafucile
That would of course be extra…
Rigoletto
I follow.
Sparafucile
Half in advance is usual,
the balance when I’ve done…
Sparafucile
Signor?
Rigoletto
(A devil!)
And when you’re working can you be sure you’re
safe?
Rigoletto
Go, I have nothing.
Sparafucile
I’m not begging.
You see before you a man prepared to kill.
Sparafucile
Usually I kill them here in town, or even back at
my place.
Wait for the man at nightfall…
One cut from this thing, he dies.
Rigoletto
A murderer?
68
Sparafucile
Not from this side.
Rigoletto
Just tell me, where can I find you?
Sparafucile
Oh easily.
My sister is my partner…
She’s a beauty, dancing and flirting.
She lures them homeward… and then…
Rigoletto
(He’s seen her.)
What would the charge be like.
If it was someone important?
Rigoletto
And how would you be paid?
Rigoletto (to himself )
(The old man laid his curse on me!)
Rigoletto
(A devil!)
And how, at your place?
Sparafucile
Here every evening.
Rigoletto
Go.
Sparafucile
Sparafucil, Sparafucil.
Sparafucile
No one notices.
Rigoletto
Go, go, go, go.
8
Sparafucile (showing his weapon)
You see how sharp the blade is.
You need it?
Rigoletto
Not for the moment.
Sparafucile
Worse luck for you.
Rigoletto
Who knows?
Sparafucile
Sparafucil, remember me,
Rigoletto
A stranger?
69
Rigoletto (looking after Sparafucile)
We are equals.
I have language, he has a dagger,
I’m the man who mocks men,
he’s the one who kills them…
The old man laid his curse on me!
Heredity, human contact, you made me evil,
it was all your doing!
My destiny, always a hunchback.
My destiny, always a joker.
Every day, every night, playing the fool again.
Other men find relief in weeping.
I cannot.
This is my young employer, happy, attractive,
influential, handsome.
When he’s bored he will tell me,
‘Make me laugh, Rigoletto’.
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I grit my teeth and do so…
Oh how I loathe him!
How I hate you, all you flatterers and courtiers.
With delight I taunt and sting you!
If my heart is cold,
you’re the ones who changed me.
But in my own home I feel as a father.
The old man laid a curse on me.
Oh that thought, why must it still return
to haunt my conscience?
Is it an evil omen?
Ah no, that is madness.
Gilda
Oh, how I love you, dearest father.
You seem distracted.
What makes you worried?
Why can’t you confide in your loving daughter?
If there’s a mystery, please just allow me…
Let me know something… about my family.
(He unlocks the gate and enters the courtyard.)
Rigoletto
Is it important?
Rigoletto
There is only me.
Gilda
Tell me your real name.
(Enter Gilda)
9
Rigoletto
Gilda!
Gilda
Just tell me something.
One thing about you…
Gilda
My father!
Rigoletto (interrupting her)
You’ve not been out.
Rigoletto
Here in your presence always I find some cure
for my sorrow.
Gilda
Only to mass.
Rigoletto
My one possession!
(sighing)
If you were gone from me what would I live for?
Gilda, my daughter.
10
70
Rigoletto
Homeland, my family and friendship?
(with passion)
Country, my family, my universe is in you
alone!
Gilda
If I could make you happy when you come home,
that’s all that I want.
Rigoletto
Country, my family, etc.
Gilda
Oh, sorrow and pain…
How hard to tell such bitter loss of love.
Gilda
The days are passing and I remain here.
I’m really longing to see the city.
If you allow it, perhaps I could…
Rigoletto
You’re all that’s left, etc.
Rigoletto
No, no!
And tell me, have you been outside?
Gilda
For I’m the only one that you have…
You hurt me with your sorrow.
You hurt me so badly.
Why won’t you let me know your name
and something of your sorrow.
Gilda
If I’ve no sister, if I’ve no brother,
please tell me something about my mother.
Rigoletto
Why should I tell you? It’s useless!
I am your father only.
Perhaps the world’s afraid of me,
there may be old resentments.
Someone has laid a curse on me!
Rigoletto
Ah, do not demand of one so sad
what was his former happiness.
Gilda
Tell me your homeland and where your friends
and family live now.
Rigoletto
Then all is well.
Gilda
Oh, how I love you!
She had an angel’s pity, a pity for my suffering.
I was a hunchback, penniless,
she gave me all her love.
Ah, she died.
The earth is kind to her.
It covers her so gently.
You’re all that’s left me…
You’re all that’s left your father.
(sobbing)
Oh God be thanked I have you!
Gilda
No.
Rigoletto
Sure?
Gilda
(Oh I’m lying.)
Rigoletto
Keep to your promise.
(They could go after her, capture her and rape
her. If they discovered she was the hunchback’s
daughter. How they would laugh and…)
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Oh God!
(towards the building)
Giovanna!
Gilda
Such affection, such a sorrow!
Ah my father look to Heaven.
There’s a God, he watches over,
and a guardian angel there.
We are sheltered by my mother.
We are hidden from all anger.
She will keep us from all fear
with a holy loving prayer.
