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Rigoletto

• Opera in 3 acts, Italian
• Libretto Francesco Maria Piave
• Based on the play Le Roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo
• Opera was performed also with the titles: Viscardello, Clara di Perth, Lionello.
• Time: the Sixteenth century. Place: Mantua.
  
  
  

Act 1, scene 1: Victor Hugo's Le Roi s'amuse.

*First Premieres in different countries

• * Italy 11 March 1851, the world premiere at Teatro La Fenice, Venice
  • Austria: 12 May 1852, Vienna
  • Hungary: 18 Dec 1852, Budapest
  • Czech Republic: 8 Jan 1853, Brno
  • Germany: 30 Jan 1853, Stuttgart
  • Russia: 12 Feb 1853, Stuttgart
  • England: 14 May 1853, London (Covent Garden)
  • Spain: 18 Oct 1853, Madrid
  • Greece: 28 Oct 1853, Athens
  • Portugal: 29 Jan 1854, Lisbon
  • United States: 19 Feb 1855, New York
  • Argentina: 16 Jun 1855, Buenos Aires
  • Brazil: 12 Jan 1856, Rio de Janeiro
  • France: 19 Jan 1857, Paris (Théâtre des Italiens)
  • Ireland: 4 Aug 1857, Dublin
  • Belgium: 22 Nov 1858, Brussels
  • Switzerland: 31 Jan 1861, Basle
  • Sweden: 3 Jun 1861, Stockholm
  • Indonesia: 27 Jan 1868, Surabaja
  • Denmark: 18 Sep 1879, Copenhagen
  • Tunisia: 12 Apr 1903, Tunis
  • Finland: 24 Apr 1917, Helsinki
  • Bulgaria: 13 Dec 1920, Sofia
  • Lithuania: 3 Nov 1921, Kaunas
  • Israel: 30 Oct 1923, Jerusalem
    
    
    

'Bella figlia dell'amore' quartetto scene, depicted by Roberto Focosi in an early edition of the vocal score. Left to right: Duca, Maddalena, Gilda, Rigoletto.

