A sovereign may do as he wishes. His entire surroundings depend on him, no-one is entitled to contradict him, all must suffer his moods. Only one may hold a mirror to him, is even obliged to criticise the ruler – the jester. But what happens when this fool neglects his most important task and puts himself at the service of the moral excesses exemplified by the tyrant? In his play Le Roi s’amuse (The King Amuses Himself), the French dramatist Victor Hugo went through this starting position with an unscrupulous fun-lover as the king, and a fool whose spiritual deformation has manifested itself in a hunchback.

Giuseppe Verdi thought the piece was, “magnificent, powerful and includes a role that is one of the greatest creations, which extols the theatre of all countries and all ages”. Rigoletto celebrated its world premiere in Venice in 1851 as the first of the three pieces later entitled, “Trilogia popolare” (along with La traviata and Il trovatore), with which Verdi established his world renown. He composed some of his most famous melodies for this opera, notably the Duke's aria about women’s supposedly fickle hearts, “La donna è mobile”. Time and again the power of nature, which the people themselves inflict violence on through their behaviour, pushes to the fore, most dramatically in the storm scene. Gilda’s virtuous arias reflect the desire for love and exuberant emotional outburst, as no doubt every young person expects it from life, and the big quartet in the third act contrasts the diverging intentions of four of the opera’s protagonists like no other before or since.

Jonathan Santagada will assist once again Maestro Maurizio Benini