(Enter Giovanna)
Giovanna
You called?
Rigoletto
This evening, did someone see me?
Tell me the truth now.
Rigoletto
All right.
The door to the downstairs entrance.
You always lock it?
Rigoletto
Ah, dear Giovanna, guard my daughter.
She is tender as a….
(The ‘Duke’, disguised as a student, enters the
street.)
There’s someone listening.
(Rigoletto opens the courtyard gate and, as he goes
out to check the street, the ‘Duke’ slips and hides; he
throws a purse to Giovanna to keep her quiet.)
Giovanna
It’s locked all day.
Gilda
Always, always a new suspicion.
Rigoletto
Tell me the truth.
Oh, dear Giovanna, guard my daughter.
She is tender as a flower.
You are fond of her, you know her.
You will hold her safe and sure.
From the wind that tears the blossom,
from the tempest in its anger,
keep her safely from all danger.
Keep her innocent and pure.
Rigoletto (turning to Giovanna)
Last Sunday, was she followed home from mass?
Giovanna
Ah no, how could they?
11
Giovanna
No.
‘Duke’
(Rigoletto!)
Rigoletto
Do not leave the latch off.
And open up to no one…
72
Giovanna
Even if they know you?
12
Rigoletto
Just do what I tell you.
My daughter, goodbye.
Gilda
Giovanna, I should have told him.
Giovanna
What do you mean?
Gilda
I should have told him how I have been
followed.
‘Duke’
(His daughter!)
Gilda
Goodbye, dear Father.
Giovanna
Do you really mean that…
the handsome stranger who followed us on
Sunday?
Rigoletto
Oh, dear Giovanna, etc.
Gilda
No. He is far too beautiful.
I think he loves me.
Gilda
Such affection, etc.
Rigoletto
Giovanna, she’s tender.
You’re fond of her I know, etc.
Giovanna
And he seems such a kind man and very wealthy.
Gilda
My mother’s holy prayer
will keep us safe from fear, etc.
Gilda
I do not want his wealth.
His love is plenty.
If he were penniless,
I’d be contented.
Deep in my heart of hearts
still dreaming of him
I long to talk to him,
tell him I love…
Rigoletto
Gilda, my Gilda, my daughter.
Gilda
Father, my father, my father.
(They embrace and Rigoletto, as he leaves, shuts the
street gate behind him.)
‘Duke’ (appearing, signalling to Giovanna to leave
them)
Love me!
(Gilda, Giovanna and the ‘Duke’ in the courtyard,
afterwards Ceprano and Borsa in the street)
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Love me, repeat the words,
oh how you move me.
You’ll open Heaven for me if you’ll love me.
His voice is heard when the heart is beating.
Fame and prosperity, power, position,
they last a moment, their life is fleeting.
One thing’s important, one thing worth having,
the love the angels know, the Heaven of loving.
If you will come with me, woman of Heaven,
I shall be envied by all the world.
Gilda
Giovanna, Giovanna, oh where is she?
Is there no answer?
Am I alone with him?
Giovanna, where are you?
Gilda
(In every fantasy, and all my dreaming,
he speaks to me.
His voice of tenderness, he speaks to me.)
And you love me.
‘Duke’
You know me.
I’ll answer you with all devotion.
When two are lovers what harm then can happen?
Gilda
Tell me what’s happening.
Who let you in?
‘Duke’
By all the world, etc.
And you love me.
Oh, tell me once more that you love me.
‘Duke’
Angel or devil what’s that to you?
I love you.
Gilda
You know it.
‘Duke’
I can’t believe it!
Gilda
Please leave me now.
13
Gilda
I have one thing to ask of you…
Please tell me what your name is.
‘Duke’
You think I can leave you?
Now that I’ve heard you say how much you love
me?
No one can stop us now.
Some kind of destiny has bound your fate
to mine for ever after.
Love is the source of life,
love is our sunlight.
Ceprano (to Borsa, from the street)
I think she’s here.
‘Duke’ (thinking)
I’ll tell you then.
Borsa (to Ceprano, leaving)
Alright.
74
‘Duke’
Gualtier Maldè…
A simple student, quite penniless.
(Exit the ‘Duke’ into the street with Giovanna.
Gilda follows the Duke with her eyes.)
14
Giovanna (returning frightened)
I think there’s someone coming.
Gilda
It’s my father…
‘Duke’
(If I could lay my hands upon the bastard who
interrupts me.)
Gilda (to Giovanna)
You take him down and open the street door.
Please go now.
‘Duke’
You’ll always be mine.
Gilda
And you?
Gilda
Gualtier Maldè, you were the first to love me
any my heart will be true to you for ever.
Dearest name of my first love
I’ll remember till I die
all the pleasure that you gave,
all the longing and the sighs,
how my heart beats with desire
and to you my love shall fly.
Oh the name, so dear to me, I’ll remember till I
die.
(As she walks along the balcony and goes into the
building, her voice gradually fades away.)
Gualtier Maldè!
(Marullo, Ceprano, Borsa, henchmen, masked and
armed. Gilda on the balcony)
Dearest name, etc.