• Characters:
  • Rigoletto, the Duke's jester, baritone
    • HP Triboulet
    • Felice Varesi sang in the first premiere 11 March 1851
    • Gaetano Ferri
    • Ismaël
    • Antonio Cotogni
    • Sir Charles Santley
    • Adriano Pantaleoni
    • Jules-Célestien Devoyod
    • Léon Pierre Melchissédec
    • Paul Lhérie
    • Bogomir Korsov
    • Niels Juel Simonsen
    • Victor Maurel
    • Giuseppe Kaschmann
    • Antonio Magini Coletti
    • Mattia Battistini
    • Francisco d'Andrade
    • Jean Noté
    • Hermann Devriès
    • Antonio Camillo Francesco Pini-Corsi
    • Mario Ancona
    • Giuseppe Pacini
    • Francesco Maria Bonini
    • Antonio Scotti
    • Ferruccio Francesco Corradetti
    • Giuseppe De Luca
    • Titta Ruffo
    • Pasquale Amato
    • Giuseppe Danise
    • Amleto Barbieri
    • Carlo Galeffi
    • Mate Jakov Čulić Dragun
    • Luigi Montesanto
    • Mario Carmelo Basiola
    • Leonard Warren
    • Tito Gobbi
    • Gino Bechi
    • Paolo Silveri
    • Giuseppe Taddei
    • Robert Merrill
    • Pentti Arnold Hilmanpoika Tuominen
    • Georg Ots
    • Ettore Bastianini
    • Rolando Panerai
    • Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
    • Piero Cappuccilli
    • Usko Viitanen
    • Ingvar Wixell
    • Renato Bruson
    • Jorma Hynninen
    • Leo Nucci
  • Gilda, his daughter, soprano
    • Teresa Brambilla sang in the first premiere 11 March 1851
    • Fanny Salvini-Donatelli
    • Paulina Rivoli
    • Marietta Gazzaniga
    • Virginia Boccabadati
    • Angiolina Bosio
    • Marie Sasse
    • Teresa Stolz
    • Ilma de Murska
    • Marietta Piccolomini
    • Désirée Artôt de Padilla
    • Albina Contarini
    • Carlotta Patti
    • Clara Louise Strakosch
    • Adelina Patti /// No Verdi restored, but here is "Casta diva"
    • Marie Rôze
    • Dame Emma Albani, DBE
    • Alma Fohström sang Gilda in 1881 at Teatro di Reggio nell'Emilia when Giuseppe Verdi was present.
    • Ada Adini
    • Adalgisa Gabbi
    • Elisabeth Frandin
    • Linda Brambilla
    • Hariclea Darclée
    • Isabella Paoli
    • Dame Nellie Melba /// "Caro nome"
    • Leonilda Paini Gabbi
    • Gemma Bellincioni
    • Ida Sambo sang both Gilda and Maddalena
    • Delfina Battaglia
    • Elda Cavalieri
    • Regina Isabel Lucía Pacini
    • Luisa Tetrazzini /// "Caro nome"
    • Giuseppina Huguet
    • Antonina Vasilievna Nezhdanova
    • Natalina 'Lina' Cavalieri
    • Hermine von Flick
    • Aino Ackté
    • Rosina Buckman
    • Florence Easton
    • Amelita Galli-Curci
    • Alma Gluck
    • Lotte Schöne
    • Toti Dal Monte
    • Hjördis Sophie Tilgmann
    • Ayres Borghi-Zerni
    • Mercedes Capsir
    • Lily Pons
    • Bidu Sayão
    • Maria Caniglia
    • Zinka Milanov
    • Jarmila Daubková
    • Miliza Elisabeth Korjus
    • Hilde Güden
    • Maria Callas
    • Maaria Eira
    • Virginia Zeani
    • Dame Joan Alston Sutherland, OM AC DBE
    • Leontyne Price
    • Beverly Sills
    • Roberta Peters
    • Reri Thomson
    • Anna Moffo
    • Renata Scotto
    • Ángeles Gulín
    • Ileana Cotrubaș
    • Denia Mazzola Gavazzeni
    • Ángeles Blancas
  • Duke of Mantua, tenor
    • HP Francis I of France
    • HP Dukes of Mantua in Wikipedia
    • Raffaele Angelo Agostino Mirate sang in the first premiere 11 March 1851
    • Giovanni Matteo (Mario) De Candia
    • Gennaro Ricci
    • Emilio Clodovaldo Naudin
    • Antonio Giuglini
    • Carlo Negrini
    • Gustav Walter
    • Antonio Aramburo
    • Mariano Padilla y Ramos
    • Leopoldo Signoretti
    • Francesco Marconi
    • Nikolai Nikolayevich Figner
    • Agustarello / Gustarello Affre
    • Fernando De Lucia
    • Angelo Angioletti
    • Erik Schmedes
    • Ferruccio Giannini
    • Florencio Constantino
    • Antonio Paoli
    • Leonid Sobinov
    • Enrico Caruso
    • Leo Slezak
    • Emilio Perea
    • Giuseppe Anselmi
    • Maurice d'Oisly
    • Alfred Piccaver
    • Kipras Petrauskas
    • Tito Schipa
    • Vladimir Rosing
    • Beniamino Samuele Benedetto Gigli
    • Giacomo Lauri-Volpi
    • Sergei Lemeshev
    • Josef Schmidt
    • Jussi Björling
    • Richard Tucker
    • Mario Del Monaco
    • Mario Lanza
    • Giuseppe di Stefano
    • Veikko Tyrväinen
    • Carlo Bergonzi
    • Nicolai Gedda
    • Alfredo Kraus
    • Fritz Wunderlich
    • Carlo Cossutta
    • Luciano Pavarotti
    • Plácido Domingo
    • Roberto Alagna
  • Sparafucile, an assassin, bass
    • Paolo Damini sang in the first premiere 11 March 1851
    • Marco Arati
    • Antonio "Selva" Scremin
    • Paolo Medini
    • Hjalmar Frey
    • Andres Perello de Segurola
    • Luigi Manfrini
    • Yrjö Somersalmi
    • Fernando Corena
    • Cesare Siepi
    • Ivo Vinco
    • Nicolai Ghiaurov
    • Ezio Domenico Flagello
    • Martti Talvela
    • Ruggero Raimondi
    • Matti Salminen
  • Maddalena, his sister, contralto
    • Annetta Casaloni sang in the first premiere 11 March 1851
    • Gaetanina Brambilla Marulli
    • Marietta Alboni
    • Constance Nantier-Didiée
    • Vincenzina Ferni
    • Maria Leopoldina Mugnone
    • Ida Sambo sang both Gilda and Maddalena
    • Leonilda Paini Gabbi
    • Virginia Guerrini
    • Maria Verger
    • Aino Sylvia Elenius-Urbano
    • Ksenija Cindro
    • Fedora Barbieri
    • Giulietta Simionato
    • Anna Maria Rota
    • Shirley Mae Verrett
    • Teresa Berganza
    • Fiorenza Cossotto
  • Conte di Ceprano, bass
    • Andrea Bellini sang in the first premiere 11 March 1851
    • Antonio "Selva" Scremin
    • Piero Cappuccilli
  • Countess Ceprano, his wife, mezzo-soprano
    • Luigia Morselli sang in the first premiere
    • Helen Frances Mapleson
    • Phyllis Eleanor Sjöström
    • Kiri Te Kanawa
  • Matteo Borsa, a courtier, tenor
    • Giovanni Paroli
  • Count Monterone, baritone
    • Feliciano Ponz sang in the first premiere
    • Paolo Damini
    • Fernando Corena
    • Ruggero Raimondi
    • Matti Salminen
  • Marullo, baritone
    • Francesco De Kunnerth sang in the first premiere
    • Ture Ara
    • Pentti Arnold Hilmanpoika Tuominen
  • Giovanna, Gilda's Nurse, mezzo-soprano
    • Aino Sylvia Elenius-Urbano
• Conductors:
  • Gaetano Mares conducted in the first premiere 11 March 1851
  • Eugenio Cavallini
  • Arturo Toscanini
  • Egisto Emilio Tango
  • Tullio Serafin
  • Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet
  • Fausto Cleva
  • Fernando Previtali
  • Gianandrea Gavazzeni
  • Francesco Molinari Pradelli
  • Carlo Maria Giulini
  • Rafael Kubelík (La Scala; Metropolitan Opera)
  • Peter Maag Verdi Medal 1973
  • Riccardo Muti
  • Riccardo Chailly, OMRI (1982 with Ponnelle; 1989 Decca)
• Stage directors:
  • Dr. Sandor Hevesi , née Alexander Hoffmann Unforgettable Verdi performances 1910-1930 with conductor Egisto Emilio Tango
  • Vladimir Rosing (In 1948 at the National Opera Association of Los Angeles)
  • Franco Zeffirelli
  • Rolando Panerai (2013 and 2019 at Teatro Carlo Felice, Genova)
  • Otto Schenk (1989, Metropolitan Opera, Panni cond., with Nucci, Pavarotti and June Anderson)
  • Jean-Pierre Ponnelle (also a 1982 film with Wixell, Pavarotti, Riccardo Chailly)
  • Giancarlo Del Monaco (Essen)
    
    
    

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