A General Overview Italian Opera,
Verdi, and Rigoletto
by Sophie Wackenhut
Opera, an art form that combines drama and music, originated in Italy during the
early seventeenth century. Although it spread throughout the world, opera remained one of
the most enjoyed forms of entertainment in Italy. During the nineteenth century, Italian
operas were especially popular. Verdi, one of the most renowned composers of this era,
wrote twenty-six operas during his lifetime. Rigoletto, composed in only forty days, is one of
Verdi’s most triumphal achievements and remains today one of the most famous operas of
nineteenth century Italy.
All operas should be viewed with Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s idea of a willing
suspension of disbelief. Although Coleridge wanted readers to apply this concept to novels
and poetry, the statement can just as easily pertain to opera. Operas contain many unrealistic
qualities, the most prevalent of which is the characters singing all or most of their lines.
Robert Donington writes: “It [opera] cannot, therefore, be realistic drama in an outward
sense, because in the real world outside conversations are not sung, much less supported by
orchestral accompaniment.”1 However, an opera would not be an opera if the parts were not
sung. The combination of drama and music makes opera one of the most powerful art
forms. Donington realizes this and continues, “The poetry and the music which prevent
opera from being outwardly realistic are exactly the qualities which most help it to
communicate inwardly real feelings and intuitions.”2 The arias and recitatives, which are
accompanied by the orchestral music, do not imitate life in the way in which they are
presented. This technique of constant singing, however, heightens the emotions of the opera
and in turn affects the viewer who watches and listens to the performance. During the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, Italians disregarded the unrealistic quality of opera
and promoted it to one of the most popular art forms.
Originally, operas were performed for the educated men and women of higher
society. The librettists based their works on mythology or history which members of the
lower class could not understand. There were two types of operas enjoyed by the aristocracy:
the opera buffa and the opera seria. During the nineteenth century, though, the opera buffa’s
popularity arose because these comedic operas were enjoyable and understandable for the
“common” men of Italy. As a result, opera “…became a national passion, almost
supplanting the theater and other musical entertainment.”3 With the growth in popularity of
opera, smaller towns in Italy began to produce operas. The larger cities, such as Rome,
Milan, Venice, and Florence, maintained their established opera houses. The large cities
1
Robert Donington, The Opera (New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978) 1.
Donington 1.
3
J. Merrill Knapp, The Magic of Opera (New York: Da Capo, 1974) 159.
2
naturally produced extravagant and expensive performances of operas. Smaller towns,
however, lacked the resources to produce operas of equal quality. Knapp states, “The larger
cities . . with their established opera houses and larger resources, could aim much higher . .
[than smaller cities].”4 Despite the greater resources, large opera houses suffered from the
public’s preoccupation with opera. The demand for operas was so great that the quality of
operas produced greatly decreased. Nevertheless, the popularity of the Italian opera during
the nineteenth century did not decrease because of the composers such as Gioacchino
Rossini, Vincenzo Bellini, and Giuseppe Verdi.
Giuseppe Verdi is one of the most influential composers of Italian opera.
William Ashbrook writes: “Born in the same year as Wagner, Verdi came to dominate the
field of Italian opera in the latter half of the nineteenth century just as surely as his coeval
would eclipse German rivals.”5 During his lifetime, which spans eighty-eight years, he wrote
twenty-six operas, many of which are well known to opera viewers today. Knapp states: “His
[Verdi’s] best known operas have had an extraordinary hold to the operatic stage not only in
Italy but throughout the Western world. If Rigoletto, Il trobatore, La traviata, and Aida were
withdrawn from production today, most opera houses would cease to operate.”6 The fact
that so many of his operas remain popular is a tribute to Verdi as a composer. His operas,
however, were not always received with such enthusiasm.