Borsa (to the Chorus, indicating Gilda)
She’s there.
‘Duke’
For ever after.
Then…
Ceprano
Just look at her.
Gilda
No more, no more, please go now.
Chorus
The purest beauty.
‘Duke’ and Gilda
Addio, my hope and happiness.
For you are mine for ever.
My heart will never turn away
from you. I need you.
Marullo
Some sort of vision.
Chorus
The secret mistress of Rigoletto,
so sweet and gentle.
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(Enter Rigoletto, in thought)
15
Marullo
Don’t bite my head off. It’s…
Rigoletto
(I have returned. But why?)
They have not seen her.)
His place is that one.
I’ll come and help you.
Rigoletto
Who?
Borsa
No talking. To business.
Stay close to me.
Marullo
Do you want one of these things?
Marullo
Marullo.
Rigoletto
(How the old man cursed me…
Oh how he cursed me.)
Rigoletto
It’s black as pitch here.
I did not see you.
Ceprano
Who is there?
Borsa (to his companions)
Be quiet. It’s Rigoletto.
Marullo
Why don’t you join us?
It might amuse you.
We’re going after Ceprano’s woman.
Ceprano
Let’s kill the hunchback.
Let’s get it done.
Rigoletto
(Thank God, Ceprano!)
So what’s the plan then?
Borsa
Wait till tomorrow. We want our fun.
Marullo (to Ceprano)
You’ve got your key?
(to Rigoletto)
No need to worry.
The plan is foolproof.
It’s working smoothly.
(He gives him the keys obtained from Ceprano.)
Here is his door key.
Marullo
Leave this to me now.
Rigoletto
(I know that voice.)
Marullo
Hey, Rigoletto… say?
Rigoletto (feeling the keys)
I’ve seen it on him.
(breathing more freely)
(So I was wrong then.
Rigoletto (in a terrifying voice)
(Who is there?)
76
Gently, gently we’ll capture his mistress
and tomorrow we’ll laugh him to scorn.
Softly. Gently.
Be careful now and not a sound.
(Some go up on to the balcony, break down the first
floor door, then go down and open the street gate to
the others, who enter and draw away Gilda, who is
gagged with a handkerchief. Crossing the courtyard
she loses a scarf.)
Rigoletto
I’d better mask myself.
Come on, let me have one.
Gilda (from a distance)
Oh help me, father, help me…
Marullo
I’ve got one here.
You hold the ladder.
Chorus
We’ve got her!
(He puts a mask on Rigoletto’s face, and at the same
time binds it with a handkerchief; he leads him to
hold steady a ladder which they have placed against
the tenement balcony.)
Gilda (farther still )
Oh help me!
Rigoletto
Haven’t you found her yet?
I’m tired of waiting.
(touching his eyes)
What have they done to me?
Gilda! Gilda!
(He snatches off the handkerchief and mask, and
recognises the scarf, sees the open door, enters, and
drags out a frightened Giovanna; he stares at her,
and after many efforts to speak, he exclaims:)
Ah! How the old man cursed me!
Rigoletto
It’s even darker now.
Marullo (to his companions)
The mask will make him both deaf and blind.
16
All
Softly, softly we move in to get her.
Now’s the moment for our vendetta.
He would mock us and put us in danger.
He would laugh at us.
Now it’s his turn.
Curtain
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Nothing would be too hard for me to bear
to find my dearest love.
COMPACT DISC TWO
Act II
The hotel, as in Act I. Next morning.
1
2
Ceprano’s woman, it made him grin,
and so we got him to hold the ladder
and wear a blindfold and help us in.
It took a minute then to get his lover
and take her off beneath his very nose.
You can imagine, when he discovered,
he cursed the world for all his woes.
(Enter Marullo, Ceprano, Borsa and other
members of the gang)
All
Listen, listen!
‘Duke’
Somebody came and stole her, but when?
By God…
Just in that moment,
as I began to fear some danger.
I hurried back there
to find out what had happened.
The door was open, the house was deserted.
And where can they have hidden my dear angel?
No other woman has ever had such power
to make me feel that I could love her for ever.
She was so innocent, so modest in manner,
I could almost have believed myself a new man.
Somebody came and stole her!
But who would dare to?
Ah, I’ll not hesitate to have my vengeance.
Oh, if she’s weeping, she must have my
comfort.
Somewhere I see you weeping
and calling in desperation,
crying in doubt and terror
you face an unknown danger.
Maybe my name occurs to you.
You call on your Gualtier.
I could not find you anywhere,
beauty I love so dearly,
though I’d have given anything,
anything for your safety.
‘Duke’
What’s that?
‘Duke’
How? Where was she?
‘Duke’ (to himself )
(It can’t be! They’ve found her,
they’ve found my loved one!)
(aloud )
What have you done with her,
where can I find her?
All
Hidden safely.
All
We brought her with us for you to see.
‘Duke’
Ha! Ha! Tell me.
What do you mean?
Tell me quickly, what do you mean?
‘Duke’ (to himself )
(So fortune still is good to me.
The power of love is calling,
I cannot disobey it.
