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In his opera about the hunchbacked court jester, Verdi took the tension between the improbabilities of the plot and the emotional overwhelming power of musical theatre to extremes. Jan Bosse's production tells the tragedy of a man who fails to separate private life and public action .
Image gallery
Andrei Danilov als Herzog, Roman Burdenko als Rigoletto, Chor und Statisterie der Deutschen Oper BerlinBettina Stöß
Ein Trailer zu RIGOLETTO
Artur Garbas als Ein GerichtsdienerBettina Stöß
Szenenimpression vom Anfang des Werkes.Bettina Stöß
u. a. Kyle Miller als Marullo, Paul Kaufmann als Matteo Borsa, Andrei Danilov als HerzogBettina Stöß
Andrei Danilov als Herzog, Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Kyle Miller als MarulloBettina Stöß
Kyle Miller als Marullo, Paul Kaufmann als Matteo BorsaBettina Stöß
Byung Gil Kim als Der Graf von Monterone, Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
u. a. Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Patrick Guetti als Sparafucile, Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Julia Muzychenko als Gilda, Roman Burdenko als Rigoletto, Nicole Piccolomini als MaddalenaBettina Stöß
Andrei Danilov als Herzog, Julia Muzychenko als GildaBettina Stöß
Andrei Danilov als Herzog, Julia Muzychenko als GildaBettina Stöß
Julia Muzychenko als GildaBettina Stöß
u. a. Julia Muzychenko als Gilda, Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Bettina Stöß
Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Andrei Danilov als HerzogBettina Stöß
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Kyle Miller als Marullo, Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin, Julia Muzychenko als Gilda, Paul Kaufmann als Matteo Borsa, Roman Burdenko als RigolettoBettina Stöß
Roman Burdenko als Rigoletto, Julia Muzychenko als GildaBettina Stöß
Roman Burdenko als Rigoletto und Julia Muzychenko als Gilda, Byung Gil Kim als Der Graf von Monterone und Artur Garbas als Ein GerichtsdienerBettina Stöß
Andrei Danilov als HerzogBettina Stöß
Andrei Danilov als Herzog, Nicole Piccolomini als GiovannaBettina Stöß
Nicole Piccolomini als Giovanna, Andrei Danilov als HerzogBettina Stöß
Patrick Guetti als Sparafucile, Nicole Piccolomini als GiovannaBettina Stöß
Chor und Statisterie der Deutschen Oper BerlinBettina Stöß
Bettina Stöß
- Conductor: Michele Spotti / Friedrich Praetorius / Giulio Cilona
- Director: Jan Bosse
With
Andrei Danilov, Etienne Dupuis / Juan Jesús Rodríguez, Brenda Rae / Hye-Young Moon, Geon Kim, Patrick Guetti / Tobias Kehrer, Stephanie Wake-Edwards / Lindsay Ammann a.o.
About the work
“As for the effect that a work has as a piece of theatre, I’d say that RIGOLETTO is the best material that I’ve ever set to music […]. It has very powerful scenes, there’s temperament, pathos, a lot of variety.” [Verdi to Antonio Somma, 22nd April 1853]
In describing the attributes of his 1851 melodrama based on Victor Hugo’s acclaimed play “Le roi s’amuse” Verdi also puts his finger on the challenges that any director has to address:
RIGOLETTO is namely a masterpiece whose particularity lies in the clash between the characters’ psychology and the improbable action of a fantasy storyline.
It’s a tale that smacks of gothic horror. In his role as court jester to the Duke of Mantua, the hunchbacked Rigoletto is despised by the collected courtiers and in return makes fun of all the men whose wives have been ravished by his boss, a notorious womaniser. So nervous is he that his own daughter, Gilda, might fall victim to the Duke that he conceals her very existence.
Finally Rigoletto realises that his attempt to preserve the cocoon of his family life is doomed to fail in this environment of wanton violence. Gilda is seduced too by the Duke, even laying down her life for him.
It is Verdi’s music that gives the story its emotional credibility and makes RIGOLETTO a tragedy that unfurls as a result of the interaction of three very different people – the Duke, a rake for whom Verdi wrote such seductive music that Gilda and the audience alike are swept up in his aura; Rigoletto, one of those typical Verdi creations who have good and bad sides to them; and finally Gilda, a pristine personification of innocence and sympathy.
In RIGOLETTO we identify especially with these three people and come to view even the craziest chance incidents as the characters’ inescapable destiny.
About the production
In his first opera production in Berlin, Jan Bosse too was attracted by this exploitation of musical theatre to maximum effect. In his production Bosse transforms the auditorium of the Deutsche Oper into the Court of Mantua and the under-stage trap room into the hiding place used by Gilda, the daughter of Rigoletto the jester.
Rigoletto’s efforts to keep his private life separate from his job in the service of a corrupt regime are futile, however, and his world gradually collapses into its component parts. In the end, with his daughter dead and all his plans dashed, Rigoletto is left, literally, with nothing.
Additional information
In Italian with German and English surtitles.
- Melodramma in 3 acts
- Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
- First performed on 11th March 1851 in Venice
- Premiered at the Deutsche Oper Berlin on 21. April 2013
Pre-performance lecture (in German): 45 minutes prior to each performance
Participating artists
Michele Spotti (Musikalische Leitung)
Jan Bosse (Inszenierung)
Stéphane Laimé (Bühne)
Kathrin Plath (Kostüme)
Jeremy Bines (Chöre)
Andrei Danilov (Der Herzog von Mantua)
Etienne Dupuis (Rigoletto)
Brenda Rae (Gilda)
Geon Kim (Der Graf von Monterone)
Joel Allison (Der Graf von Ceprano)
Alexandra Oomens (Die Gräfin von Ceprano)
Kyle Miller (Marullo)
Kieran Carrel (Matteo Borsa)
Tobias Kehrer (Sparafucile)
Stephanie Wake-Edwards (Maddalena / Giovanna)
Stephen Marsh (Ein Gerichtsdiener)
Maria Vasilevskaya (Eine Hofdame)
Chor der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Chöre)
Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin (Orchester)
