Rigoletto

The first part of Verdi's 'popular trilogy'⁠—alongside Il Trovatore and La Traviata⁠—Rigoletto tells the story of the eponymous character, an evil buffoon in court by day, a protective and tender father at home by night. He protects his daughter Gilda in vain, since his master, the Duke, makes himself love her and deflowers her. Wishing to avenge his honor, Rigoletto provokes the death of his beloved child. In this moving masterpiece, Verdi shifts the traditional focus of melodrama from the lord to the grotesque, deformed buffoon. This was not the composer's initial choice, but it ultimately constitutes a step forward in Verdi's dramatic conception; the Venetian censors did not authorize the opera in its original form, as it undermined a royal character (as in Victor Hugo's historical drama Le Roi s'amuse, which inspired the libretto). Verdi then replaced the King by the Duke of Mantua, but the censor still refused: the story is impious, the love affairs too daring...the composer was then obliged to pay more attention to the ambigious character of Rigoletto, both pitiful and odious, who serves as a thread within the opera and whose pscyhology is analyzed in depth.

On the formal level, Verdi replaced the aria as the fundamental unit by the scene, and thus sought greater musical cohesion: the scene can contain arias, duets, and chorsuses, but their placement and duration are dependent on the dramatic structure of the scene, whereas previously, the scene simply marked the addition of conventional independent numbers (recitative, aria, cabaletta, and ensemble). This technical invention is full of merit, but the most remarkable aspect of Rigoletto is certainly the continuous level of inspiration that is expressed through refined orchestral writing, a breathless melodic profusion, and the incredible characterization of the characters.⁠