Verdi was born on 10 October 1813 in the small village of Roncole, Italy. His
parents were poor, but, recognizing Giuseppe’s love for music at an early age, they bought
him a spinet. He taught himself how to play this instrument and later learned how to play the
organ under the instruction of the local organist Baistrocchi.7 After replacing a man named
Provesi as conductor of the Philharmonic Society, Verdi applied to the Milan Conservatory
where he was rejected for showing “…no special aptitude for music.”8 At the age of twentythree, Verdi married a young woman named Margherita Barezzi. He began to compose
operas to support himself, his wife, and his two children. The first two operas which Verdi
composed, Oberto and Un giorno di regno, were not very successful. The latter in fact, was
withdrawn from the public after only one performance. Nabucco, Verdi’s third opera, was
presented to the public in 1842 with much success.
For the most part, as Verdi composed more and more operas, the quality and
creativity of his compositions greatly improved. Ashbrook writes, “ . . .each minor work
contains some signs of his unusual talent.”9 The aspect of Verdi’s music that allows his
operas to be successful and popular stems from his inner self. “Verdi’s vitality is almost
overwhelming at times, yet he could be sensitive, delicate, and unobtrusive when the
situation called for it.”10 This balance between the dramatic and simplistic aspects of music
draws the listener into the operatic experience. The melodrama presented by the orchestral
music often overpowered the human voices of the singers on stage. For those used to the
4
Knapp 160-61.
William Ashbrook, “The Nineteenth Century: Italy,” The Oxford Illustrated History of Opera ed. Roger
Parker (New York: Oxford UP, 1994) 190.
6
Knapp 175.
7
Naomi Jacob and James C. Robertson, Opera in Italy (London: Hutchinson, 1948) 187.
8
Jacob and Robertson 188.
9
Ashbrook 191.
10
Knapp 177-8.
5
music accompanying the voice, Verdi’s concept of the voice accompanying the music was
certainly a great change. “But what was lost in subtle voice control was regained in the
dramatic power that made the opera not only in music but living theater.”11 Verdi was able to
combine many contradicting aspects, for example drama and realism, to create more
powerful operas.
Rigoletto, composed in less than two months, was first performed in March of
1851. The libretto, based on Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse, was written by Francesco
Piave. Censorship affected the outcome of Rigoletto. Knapp states: “The original version of
Rigoletto, following Victor Hugo, centered around the French Renaissance monarch, Francis
I; the locale was eventually changed to Mantua, and the king became a duke because the
censors objected to the portrait of a debauched monarch and considered the play to be
immoral.”12 Despite the changes that were forced upon Piave and Verdi, Rigoletto remains
one of the most performed operas of our time. In fact, Rigoletto is one of Verdi’s many
operas that have become a part of standard repertory. Two other Verdi operas that are often
included in repertory are Il trovatore and La traviata, both composed in 1853.
Giuseppe Verdi’s Rigoletto
The women in Verdi’s Rigoletto are central to the action of the opera.
Although only four of the characters are women, they are important dramatically since other
characters’ reactions to them further the plot. Two of the women, Gilda and Maddalena, are
especially substantial to the opera because they affect the Duke more than any character in
Rigoletto. Gilda is Rigoletto’s beautiful daughter. The Duke falls in love with her after he sees
her in church and pursues her throughout the opera. Other members of the court, however,
believe that Gilda is Rigoletto’s mistress. They kidnap her, and, much to her father’s dismay,
they take her to the Duke’s chambers. He takes her away from the Duke’s palace and plans
his vengeance for the trick the Duke and his men played on him. He hires a man named
Sparafucile to kill the Duke. Maddalena is Sparafucile’s sister who helps him lure the Duke
from Gilda in order to kill him. However, Maddalena falls in love with the Duke. In order to
spare his life, she begs her brother to kill the next person who walks into the inn where they
are staying. Gilda then sacrifices herself and saves the man she loves even though he
betrayed her. The women thus play a pivotal role in the outcome of the opera through their
actions and emotions.
Rigoletto begins with a party at the Duke’s palace. The Duke’s view of women is
presented when he states: “This one or that one? All women are the same to me. I don’t
allow one woman to command my heart more than another. If one woman pleases me
today, another may do so tomorrow.”13 The Duke uses woman after woman and never takes
the time to get to know any of them. He disregards the women’s feelings and, seeing no
distinction between different women, realizes that there is nothing that attaches him
emotionally to these women. When he meets Gilda, though, he is surprised at his feelings.
