By Chris Richards. photo: Richard Hubert Smith.
My mum got totally distracted by one courtier’s long, thin, and (most probably) fake willy. It was my first opera, it was eye-opening.
I have long considered an opera to be mainly about the big drama moments and fabulous costumes – underpinned by a lot of vibrato. And while the costumes were indeed fabulous, and the dramatic moments did not disappoint, it was so much more. The Welsh National Opera’s combined performances of technicians, cast, and orchestra created a tragic story of a fool, who ultimately proved himself to be foolish – in the end the court is still laughing at him.
Verdi based this opera on Victor Hugo’s play Le Roi s’amuse but the Austrian 19th century censors described the original idea as ‘repugnant immorality and obscene triviality’ There was a little compromise but it turns out people like trivial obscenity and immorality. Who knew!?
The singing is beautiful with much expressive feeling, to my ear, it sounds technically difficult with flawless execution. There are surtitles on a small screen above the stage. While I appreciate the minutiae of the story would have been lost on me as it was all sung and in Italian, I do think I was sometimes distracted from the performances. Perhaps from the stalls they would be less distracting, but that’s very much a personal niggle.
Having read the programme, which incidentally is presented in both English and Welsh, I learned the strain of Rigoletto’s profound loss and the courtier’s childish hedonism is intentional.
Set loosely in Jacobean England, the Duke represents James I’s debauched court and disregard for anything but pleasure or violence. Broadly. Rigoletto has in the past been set in other cultural scenes to highlight that strain.
In modern terms, the roles for women are as beautiful props and sign-posting. Thanks Verdi. But the men fare little better. Either cruel, libido-lead or revenge-seeking. The shallow depictions again support this clashing and incongruous feeling of laughter at deep despair.
I’d absolutely recommend it. Rigoletto’s daughter, Gilda, played by Soraya Mafi is worth her weight in gold. The purity and absolute control of her voice is mesmerising. Daniel Luis De Vicente’s Rigoletto embodies the dual anguish of keeping what he holds most dear safe and his job as the court fool – giving a unique insight into the depths of depravity, that he encourages, from which Gilda must be protected.
Tickets for WNO Rigoletto (16 November 2024), and Opera Favourites (15 November 2024) are on sale at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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