The Metropolitan Opera in Central Park (Park Concert Series)

On August 23, 2006, I was privileged enough to see the Metropolitan Opera perform Rigoletto in Central Park. This is one of those entries that is specifically for my memories alone due to the fact that it can’t be described in words as I feel music never can because feelings can not be described in words. It was captivating, beautiful, glorious and a gorgeous night to boot.

Lesley (my boss), Richard (my co-worker) and myself brought a picnic dinner, wine and a bottle of rum (mainly for Richard) to enjoy the evening. It is always a pleasure to set up a picnic dinner on a comfortable blanket looking at a huge stage of performers with a gorgeous view of the Manhattan skyline all around you. It is a captivating experience that I know I will miss when I can no longer attend.

Verdi's Rigoletto was performed on the Great Lawn in Central Park, Manhattan.

Rigoletto is a moving musical portrait of a hunchback court jester who loses his beloved daughter in an ironic twist of fate.

For those of you who think they know nothing of the Opera, there is a famous song titled “La donna è mobile” which everyone would probably recognize. The highlight of the opera was Roberto Aronica taking the high note at the end of “È il sol dell’anima” (I beleive this was the song. Its been over a week since I saw it). Regardless, I was told by Richard at the end of the song that it was very rare for the tenor to reach and hit that note and hold it for as long as he did. I remember the sound vividly in my mind and I one day hope to see Roberto Aronica again as his voice was intoxicating.

The cast included soprano Norah Amsellem as Gilda, mezzo-soprano Nancy Fabiola Herrera as Maddalena, tenor Roberto Aronica as the Duke of Mantua, baritone Mark Delavan as Rigoletto, and bass Raymond Aceto as Sparafucile. As well, Yvonne Gonzales Redman (Countess Ceprano), Kathryn Day (Giovanna), James Courtney (Monterone), Eduardo Valdes (Borsa), Sebastian Catana (Marullo), Jordan Bisch (Ceprano), Deborah Saverance (Page), and Robert Maher (Guard) and conducted by Joseph Colaneri.

CAST

Rigoletto, the Duke's jester - Baritone
Gilda, his daughter - Soprano
Duke of Mantua - Tenor
Sparafucile, an assassin - Bass
Maddalena, his sister - Mezzo-Soprano
Giovanna, Gilda's Nurse - Mezzo-Soprano
Count Ceprano - Bass
Countess Ceprano, his wife - Mezzo-Soprano
Matteo Borsa, a courtier - Tenor
Count Monterone - Baritone

ARIAS

Della mia bellaincognita borghese (Duca-Borsa)
Questa o quella -- This or that (Duca)
Pari siamo! -- We are equals! (Rigoletto)
Caro nome -- Dear name (Gilda)
Possente Amor Mi Chiama -- A great love beckons (Duca)
Parmi verdi la lagrime -- I can almost see her tears (Duca)
Cortigiani, vil razza dannata -- Courtiers, that damned race (Rigoletto)
Tutte le feste al tempio -- On all the blessed days (duet, Rigoletto & Gilda)
La donna è mobile -- Woman is fickle (Duca)
Bella figlia dell'amore -- Beautiful daughter of love (Duca, Rigoletto, Gilda, and Maddalena) - this is also called the Rigoletto Quartet
Lassu in cielo -- Up there in heaven (duet, Rigoletto & Gilda)

This is the composer: Giuseppe Verdi

The following is the story behind this beautiful but scandelous Opera:

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

ACT I.

Scene 1. In his palace, the Duke of Mantua boasts of his way with women (“Questa o quella”). He dances with the Countess Ceprano, and then leads her away. His hunchbacked jester, Rigoletto, mocks the Countess’s enraged but helpless husband. The courtier Marullo bursts in with the latest gossip: Rigoletto is suspected of keeping a young mistress in his home! The jester shortly returns with the Duke and, sure of his master’s protection, continues to taunt Ceprano, who plots with the others to punish him. Monterone, an elderly nobleman, forces his way into the crowd to denounce the Duke for seducing his daughter, and is viciously ridiculed by Rigoletto. Monterone is arrested and pronounces a father’s curse on Rigoletto.

Scene 2. Rigoletto hurries home, still brooding over Monterone’s curse. He encounters Sparafucile, a professional assassin, who offers his services. The jester reflects that his own tongue is as sharp as the murderer’s dagger (“Pari siamo!”). Rigoletto enters his house and warmly greets his daughter, Gilda, who questions him about her long-dead mother. He describes the departed woman as an angel and adds that Gilda is all he has left. Afraid for the girl’s safety, he warns her nurse, Giovanna, not to let anyone into the house (“Ah! veglia, o donna”). When the jester leaves, the Duke appears and tosses a bag of coins to Giovanna, who allows him to slip into the garden. He declares his love for Gilda (“È il sol dell’anima”), who has secretly admired him at church, and tells her he is a poor student named Gualtier Maldè. After he leaves, she tenderly repeats his name (“Caro nome”) and goes up to bed. The courtiers gather outside the garden intending to abduct Rigoletto’s “mistress.” Meeting Rigoletto outside the house, they change their story and instead ask his help in abducting Ceprano’s wife, who lives nearby. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall. Laughing at the trick they have played on him, the courtiers break into the house and carry off Gilda. Rigoletto tears off the blindfold and rushes into the house. He realizes Gilda is gone and collapses as he remembers Monterone’s curse.

ACT II.

In his palace, the Duke complains about the abduction of Gilda, whom he imagines alone and miserable (“Parmi veder le lagrime”). When the courtiers return and tell him the story of how they took the girl from Rigoletto’s house and left her in the Duke’s chamber (“Scorrendo uniti”), the Duke hurries off to the conquest. Rigoletto enters, looking for Gilda. The courtiers are astonished to find out that she is his daughter rather than his mistress, but block him from storming into the Duke’s chamber. The jester lashes out at their depravity (“Cortigiani, vil razza dannata”) but ends his tirade as a plea for compassion. Gilda appears from the Duke’s room and runs in shame to her father, who orders the others to leave. Alone with Rigoletto, Gilda tells of the Duke’s courtship, then of her abduction (“Tutte le feste al tempio”). When Monterone passes by on his way to execution, the jester swears that both he and the old man will be avenged and Gilda begs her father to forgive the Duke (“Sì, vendetta”).

ACT III.

Rigoletto and Gilda arrive at an inn on the outskirts of Mantua where Sparafucile and his sister Maddalena live. Inside, the Duke laughs at the fickleness of women (“La donna è mobile”). From the outside, Gilda and Rigoletto watch as the Duke amuses himself with Maddalena (“Bella figlia dell’amore”). The jester sends Gilda off to Verona disguised as a boy and pays Sparafucile to murder the Duke. A storm gathers. Gilda returns to overhear Maddalena urge her brother to spare the handsome stranger and kill the hunchback instead. Sparafucile refuses but agrees to kill the next stranger who comes to the inn so that Rigoletto will receive a dead body—even though it is not the one he has paid for. Gilda decides to sacrifice herself for the Duke. She knocks at the door and is stabbed. When the storm subsides, Rigoletto returns to claim the body, which he assumes is the Duke’s. As he gloats over the sack Sparafucile has given him, he hears his supposed victim singing in the distance. He opens the sack frantically and finds his daughter, who dies asking his forgiveness (“Lassù in cielo”). In anguish, Rigoletto remembers Monterone’s curse, “la maledizione!”