I’d give my wealth away to win my lover’s hand.
It may be she will have to know
exactly who I am now.
She’ll have to know that all men
are slaves to Love’s command.)
All
We’ve got the secret mistress of Rigoletto!
3
78
All
We went to look for her last night together
a little after the sun had set.
We’d heard about her, about her beauty.
We made a plan, and there we met.
She was the lover of Rigoletto.
We saw her once and then she disappeared.
And we were wondering just how to get her
when all at once her man was there.
But when we told him that we were after
4
‘Duke’
The power of love, etc.
All
You see the way his face, etc.
(Exit ‘Duke’, quickly)
(Marullo, Ceprano, Borsa and other members of
the gang; then Rigoletto enters, from the right,
singing softly and trying to conceal his grief )
5
Marullo
Poor little Rigoletto…
Rigoletto (offstage)
La rà, la rà, la rà, la rà…
Chorus
Be quiet, he’s coming.
(Rigoletto appears, pretending indifference.)
All
Oh good morning, Rigoletto.
Rigoletto
(They’re all in it together.)
Ceprano
What’s the latest with you?
Rigoletto (imitating him)
What’s the latest with you?
That you’re more boring than usual.
All (among themselves)
(You see the way his face has changed.
What can it mean?
There’s something going on.
What can it be?)
All
Ha! Ha! Ha!
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Rigoletto (looking round uneasily)
La rà…
(Where would they keep her hidden?)
All
Yes, he is sleeping.
But I will get her back now.
She’s up there.
(Enter a secretary)
All
(He’s looking for his lover.)
Secretary
Where’s the boss?
I’ve a message from his lawyer.
All
If your mistress has vanished, go and find another.
Rigoletto
La rà…
I’m so happy you didn’t catch a fever out late in
such bad weather.
Marullo
Such bad weather.
Rigoletto
Give me my daughter.
Ceprano
He’s sleeping.
All
She’s his daughter!
Secretary
Why, I thought I saw him with you.
Rigoletto
Yes, she’s my daughter.
Such a noble victory.
Eh? Why don’t you laugh your heads off?
She’s up there. Let me see her.
Oh, give her back now.
(He runs towards the door, but henchmen prevent
him leaving.)
Filthy rabble, you liars, you cowards.
How much money did my daughter bring you?
Is there nothing too precious for money?
She’s my daughter, my only joy.
Let me see her.
Though I know I’ve no weapons,
with my hands I will tear you to pieces.
There’s no trace of a fear in a father when
defending his daughter’s good name.
Let me through now.
Let me see her.
I must see my daughter.
(He goes again to the door, but he is prevented from
opening it; after a struggle he returns centrestage.)
Borsa
Well, he’s busy.
Rigoletto
It was quite an evening!
Secretary
I’ve a message. It’s urgent.
Marullo
I must have slept right through it.
All
He’s left his orders.
He cannot be disturbed for any reason.
Rigoletto
Ah, you were sleeping.
Well perhaps I was dreaming.
La rà…
(He walks away and, seeing a scarf on the table,
scrutinises it.)
Rigoletto (who has listened attentively, suddenly
exclaims:)
Ah, she is with him then!
She is up there!
All
(Look, look, searching for his lover.)
All
Who?
Rigoletto (throwing it away)
(It’s not Gilda’s.)
Is the ‘Duke’ still asleep?
Rigoletto
The girl you stole last night when you tricked
me into helping.
80
Ah, I know it, all against me.
No pity, heartless! Everyone!
(weeping)
Ah, see I am weeping…
Marullo… signore,
you’re a kind man at heart, surely you’ll help me.
Let me know where you’ve hidden my daughter…
Marullo… signore.
She’s there. Will you tell me.
You’re silent. Oh no!
Oh my friends,
I am sorry, forgive me.
I’m an old man, I need my daughter.
Is it so much to ask you to see her?
She is nothing to you now,
she is all that I have in the world.
Forgive me my friends, forgive me my friends.
Oh let me see her, for she is all that I have in the
world.
She’s all to me.
Your hearts must have some pity, for she is all I
have.
6
(Enter Gilda, who throws herself into her father’s
arms)
7
Gilda
My father!
Rigoletto
Gilda, my daughter!
You see her, my daughter,
my Gilda is all I have now.
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But I see you’re frightened.
My little angel…
don’t worry, they were teasing.
(to the crowd)
I was so frightened. It’s over.
(to Gilda)
But why are you weeping?
8
Rigoletto
Speak now. They’ve left us.
Gilda
(Ah God, give me courage.)
I was in church on Sunday as is my sacred duty.
He turned around and gazed at me,
he had a fatal beauty.
Silently as our eyes would meet
our hearts were joined in one.
Yesterday night he came to me,
spoke with a deep emotion:
‘I am a student, penniless’ –
told me of his devotion.
Wooed by his loving vows and sighs
our love had just begun.
He left. He left.
Then my heart was filled with love.
I could not help believing him.
All of a sudden those men appeared
and forced me to go with them.
They tied me up and brought me here
in terror for my life.
