RIGOLETTO

Opera

Giuseppe Verdi becomes so engrossed in composing this work that he falls into an absolute obsession with his task. That is why he manages to finish this opera in just 40 days. Perhaps it was also because of this short and intense creative period that the original title, “The Curse,” was later changed several times. The all-powerful political and religious censorship of the time intervenes and even imposes some changes on the libretto. Verdi remains unyielding and succeeds in preserving the main idea: how unscrupulous power, driven to cynicism, leaves behind the burden of a curse that, with the force of retribution, falls upon the fate of the innocent victims. Still, in order to protect the authority of the monarchical institution in Italy, censorship forces the names and the setting to be changed. Thus King Francis I becomes the Duke of Mantua, and the jester Triboulet—known as a character of François Rabelais and of Victor Hugo in The King Amuses Himself—becomes Rigoletto. He was originally called Tribuleto, but later becomes Rigoletto, derived from the French rigolote—funny. The premiere of Rigoletto took place on 11 March 1851 at La Fenice Theatre in Venice and was a triumphal success. Verdi was applauded literally after every musical number. He remained extremely pleased with his work and, in a letter from that time, shared that he would “perhaps never write anything more beautiful.” Only a few months after its premiere in Venice, Rigoletto was triumphantly staged in the theatres of Budapest, Vienna, Prague, and London. In Ruse, however, Rigoletto arrived a century after its creation—on 21 April 1952—with conductor Konstantin Iliev and director Mihail Hadjimishev, and to this day it has never left the stage of the Ruse Opera.

Conductor: Dimitar Kosev Choir Conductor: Steliyana Dimitrova-Hernani Director: Nina Naydenova Set Design: Elitsa Georgieva Costumes: Yana Dvoretska

Cast: Rigoletto – Dobromir Momekov /guest/, Aleksandar Krunev Gilda – Daniela Karaivanova Duke – Mihail Mihaylov Sparafucile – Momchil Milanov Maddalena – Gloria Pencheva Giovanna – Tetyana Kamilova Count Ceprano – Stoyan Stoyandzhov Countess Ceprano – Ruina Saraniti Borsa – Ivan Penchev, Bogdan Lupea Monterone – Deyan Kostadinov Marullo – Stanislav Maslyanka Court Usher – Boril Dimitrov Page – Gergana Garvalova

Choir and Orchestra of the State Opera - Ruse