Giuseppi Verdi – Rigoletto
Throughout his career Verdi had recurring problems with censorship. This was amplified by the fact that he had to contend with two different types of censors.
Although we think of Italy as an ancient country, it has only existed as a unified political whole for about 150 years. When Verdi was born in Parma near Milan in 1813, it was a province of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Many of Verdi’s operas were subjected to political censorship by Austrian officials because they were seen as critical of Italy’s subservient status.
Another form of censorship came from the Catholic Church who knew Verdi was notoriously anti-clerical and were looking for anything in his operas that could be construed as irreligious.
Verdi based Rigoletto on a French play by Victor Hugo whose title translates roughly as The King’s Amusement. Verdi’s censors immediately forbade anything that would picture a king as being immoral. Political censors objected since this could lead to questioning authority, church censors objected because, since kings were divinely selected, depicting their immorality might call into question divine judgement.
So in Verdi’s opera the king is downgraded to the Duke of Mantua. Evidently Mantua has an unsavory reputation so suspicious goings on there would surprise no one.
The production we will see attempts to capture the idea of the story taking place in a place of dubious morality and sketchy reputation by setting it in 1960s-era Las Vegas. The Duke becomes a mob-connected lounge singer who may be modeled after someone like Frank Sinatra. Rigoletto becomes an insult comedian who may be modeled after someone like Don Rickles.
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Performance recorded February 16, 2013
The Duke – Piotr Beczala
Rigoletto – Zeljko Lučić
Gilda – Diana Damrau
Sparafucile – Štefan Kocán
Maddalena – Oksana Volkova
Conductor – Michele Mariotti
Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Chorus, and Ballet