Gilda
The shame that I am suffering!
Rigoletto
Tell me, what happened?
Gilda
How can I tell you;
these people make me frightened.
Rigoletto (to the assembled crowd, in a
commanding manner)
Leave us alone together
and if the ‘Duke’ himself should dare to
approach us
tell him not to disturb us.
That is my order.
Rigoletto
Ah, I prayed to bear the shame alone.
God gave me all the sorrow.
God let my daughter rise to Heaven.
Now that her father’s fallen,
we need to pray to God above
when we are near the gallows.
The future, everything’s hollow.
My altar is overthrown.
(He throws himself onto the chair.)
All (aside)
(Rigoletto’s going crazy.
We’ll pretend to play his game.
We can watch from the next room.
Let us leave him to his shame.)
(Exeunt, shutting the door behind them)
82
Ah, weep now, my daughter.
Tell me, burden my heart
with your sorrow and pain, etc.
Give me a chance, I’ll make things even.
Then I’ll have the chance to punish.
Then the fatal storm will sound.
Then the lightning will flash from Heaven.
Then the fool will strike you down.
Gilda
Father, you are my comfort.
Oh, console my shame, etc.
9
Gilda
Oh, my father, your eyes are blazing
with a fierce desire for vengeance.
Rigoletto
I’ve one thing to do here before I am finished;
as soon as it’s over we’ll go from the city.
Rigoletto
I’ll kill him!
Gilda
Yes.
Rigoletto
(A day is enough to do all that I need.)
Gilda
Oh, I beg you, for my sake save him.
Oh, my father, father, forgive.
(Enter a henchman with Monterone, crossing the
stage surrounded by other henchmen)
Rigoletto
I’ll kill him!
Henchman
Move back there.
Monterone must go to his death.
Gilda
Oh forgive him. Please forgive him.
Rigoletto
No! No!
Monterone
I see that my curse could not harm or destroy you.
Your life bears a charm
which protects you from vengeance.
You’ll always be happy and I shall have lost.
Gilda
He betrayed me. Still I love him.
Oh, father, father, forgive.
Rigoletto
Then the lightning, etc.
(Exeunt)
10
Rigoletto
Old man, you’re mistaken.
You’ll have your revenge.
Yes. Revenge, revenge is coming.
Gilda
Oh, father, etc.
Curtain
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Act III
A dilapidated riverside bar with a plate-glass
window. In front, the road and the river; in the
distance, the city. It is night.
Gilda
Yes.
(Gilda and Rigoletto are in the road.)
Gilda
There’s someone coming!
Rigoletto
Well, then, just watch a moment.
Rigoletto
You love him?
Rigoletto
Keep watching closely.
Gilda
Always.
(The ‘Duke’, disguised as a soldier, enters the bar.)
Rigoletto
But you’ve had all this time to recover.
Gilda (surprised )
Oh father, help me!
Gilda
I love him.
‘Duke’ (to Sparafucile)
Come on now. Get moving.
Rigoletto
Just like a trusting woman.
The lying coward.
But I’ll have my vengeance, Gilda.
Sparafucile
Well then.
Gilda
Oh, not for my sake.
Rigoletto
(His usual directness.)
Rigoletto
And if you were shown for certain that he was
lying, could you still adore him?
Sparafucile
A Casanova.
‘Duke’
Bring some wine here, and your sister.
(He enters the next room.)
Gilda
Maybe. I know he loves me.
12
Rigoletto
Loves you?
84
‘Duke’
Women abandon us.
Why should it hurt them
if we desert them…
when it’s all over?
Women make fools of us,
laugh in our faces,
cover their traces…
take a new lover.
Women are liars,
cunning little demons –
What is a woman?
Why should men care?
(Sparafucile moves away from the building along
the river. Gilda and Rigoletto in the road.
Maddalena and the ‘Duke’ in the bar)
13
Think of your liberty.
Those who forget it,
live to regret it
and very badly.
Though we have need of them,
those who confide in them
lose all their pride in them,
finish up sadly.
Women are liars,
cunning little demons –
What is a woman?
Why should men care?
‘Duke’
When first I came to talk to you
I thought you very lovely…
I followed you and asked your name;
you told me that you lived here.
And from that moment onward
my heart was yours for ever.
Gilda
You liar!
Maddalena
Ah! Ah! And all your other women?
You must have quite forgotten…
You look the sort of lover
who’s had a lot of others.
‘Duke’
True, I’m such a rogue.
Sparafucile (He enters with a bottle of wine and
two glasses, which he places on the table. The
‘Duke’ rushes to embrace Maddalena as she enters,
but she avoids him. Meanwhile, Sparafucile has
gone out on the road and says to Rigoletto:)
He’s here, your victim.
You’ve decided… shall I kill him?
Gilda
Oh father help me!
Rigoletto
I’ll tell you what I want when I return.
Maddalena
Be patient.
Maddalena
Control yourself, you madman!
‘Duke’
Now what’s the matter?
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‘Duke’
And you be kind to me, my dear.
Don’t keep me waiting.
Cast all your inmost fears away.
Surrender to joy and passion.