11
Knapp 178-79.
Knapp 177.
13
Rigoletto, dir. Pasqualino De Santis, perf. Ingvar Wixell, Edita Gruberova, Luciano Pavarotti, Victoia
Vergara, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Fedora Barbieri, Unitel, 1983.
12
The Duke of Mantua says ‘She [Gilda] was the first to awaken the flame of constant love in
my heart”14 Gilda is unreachable in terms of how the Duke normally chases after women.
She does not throw herself at his feet and she does no go out to parties where they could
meet. Her distance, mainly from the seclusion her father forces upon her, leaves her as the
unattainable object of his desire. Thus, the Duke pursues Gilda because he feels that his
reward will be great. Although his persistence is he only reason that Gilda reciprocates his
feelings, the Duke believes that “The god of love has bound your [Gilda’s] fate to mine.”15
He does not see that he loves her for who she is, even as he chases her. It is not a
coincidence that they meet since he plans their secret meetings meticulously. The Duke
needs to see Gilda because he loves her and sees her as a person, unlike the women whom
he loved one day and loved no longer the next.
As Rigoletto plans his revenge against the Duke, he separates Gilda from her lover.
The Duke, unable to prove his love to Gilda, returns to his previous belief about women. He
says: “Woman is fickle, like a feather in the wind. With tears and smiles, her pretty face
always deceives.”16 Although he believes that women are fickle, especially in love, he acts in
this same manner. He thinks that Gilda led him on, yet she is the innocent individual in their
love. In his anger, the Duke believes that if he goes to bed with another woman, Gilda will
be jealous and return to him. Thus, he pursues Maddalena who pretends to refuse his
advances. The Duke tells Maddalena: “You know my heart adores only you.”17 This
statement is obviously untrue but he tells the young woman he loves her to attract her. He
returns to his old actions where he would go from woman to woman telling each one that he
loves them. The Duke has a very demeaning attitude towards women, considering them as
individuals easy to manipulate.
Unlike the Duke of Mantua, Rigoletto treats women kindly. Even though he is
hunchback and is a jester, two facts that would cause others to ridicule him, he believes that
he should treat others as he would like to be treated. Thus, his deformity forces him to
realize that he must be kind to others. Rigoletto tells his daughter, “My whole world is you . .
. ”18 His devotion to Gilda is greater than anything in his life. Since his wife died, Gilda is the
only person left in his life that he can love. Therefore, he takes great care to protect her from
the outside world. He forces her to stay in the house and allows her to leave only to attend
church services. Rigoletto urges Giovanna, Gilda’s attendant, to “ . . . guard this flower
[Gilda] I place in your trust.”19 Giovanna, however, goes against Rigoletto’s wishes. When
the Duke appears to court Gilda, he hands Giovanna a bag of money. She gladly accepts the
gift and ignores his actions with Gilda. Rigoletto protects his daughter both out of love and
out of a need to keep her to himself. After the men of the court kidnap her, Rigoletto says to
them: “My lords, she is my entire family.”20 This proves that he protects Gilda in part for his
self-fulfillment. Knowing that this young and beautiful woman loves him, despite his
deformity, is a great comfort to Rigoletto.
14
Rigoletto.
Rigoletto.
16
Rigoletto.
17
Rigoletto.
18
Rigoletto.
19
Rigoletto.
20
Rigoletto.
15
Gilda herself seems to be greatly affected by the other characters in the opera. When
Rigoletto tells her that she means everything to him, Gilda responds: “If I can make you
happy, my life will be joyful.”21 Since she was shut out from the world as a result of her
father’s unwillingness to share her, she does not know how people act, especially concerning
love. Since a father’s love, the only kind of love Gilda has never known, is very different
from a lover’s love, Gilda’s actions are often confused and rash.
