Last week, I had the privilege of visiting the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City to see a performance of Rigoletto. Although hardly an operavore, I do enjoy opera as an art form – the music, of course, the singing, the acting, the elaborate sets, the costumes, all come together in a wonderful mélange of sights, sounds, and feelings. Last week’s mélange provided a three-hour journey to a world quite different from my quotidian domicile.
Rigoletto, with music by Verdi and libretto by Piave, is based on the play Le Roi s’Amuse by Victor Hugo. It tells the story of Rigoletto, a hunchbacked jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. The story includes all the usual elements of tragic operas – seduction, curses, mistaken identity, love, revenge, and, naturally, death, in this case of the only true innocent in the story, Rigoletto’s daughter Gilda. Rigoletto is one of the most frequently performed operas, having gotten its start at Teatro La Fenice, Venice, in 1851. Last week’s show marked over 900 performances by the Metropolitan Opera, beginning in 1883. This particular performance was quite enjoyable. I happen to greatly esteem Verdi’s music. The Met orchestra, conducted by Daniele Callegari, did not disappoint. The performers were solid, notably the veteran Rigoletto, Luca Salsi.
One interesting note – Victor Hugo’s play, the basis for the story, was set in 1520s Paris, in the court of King Francis I. Piave’s libretto moved the action to Renaissance Italy and the court of the Duke of Mantua, probably to avoid censors. In 2021, the Metropolitan Opera introduced the staging I saw last week, which placed Piave’s libretto in Weimar Germany, at the palace of the Duke of Mantua. Why would the Duke of Mantua’s palace be located in Germany? It wasn’t. Why would the Duke of Mantua be in Berlin in the 1920s? He wasn’t. (There was no Duke of Mantua in the 1920s. The entire House of Mantua no longer existed at that time. When it did exist, it was based in, obviously, Italy.) Why is the opera staged in Weimar Germany? That is a good question, one which doesn’t quite have an answer. I suppose the technical response would be that it is in Germany because that is where the director wanted to set it. The person sitting next to me at the performance hypothesized that opera companies like to change settings of classic works so it seems like they are doing something new. I suppose that is possible, although I can think of other reasons as well, none of which have anything to do with the actual opera, its story, or even common sense. Does any of this matter? I suppose not.
To accept the Duke of Mantua’s location in Germany, or ignore the fact that court jesters had gone out of fashion by the 1920s, requires a suspension of disbelief. But then again, opera rather does that anyway. The audience is asked to accept that two characters, say Rigoletto and his daughter, Gilda, don’t hear each other talking to themselves, out loud, even though they are standing next to each other. It is asked to pretend the assassin Sparafucile doesn’t recognize that the “man” he stabs is really, and very obviously, Gilda in pants. If one can accept those leaps, why not a hunchbacked jester singing about his daughter’s virginity in an Italian ducal palace located in Berlin? Does this suspension of disbelief detract from the enjoyment of the opera? In my opinion, it does not. Opera offers transport, delight, and an emotional roller coaster. I am delighted to take the ride. Reality will be there when I get back.
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