(He takes her by the hand.)
Your hand is pale and beautiful.
Maddalena
I’ll keep you to your promise.
Gilda
All my sorrow and my sighing.
Gilda
Come with me now…
‘Duke’ (ironically)
I’m absolutely honest.
Maddalena
Men are easily discovered
when they do not tell the truth.
Rigoletto
I must stay here.
Rigoletto (to Gilda, who has seen and understood
all )
Is this enough for you?
Maddalena
You’re teasing me, you’re joking.
Gilda
You told me you were true.
‘Duke’
No, no.
14
Maddalena
I’m ugly.
‘Duke’
Make love to me.
Gilda
You liar!
‘Duke’
If you want a faithful lover,
I am waiting to embrace you.
Just a word is all I ask
and I promise to be true.
Have some pity. You’ll discover
how my heart beats so fast.
Maddalena
You’re a lying sort of lover,
all these compliments are easy.
Maddalena (laughing)
Drunkard.
Gilda
How could I believe your lying.
‘Duke’
I’m drunk with passion.
Maddalena
If you think you can deceive me
I must tell you I’m no fool.
Maddalena
You don’t know what you’re saying.
Is this some kind of joke?
Gilda
Oh! I thought you were my lover.
‘Duke’
No, no, I want a wife.
Rigoletto
Softly! You see he is no lover.
86
Gilda
Help me.
‘Duke’
Have some pity, you’ll discover how
my heart is beating fast.
If you want a faithful lover, etc.
Rigoletto
Go.
(Exit Gilda)
Gilda
Ah, I believed you. Liar and traitor.
Now my heart will break.
All my sorrow, etc.
(During this and the following scene, the ‘Duke’
and Maddalena talk, laugh and drink. After
Gilda’s departure Rigoletto goes behind the
building, then returns, talking with Sparafucile
and giving him money.)
Maddalena
You’re a lying sort of lover, etc.
Now tell the truth.
Rigoletto
Now you are certain he was lying.
There’s no virtue now in crying.
I will strike the traitor down.
There’s no virtue now in crying.
I will have revenge for you.
Yes, yes! Let it come.
Yes, yes! Let it come.
I myself will see it through.
Listen. You must go home now…
Take some money, pack all your things,
dress yourself up as a man and leave the town.
I’ll follow you tomorrow…
Go back to our old home.
15
Rigoletto
Eighty dollars you were asking.
Here there are forty.
The rest I’ll give you later.
He’s staying here, then?
Sparafucile
Yes.
Rigoletto
Good. I’ll be back at midnight to collect the
body.
Sparafucile
No need to.
I’ll get rid of him quietly in the river.
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Rigoletto
No, no, I myself will do it.
Why don’t you sleep in the storeroom or
somewhere?
I’m going to stay here.
Sparafucile
Fine. What’s his name?
Sparafucile
You’re welcome.
Rigoletto
His and mine go together.
He is ‘Transgression’,
I am ‘Retribution’.
Maddalena (aside to the ‘Duke’ )
(For God’s sake, leave us.)
‘Duke’
(In this weather?)
(Exit Rigoletto. It grows dark and thunders.)
Sparafucile (to Maddalena)
You’ll cost us eighty dollars.
(to the ‘Duke’ )
I’m delighted to offer you a room, sir…
it’s not a palace.
Still I can show you up there.
(He goes to the staircase.)
Sparafucile
Now that storm’s coming closer.
The night is growing darker.
‘Duke’ (trying to take hold of her)
Maddalena!
Maddalena (avoiding him)
Wait a moment.
If my brother sees us…
‘Duke’
Thank you. I’ll follow you.
Quickly, let’s see it.
(He whispers a word to Maddalena, and follows
Sparafucile.)
‘Duke’
No problem.
Maddalena (hearing the thunder)
Thunder?
Sparafucile (entering)
And soon it will be raining.
Maddalena
(He’s such a young man, handsome and friendly.)
(It thunders.)
(God! the air is heavy!)
‘Duke’
All the better.
(to Sparafucile)
‘Duke’ (having been upstairs, and seen the window
without shutters)
You sleep here in the open?
16
88
That’s no problem.
I will take it.
(Maddalena goes upstairs, and admires the sleeping
figure. She shades him from the light and returns
downstairs.)
Sparafucile
Sleep well and God be with you.
(Gilda disguised as a man, slowly approaches the
bar, while Sparafucile continues to drink. Thunder
and lightning)
‘Duke’
Let me sleep just a while.
I’m quite exhausted.
Women abandon us.
Why should it hurt them
if we desert them…
when it’s all over…
Now women are liars,
what is a woman?
Why should men care?
17
Gilda
I cannot think clearly.
My love brings me back here…
Oh father, forgive me.
(thunder)
The night is so fearful…
But what will it bring?
Maddalena (She returns with the ‘Duke’’s gun.)
Just listen.
(He throws himself on the bed and soon falls asleep.
Maddalena downstairs stands sentry near the table,
and Sparafucile finishes the bottle left by the
‘Duke’. They both remain some time in silence and
apparently in deep thought.)