The Duke pursues Gilda from afar for quite some time. When he finally speaks to
Gilda, he tells her he is a student. He also explains to her what love is. The Duke states:
“Love is the sunshine of life, its voice the quickening of our hearts.” 22 His tender words win
over the naïve girl and she falls in love with him. However, after he violates her when, she is
kidnapped by the members of the court, she discovers that love is not always an emotion
that brings joy and that it can often hurt.
After the kidnapping incident, Rigoletto takes Gilda away and hides her while
he comes up with a plan of revenge. Part of his plan is to hire Sparafucile to murder the
Duke. In order to accomplish this task, Maddalena lures the Duke into the inn. Even though
he does not love her, the Duke pretends that he does have feelings for her. Gilda overhears
their exchanges and feels betrayed that he would say these words to another woman so soon
after he proclaimed them to her. She states: “He [the Duke] betrayed me, but I love him.”23
Gilda is so forgiving, though, that she does not hold his betrayal against him. Her naivete
forces her to be blind to the truth. Even though the Duke loved her, it was a short
infatuation that did not matter very much to him. In contrast, Gilda’s love is very deep
because her feelings are the first feelings of love for someone other than her father.
In contrast, Maddalena lured many people into her brother’s trap throughout
her life. However, as she entices the Duke into the inn, Maddalena falls in love with him. She
no longer wants her brother to kill the Duke and begs him to save the man’s life. Gilda
listens to Sparafucile and Maddalena’s plan to kill the next person who comes into the inn
rather than killing the Duke. After their exchange, Gilda proclaims: “What temptation! To
die for the one who deceived me.”24 Even though the Duke betrays her love and forgets all
the words he said to her, she cannot let go of the man she loves. Rather than returning to
her father who truly loves her, she sacrifices herself for a man whose love was fickle. Gilda
states: “He [the Duke] betrayed my love, but I’ll give my life for him.”25 Gilda bases this
impulse decision purely on the Duke’s courting and their short relationship. Even though
she probably knows that the Duke’s infatuation with her was similar to his infatuation with
any other woman, she cannot release from her mind the idea that this man loved her. Thus,
she is willing to sacrifice herself for a man who meant much less to her than her father.
The themes in Verdi’s Rigoletto are direct consequences of the characters’ actions.
The four main themes of the opera are love, betrayal, jealousy, and revenge. These are all
characteristics exemplified in one or more of the individuals in Rigoletto. The theme of love is
evident in the actions of the four main characters, the Duke, Gilda, Rigoletto, and
21
Rigoletto.
Rigoletto.
23
Rigoletto.
24
Rigoletto.
25
Rigoletto.
22
Maddalena. In one way or another, all of these character’s actions are based on the basic
emotion of love. As the Duke says, “ Only love is divine . . . .”26 The Duke needs to be with
a woman at all times in his life because that is the only way he feels complete. Therefore, he
chases woman after woman in hopes that she will return his love. When something happens
that will tear their love apart, however, the separation has no affect on him. In the end, the
Duke states: “He who offers his heart will always be unhappy.”27 On the other hand, Gilda’s
love is pure. She truly loves her father and believes that she loves the Duke. The brief
moments Gilda spends away from her father’s constant control over her life cause her to see
what life would be like if she loved another man and was free to do as she wanted. When, in
the end, she gives her life for the Duke, it is done above all as a result of her naïve love.
Rigoletto’s love is, of course, obsessive. He does not want to lose his daughter and therefore
does anything, even to the extent of hiring Sparafucile to kill the Duke, in order to prevent
his losing her. Maddalena’s love seems to be as rash as the Duke’s. Since most of her time is
spent luring men into her brother’s trap, she has no trouble pretending to love someone
from day to day. However, she realizes as she is luring the Duke that she has already fallen in
love with him. The theme of love is thus a very prominent theme in Rigoletto.
