Rigoletto – Giuseppe Verdi

Rigoletto - Giuseppe Verdi Chamber Opera Rigoletto | Florian Pejrimovsky Gilda | Leah Manning Duke of Mantua | Sergio Tallo-Torres Maddalena | Eli Our Sparafucile | Max Sahliger Musical Direction | Ekaterina Nokkert Production & Lighting | Dorothee Stanglmayr Experience Giuseppe Verdi's "Rigoletto" in an extraordinarily intense chamber version that makes the opera newly accessible. In the immediate proximity to the artists, legendary arias and duets like "La donna è mobile" unfold a captivating power. This closeness creates a palpable exchange of energy - direct, emotional, and profoundly moving. The consciously reduced, dramaturgically sharpened version allows characters and relationships to emerge more clearly and reveals new, fascinating facets of this masterpiece. With Leah Manning, the shooting star of the Salzburg Festival 2021 (live broadcast on 3Sat), as well as the Viennese audience favorites Eli Our, Florian Pejrimovsky, Sergio Tallo-Torres, and Max Sahliger, a high-caliber ensemble takes the stage. Accompanied by exquisite, original piano arrangements, "Rigoletto" sounds as Verdi originally presented his work: pure, immediate, and of great emotional impact. The centuries-old vaults of the crypt provide a unique, atmospherically dense setting for this experience. As the smallest opera theater in Austria, OPER in the KRYPTA stands for extraordinary intensity and the highest quality. Deep beneath the Vienna Peterskirche, you will experience opera as personally, closely, and intensely as in hardly any other place. An operatic experience that goes under your skin. The KRYPTA is pleasantly temperate in every season.

Plot Act 1 The Duke of Mantua has fallen in love with a beautiful unknown woman in the church. Meanwhile, to pass the time, he tries to seduce Countess Ceprano, which leads Rigoletto, his jester, to mock her husband. He vows revenge. Rigoletto suggests to the Duke that he get rid of the Count to have a clear path to the Countess. The courtiers also swear revenge on Rigoletto. When Count Monterone, whose daughter has been dishonored by the Duke, demands accountability from him, he is dismissed and mocked by Rigoletto. Monterone curses both of them and is arrested. Disturbed by the curse, Rigoletto hurries home to check on his beautiful daughter Gilda. On the way, he encounters the assassin Sparafucile, who offers him his services. For safety's sake, he asks where he can find him. Upon arriving home, Gilda questions him about her origins. However, he does not even mention his name; "Father" must suffice. Rigoletto forbids her to leave the house except for church visits and returns to the Duke's palace. However, the Duke has followed him and recognizes Gilda as the unknown beauty from the church. Disguised, he introduces himself to her as a student and professes his love. Meanwhile, the courtiers prepare to abduct Gilda out of revenge against Rigoletto, right outside the house. The courtiers, who believe Gilda to be Rigoletto's mistress, are already ready for the abduction with a ladder. When Rigoletto returns, driven by uneasy feelings, they tell him they are planning to abduct Countess Ceprano. Rigoletto agrees to help and even allows himself to be blindfolded while he holds the ladder, which, however, leans against his own house. When he hears Gilda's cries for help, he finally understands, but it is too late.

Act 2 At first, the Duke reacts angrily to the abduction of his beloved, but when the courtiers explain that she is already in his chambers, he rushes to her. Rigoletto demands Gilda's return from the courtiers but is only mocked, even when they learn that she is his daughter. When they deny him access to the Duke's chambers, he curses them in a fit of rage. Just then, Gilda appears from the bedroom and embraces her father. When he realizes that she has not only been abducted but also dishonored and is in love with the Duke, he swears revenge on the Duke.

Act 3 To prove Gilda the Duke's infidelity, he takes her to Sparafucile's hideout, a tavern. The disguised Duke seeks out Sparafucile's sister Maddalena there. Rigoletto sends his daughter, disguised as a man, to Verona to keep her safe and commissions Sparafucile, without revealing his name, to murder the Duke and deliver the body to him in a sack at midnight. However, Maddalena intervenes and begs for the lover's life. Sparafucile wants to fulfill his sister's wish and plans to kill the next man who enters through the door. After all, he has already received part of the payment. Gilda, who has overheard everything, decides to sacrifice herself for her beloved Duke. Disguised as a man, she enters the tavern and is stabbed by Sparafucile in the height of a violent storm. Right at midnight, Rigoletto receives the sack with the supposed corpse of the Duke. But when he hears the Duke's voice from afar, he opens the sack and recognizes his dying daughter. Monterone's curse did not strike the Duke, but rather him.