Gilda (looking through the bar window)
Who’s speaking?
Maddalena
He’s really a good-looking fellow that stranger.
Sparafucile
Get out of my way.
Sparafucile
Oh yes, eighty dollars is worth all the danger.
Maddalena
He looks like an angel, that guest of ours.
I love him.
He loves me…
Don’t touch him…
He’s too good to murder.
Maddalena
Just eighty! You’re joking.
He’s worth so much more.
Sparafucile
Go up there. He’s sleeping.
Go get me his gun.
Gilda (listening)
To murder!
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Sparafucile (throwing her a sack)
Just shut up, get working.
Sparafucile
A sack for your angel to bundle him in and
throw him in the river.
Sparafucile
What murder the hunchback?
Is that what you’re saying?
You think I’m a robber?
Or some kind of bandit?
Just tell me if ever I’ve cheated a client.
The hunchback employed me.
I’ll finish the job.
Gilda
He must be the devil!
Maddalena
Oh, show him some mercy!
Maddalena
But why?
Sparafucile
He has to be murdered…
Maddalena
The question is money.
I think we could keep it and not kill the stranger.
Maddalena (about to go upstairs)
I’ll go and wake him.
Sparafucile
It’s out of the question.
Maddalena
Believe me.
There’s an easy solution on offer.
You already have what the hunchback has paid
you.
He’ll come with the rest when the job has been
finished.
You murder the hunchback –
Maddalena
There’s someone.
Gilda
Could this be my duty?
To die for my lover?
Oh, father, forgive me!
I come here in dread.
Maddalena (Further knocking is heard.)
There’s someone, I tell you.
Sparafucile
I’ll leave him alone, etc.
Gilda
I’m down on my luck, sir.
I need food and shelter for one evening only.
Gilda
Oh, father, etc.
Sparafucile (holding her back)
We’ll lose all the money.
(Clocks strike the half hour.)
Sparafucile
If you dare to…
Gilda
My father! My father!
Maddalena
I won’t have him murdered.
I won’t let him die.
Maddalena
– Take all of his money.
You’ll have eighty dollars and maybe some more.
Sparafucile
I’ll leave him alone till the first stroke of midnight.
If anyone else comes I’ll kill them instead.
Sparafucile
The wind.
Sparafucile
At this time? Who’s there?
Maddalena
The night is so daunting, etc.
Gilda
She’s trying to save him.
Maddalena
That’s true!
90
Maddalena
The night is so daunting.
The storm will be breaking.
If nobody comes here the young man is dead.
Maddalena
May that night be a long one!
Sparafucile
Just wait for a moment.
Maddalena
Come on, get it over.
Be quick. Let him in there.
The death of the stranger will save that young man.
Sparafucile
That leaves thirty minutes.
Maddalena (weeping)
Oh, please do not kill him…
Sparafucile
All right then, I’m ready.
We’ll open the door now.
I’ll still get the money.
That’s all that I want.
Gilda
No, she too is weeping…
I must go to save him.
Despite all his lies and his heartless betrayal,
I’ll sacrifice my life if his can be saved.
Gilda
Oh Heaven, I beg you, forgive all these sinners!
My life now is over, forgive me this deed.
(She knocks at the door.)
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Oh father, forgive me, I must disobey you.
My lover’s in danger…
I go to save his life.
He’s locked it… I’m early…
There’s still some minutes left.
I'll wait here.
A night so full of mystery!
There is a storm in Heaven!
On Earth there is a murder!
Oh how it fills me, this feeling of power!
(Midnight strikes.)
Now it’s midnight.
Maddalena
Come on, get it over, etc.
Sparafucile
All right then, I’m ready, etc.
Maddalena
Hurry up.
(Enter Sparafucile)
Sparafucile
Open.
Sparafucile
Who’s there?
Maddalena
Come in then.
Rigoletto (about to go in)
You know me.
Gilda
Heaven, grant them your pardon.
Sparafucile
I’ve done it.
(He leaves and returns dragging a sack.)
Here’s the man you were wanting.
(Maddalena opens the door for Gilda and, in the
darkness, Sparafucile knifes her as she enters. The
thunder and lightning begin again and then the
storm gradually eases.)
Rigoletto
Thank Heaven! Now show me.
(Rigoletto approaches the bar. The worst of the
storm is over and there are only occasional flashes of
lightning and claps of thunder.)
18
Sparafucile
The body? No, where’s the money?
(Rigoletto gives him the money.)
Help me. It’s deeper further down.
Rigoletto
Now for my vengeance, now the moment is ready.
Thirty long days I’ve waited in secret sorrow and
miserable weeping, playing the fool for all
around.
Rigoletto
No, I will do it.
Sparafucile
It’s up to you.
(looking at the bar)
92
Careful where you throw him.
The water’s far too shallow here.
Quickly.
Don’t let anyone see you.
Buona notte.
20
(He re-enters the house.)
19
Rigoletto
He’s there, murdered, oh yes,
I want to see him!
But no matter. I believe it.
It has to be him.
Oh, if the world could see me…
I am the joker.
He is the man of power!
