Rigoletto

La Fenice staging
Friday 14 February Valentine’s Day dinner at the Sale Apollinee after the performance

One of the most exciting operas from the mid 19th century, Rigoletto was initially embattled by the censors of the time, who had several issues with its content for both aesthetic and political reasons. Set in the brilliant world of the Duke of Mantua, an absolute ruler with very few morals, the action plumbs the depths of crime, but the libertine doesn’t get a retribution as the angelic girl Gilda pays for his misdeeds. Commissioned in 1850 by Venice’s La Fenice, Rigoletto is the first of Verdi’s middle period operas, marking a shift towards coherent dramatic fabrics as opposed to the usual aria plus cabaletta format. Verdi wrote the bulk of the score in just forty days; the premiere was a huge success and Rigoletto has never been far from the operatic stage since