Italian Jester - Rigoletto

For my final show of the season, I was able to catch a great opera put on by the Wolf  Trap Opera Company. The company is a group of up and coming singers and actors who typically put on one show at the Filene Show while doing additional shows at the Barns. This year, they too on Verdi's Rigoletto. Giuseppe Verde was born in 1813 in a small town in Italy. A child prodigy, he was writing music by the age of 13 and wrote an 8 part Cantata when he was 15. He wrote his first opera, Oberto, in 1839 but it wasn't until he wrote Nabucco that he gained worldwide success. Over the next 16 years, he wrote over 20 different operas and became one of the most famous composers in Europe. It during this time that Rigoletto premiered in Venice. He scaled back his production in the late 1850's but came back to the forefront in the 1870's with perhaps his most famous opera, Aida. He continued to write until the 1890's and is seen as one of the most famous italian composers of his time. Rigoletto is based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Hugo's play was cancelled after only one performance for being anti-government but Verdi was adamant on using the material for his new opera. The Libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave and is considered a classic example of Verdi's middle period. The opera had a difficult beginning as it makes fun of the aristocracy, something frowned upon by the Austria government (they controlled the part of Italy where Verdi lived). Luckily, Verdi was fairly popular by then so was able to push it through and it finally premiered in 1851. The opera was a great success and has since become a standard of opera companies. In particular, "La Donna e Mobile" is an incredibly famous number that has been sung around the world outside of opera. Verdi wrote many other popular works but Rigoletto is certainly an artistic triumph.

As I said for the last show, I've never been a true opera fan but I really tried to pay attention to the show. The opera company put so much time in this production and it's just hard to do a show of this scale in an outdoor venue. And to their credit, the did a great job. All of the singers were spot on and the music was beautiful without being overpowering. The story was actually pretty easy to follow, something I feel like is not always the case with opera. Overall, it was  a great production and a fitting end to my time as an usher!

My favorite part of the show was when they performed the classic "La Donna e Mobile". I immediately recognized the melody and had no idea it was from this opera! Learn something new everyday.

Looking forward to coming back to Wolf Trap one day!

DC

Giuseppe Verdi