"Rigoletto" is opening Seattle Opera's 40th season, and how times have changed.
Forty years ago the newly formed company presented five performances: two of Puccini's "Tosca" and three of Bizet's "Carmen," with a total budget for the 1964-65 season of under $175,000. Today, the Seattle Opera Company's budget for the 2004-05 season is $20 million. There will be five productions, a total of 44 performances, with Wagner's complete Ring Cycle coming up in August. The company has completed a brilliant inaugural season in the fabulous new McCaw Hall and is all set for Giuseppi Verdi's "Rigoletto" on Oct. 16.
With the triumphal première of "Rigoletto" in Venice at the Teatro la Fenice on March 11, 1851, Verdi attained his artistic maturity. His decade's-worth of earlier operas had received wide acclaim but paled alongside the newest fruits of his creative energy. Within three years Verdi was to compose "Rigoletto," "Il Trovatore" and "La Traviata," three of the most popular operas ever. Verdi's mastery of the orchestra had grown, including his abil-ity to portray increasingly complex characters in musical terms. "Rigolet-to" is inherently different. It is Verdi's first opera conceived as an entity, in which individual parts go together to make up a coherent musical drama.
Victor Hugo's dramas fascinated Verdi, as they did most artists of his generation. In 1849 Verdi suggested Hugo's "La Roi s'amuse" (The King's Pleasure) to his librettist, calling it "a beautiful drama with stupendous scenes." At the time their attention was on other things. However, "La Roi s'amuse" continued to haunt Verdi.
When in the spring of 1850 he and his Venetian librettist, Francesco Maria Piave, sought a subject for the opera commissioned by the Teatro la Fenice in Venice, Hugo's drama surfaced again. "The greatest subject and perhaps the greatest drama of modern times," Verdi called it, adding that the jester, Triboulet, was "a creation worthy of Shakespeare."
The subject, Verdi was well aware, would not pass the vigilant censors because of its unflattering portrayal of the French king François I as a libertine. Verdi insisted, as Hugo had done before, on the inherent moral qualities of the drama, trusting that the police, with some prodding from Piave, would recognize them. By early June Piave had assured Verdi the subject would be ap-proved, and the composer set forth to the librettist his conception of the opera.
Though he preferred to keep the title "Le Roi s'amuse," if, as he anticipated, the police were to forbid it, "the title must necessarily be ... 'La Male-dizione'" (The Curse), since the entire plot revolved around a curse, which sets the moral tone. A poor father weeping over the lost honor of his daughter is derided by the court jester, whom the father curses. This curse works its spell in a horrendous manner on the jester and his daughter.
The librettist and the composer spent the summer at Verdi's home in Busseto working on other librettos and "La Maledizione." At the end of August, the Venetian theater authorities grew restless, and there was heated correspondence between them and Verdi. Although the actual composition of "Rigoletto" took no longer than most, he had finished the first act, the opera still known as "La Maledizione," when he was unexpectedly informedthat the Venetian censors had absolutely banned the subject. Verdi was outraged, and his outrage increased when Piave sent him the revised libretto, titled "Il Duca di Vendôme." The revised edition eliminated all the censor's objections: there was no longer an absolute ruler, the duke was not a libertine (therefore the curse had lost its meaning), the Duke's appearance in the tavern in Act III had no motivation, a sack for Gilda's body was not permitted, and the Jester was not allowed to be ugly or hunchbacked.
Three days later Verdi wrote a letter refusing the revised edition:
"A singing hunchback? Why not? ... Can it be effective? I don't know. But if I don't know, then neither, I repeat, does the person who proposed the change.
"That is just what seemed so wonderful to me: to portray this ridiculous, terribly deformed creature, who is inwardly filled with passion and love. It was precisely because of all these original qualities and characteristics that I chose the subject, and if they are cut out I shall no longer be able to compose the music.
"If I am told I can leave my music as it is, for this drama too, I reply that I don't understand such reasoning. And I frankly declare that my music, whether beautiful or ugly, is never written at random, and that I always try to give it character.... My artistic conscience will not permit me to put this libretto to music."
With this declaration, 19th-century Italian opera became musical drama. At the end of 1850 a compromise was reached in which practically all Verdi's demands were met. The title of the opera had to be changed, as did the names and the setting, but the plot and characters were essentially untouched. The title was changed to "Rigoletto," which has been the mainstay of operatic repertory ever since.
I have fond memories of Seattle Opera's 1973 production starring Barry Morell and Mady Mesple. Mady Mesple was a sensational French soprano from the Paris Opera, and a very popular recording artist. In fact, at that time she was the darling of classical KXA radio station, which played her recording of "Vienna Bonbons" constantly. My husband and I helped organize a wonderful reception for her at one of the restaurants on the waterfront, attended by many of her fans. Archie Drake (the Grande Signor of Seattle Opera) was also in that production. Archie was celebrating his fifth anniversary with the company - and, bless him, is still going strong. His rich baritone voice is better than ever, and he will be appearing in several of the upcoming productions.
Seattle Opera's 2004 production will be set in Mussolini's Italy in the 1930s and will take a fresh look at this popular classic. The production features several singers making their first appearances with Seattle Opera. You are sure to love the lyrical, tuneful Verdi score, and the jester's heart-wrenching dilemma will move you to tears. "Rigoletto" is considered an operatic masterpiece and has all the ingredients of grand opera. I highly recommend you give yourself the pleasure of seeing it.
"Rigoletto" runs from Oct. 16 to 31 with a couple of matinees. For ticket information call 389-7676 or visit www.seattleopera.org
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