Rigoletto

Abstract Melodramma in three acts set to a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave after Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse; first performed in Venice, Teatro La Fenice, on II March 1851. The cast at the premiere included Raffaele Mirate (Duke), Felice Varesi (Rigoletto), and Teresa Brambilla (Gilda). Verdi first mentioned the idea of setting a version of Victor Hugo’s drama (with Salvadore Cammarano as the librettist) as early as September 1849, shortly after he had returned to Italy from Paris; but it was a contract with the Teatro La Fenice, Venice, signed in April 1850, that eventually brought the opera into being. Perhaps encouraged by the presence in Venice of the accomplished baritone Felice Varesi (who had created the title role of Macbeth in 1847), Verdi suggested to Piave, the resident poet at La Fenice, that they adapt Hugo’s Le Roi s’amuse, ‘one of the greatest creations of the modern theatre’. He had fears that there might be problems with the censor, but Piave-after seeking advice in Venice-managed to reassure him and the plan went ahead under the working title of La malediz.ione. By summer 1850, however, signs from Venice over the suitability of the subject were not encouraging. Verdi insisted on continuing, saying that he had now found the musical colour of the subject and so could not turn back.