Now the joker has crushed him!
I stand here victorious!
So now I have it, a vengeance for my sorrow!
The waves will be his coffin,
his shroud is a piece of sacking.
The river, the river.
No! No! He’s alive then!
(looking towards the building)
I have been cheated by you, by you, you
devil!
But who can be inside here?
(opening the sack)
I’m trembling. A human body!
(The sky lightens.)
My daughter!
God! Not my daughter!
Oh no… it’s impossible,
she has left the city…
(kneeling)
It’s a dream! My daughter!
Oh my Gilda, my daughter,
tell me what happened.
(He knocks desperately at the door.)
Tell me who can have hurt you…
Olà! No answer.
They’ve gone. My daughter.
My Gilda, oh my daughter!
Gilda
Who is calling?
(He tries to drag the sack towards the bank, when
he hears the voice of the ‘Duke’, crossing the back of
the stage.)
Rigoletto
She’s talking. She’s not dead.
She’s breathing. Thank God!
Ah, my one possession.
Just look at me and know me.
‘Duke’
Women abandon us, etc.
Rigoletto
That voice!
It’s a mad hallucination…
(startled)
Gilda
My dearest father!
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Rigoletto
No, no not die, do not leave me in sorrow.
Pity your father, don’t leave me alone.
Rigoletto
Who has hurt you? And how?
Where are you wounded? Tell me –
Gilda
Ah, soon in Heaven, etc.
Gilda (pointing to her heart)
It’s here, here, here, I’ve been stabbed.
Rigoletto
Oh my Gilda!
Do not leave me alone!
Do not die!
If you go, I have nothing, nothing on earth.
If you die, I must die here with you.
Oh my daughter. Oh my Gilda.
Do not leave me alone.
Rigoletto
Who dared to strike you?
21
Gilda
It’s all my fault.
I tried to deceive you.
But I love him.
Now I’m dying for him.
Gilda
No more. Forgive him, my father.
Addio.
Ah, soon in Heaven, etc.
Rigoletto (to himself )
God of vengeance, has my daughter been
murdered, by the blow that was aimed at my
enemy?
(to Gilda)
Dearest angel, oh, look at your father.
Speak, oh, speak to me, beloved daughter!
22
Rigoletto
Do not die, etc.
(She dies.)
Gilda, my Gilda, she’s dead!
Ah, ah, the old man cursed me!
Gilda
Oh let me rest now!
For me, for my sake, forgive him.
I’m your daughter,
give your blessing, oh my father.
Ah, soon, in Heaven,
I’ll be with my mother,
in eternity, I’ll pray for you.
(He collapses in despair beside his daughter’s body.)
Final curtain
English translation © 1982 James Fenton
Note: This translation was made for Jonathan
Miller’s 1982 English National Opera
production and subsequently revised for the
revival in 1983 and for this recording.
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Clive Barda
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Irene Fawkes
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John Rawnsley
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Irene Fawkes
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Jean Rigby
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Alan Opie
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Catherine Ashmore
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Stage assistants: Phillip Thomas and Peter Robinson
Recording producer Suvi Raj Grubb
Sound engineer Stuart Eltham
Recording venue No. 1 Studio, Abbey Road, London; 28–30 July, 1, 6, 7, 14, 28 August and
4 September 1983
Front cover Montage of photograph by Bill Rafferty and Man with Gun and Chain © Photonica/
Jim Goldsmith
Back cover Photograph of Mark Elder by Sally Soames
Design Cass Cassidy
Booklet typeset by Dave Partridge
Booklet editor Finn S. Gundersen
Copyright Copyright Control
2000 Chandos Records Ltd, digitally remastered from a
2000 Chandos Records Ltd
Chandos Records Ltd, Colchester, Essex, England
Printed in the EU
P
P
1984 recording
C
Jonathan Miller
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CHANDOS
Page 1
DIGITAL
2-disc set CHAN 3030(2)
re-mastered
Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901)
Rigoletto
An opera in three acts
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
English translation by James Fenton
The English National Opera production
Directed for the stage by Jonathan Miller
Rigoletto ...................................................... JohnRawnsley baritone
Gilda, his daughter ............................................ Helen Field soprano
The ‘Duke’ ........................................................ Arthur Davies tenor
Sparafucile........................................................ John Tomlinson bass
Maddalena, his sister..................................Jean Rigby mezzo-soprano
Monterone .......................................... Norman Bailey bass-baritone
Marullo .............................................................. Alan Opie baritone
English National Opera Orchestra and Chorus
Mark Elder
CHANDOS RECORDS LTD
Colchester . Essex . England
COMPACT
DISC TWO
TT 66:18
DDD
p 2000 Chandos Records Ltd digitally remasterd from a p 1984 recording
c 2000 Chandos Records Ltd
Printed in the EU
CHAN 3030(2)
CHANDOS
Leslie Fyson chorus master
COMPACT
DISC ONE
TT 58:29
SOLOISTS/ENGLISH NATIONAL OPERA ORCHESTRA & CHORUS/ELDER
VERDI: RIGOLETTO
digitally
5:13 pm