The theme of betrayal centers mostly around the Duke. Although he seems to truly
love Gilda at the start of the opera, his emotions brusquely change in the middle. In fact, at
one point the Duke and Gilda converse about their love. They state: “Do you [Gilda] love
me?/ And do you [Duke]?/ All my life.”28 The Duke repeatedly tells Gilda that he will love
her forever. This makes Gilda’s revelation of knowing he says that to every woman even
harder to bear. She continually feels that the Duke has betrayed her once she overhears his
conversation with Maddalena. Even though he did deceive her, Gilda is willing to sacrifice
her life in order to save him.
The theme of jealously combines with the theme of betrayal. If the Duke had not
betrayed Gilda’s love, she would not have been jealous of his proclamations of love to
Maddalena, whether they were real or not. When the Duke tells Maddalena that his heart
loves only her, it crushes Gilda because he had said the same things to her. She becomes
jealous of their new relationship and decides that the only way the Duke will see how much
she loved him is if she kills herself. Rigoletto hides his jealousy underneath his occupation as
a jester. People often make fun of his deformity, and since he can make them laugh, they do
not notice that he is hurt by their ridicules. That is the reason he protects Gilda. He wants to
keep all of her love to himself. He is jealous when she declares that she loves another man.
He becomes desperate at the thought that Gilda will leave, and hires Sparafucile to murder
the Duke.
The theme of revenge centers mainly around Rigoletto. After the members of the
court kidnap his daughter, he vows revenge on them and the Duke even though it was only
meant as a joke. Rigoletto has much admiration for the women he loves. Speaking of his
deceased wife, Rigoletto states: “That angel felt pity for my sorrows.” 29 He understands that
not many people would be able to love him because of his deformity and is grateful to those
26
Rigoletto.
Rigoletto.
28
Rigoletto.
29
Rigoletto.
27
who do love him. However, after his wife’s death, he becomes too dependent on Gilda. Her
love means the world to him and he cannot let go of her in fear that he will lose her forever.
When his plan goes awry and Gilda is killed by Sparafucile instead of the Duke, Rigoletto
sorrowfully states: “If you [Gilda] die, I’ll be alone . . . .”30 He cannot stand to face a world
that will ridicule him without her love to support him. However, he does not realize this
until after Gilda dies. Throughout the opera, he is so intent on his revenge scheme that he
does not realize the extent of his daughter’s love for the Duke. Even though Gilda’s sacrifice
was a personal decision, Rigoletto still blames himself, and his plan for revenge, for her
death. He proclaims: “She was caught in the execution of my rightful vengeance.”31 By not
paying enough attention to Gilda and instead focusing all of his thoughts and actions on
revenge, Rigoletto loses his daughter. Although she is his most prized possession, his
fascination with revenge affects both their lives.
The women play a central role in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Gilda and Maddalena’s actions
throughout the opera forward the plot and create a tension between the characters. As a
result of her naivete, Gilda creates tension between her father and the Duke. Maddalena’s
experience with men, on the other hand, creates tension between Gilda and the Duke. The
clashes between the characters centralize the themes of love, betrayal, jealousy, and revenge.
The Duke, Gilda, Rigoletto, and Maddalena each embody a certain type of love. The Duke’s
love is fickle, Gilda’s love is naïve, Rigoletto’s love is obsessive, and Maddalena’s love is
rehearsed. Each of the characters help to advance the theme of love, bringing about the
themes of betrayal, jealousy, and revenge as a result. Verdi’s development of the characters
through the music, has made Rigoletto one of the most famous operas of nineteenth century
Italy.
30
31
Rigoletto.
Rigoletto.
Works Cited
Ashbrook, William. “The Nineteenth Century: Italy” The Oxford Illustrated History of
Opera. Ed. Roger Parker. New York: Oxford UP, 1994. 169-205
Donington, Robert. The Opera. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1978.
Jacob, Naomi, and James C. Robertson. Opera in Italy. London: Hutchinson, 1948.
Knapp, J. Merrill. The Magic of Opera. New York: Da Capo, 1974.
Rigoletto. Dir. Pasqualino De Santis. Perf. Ingvar Wixell, Edita Gruberova, Luciano
Pavarotti, Victoria Vergara, Ferruccio Furlanetto, and Fedora Barbieri. Unitel, 1983.