by Giuseppe Verdi
Opera in three acts
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Based on the drama Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo
"I don't understand why they canceled the sack? What do the police care about the sack?" Verdi wondered about the censorship authorities. The seemingly insignificant prop was at the heart of his operatic aesthetic, which was primarily concerned with emotional credibility. And without a sack, no singing at the wrong corpse until Rigoletto's effectively tragic realization that his revenge has failed horribly and that instead of the hated, abusive duke, his own daughter, whom he actually wanted to protect, has fallen victim to him. With baritone Martin Gantner in the title role and Atalla Ayan as the Duke of Mantua.