Rigoletto

Composer: Verdi, Giuseppe

Librettist/Text Author: Piave, Francesco Maria

Libretto Source: Hugo, Victor

Conductor: Chailly, Riccardo

Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Chorus: Vienna State Opera Chorus

Chorus Master: Balatsch, Norbert

Borsa: Corazza, Remi

Ceprano: Bracht, Roland

Countess Ceprano: Kuhlmann, Kathleen

Duke of Mantua: Pavarotti, Luciano

Gilda: Gruberova, Edita

Giovanna: Barbieri, Fedora

Maddalena: Vergara, Victoria

Marullo: Otey, Louis

Marullo: Weikl, Bernd

Monterone: Wixell, Ingvar

Rigoletto: Wixell, Ingvar

Sparafucile: Furlanetto, Ferruccio

Producer: Hohlfeld, Horant

Set Designer: Quaranta, Gianni

Costume Designer: Schlumpf, Martin

Stage Director: Ponnelle, Jean-Pierre

Television Director: Ponnelle, Jean-Pierre

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Date of Production: 1982

Playing Time: 01:57:45

Catalogue Number: A05004577

Libretto

Rigoletto

Synopsis

Rigoletto

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Renaissance Italy has never been portrayed more opulently and more realistically than in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film of Verdi's Rigoletto, the composer's first true masterwork for the stage. Towering over the production is Luciano Pavarotti as the cynical, dissolute Duke of Mantua, one of the famed tenor's greatest vocal and dramatic roles. Rigoletto is magnificently portrayed by the Swedish baritone Ingvar Wixell. His beautiful daughter Gilda is interpreted by Edita Gruberova, one of the leading coloratura sopranos of our time. Director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle, "whose stage and television work has brought a new and grandly colorful vitality to opera interpretation" (The New York Times), acclaimed Italian cameraman Pasqualino de Santis (Death in Venice) and architect Gianni Quaranta have created a spellbindingly unique atmosphere.

The drama unfolds with a powerful authenticity highlighted by the historic locations in which it was filmed: Parma's Teatro Farnese of 1628, Mantua's Palazzo Te, famed for its frescoes by Giulio Romano, and the Palladian-style Teatro Olimpico in Sabbioneta. Riccardo Chailly's vibrant interpretation of Verdi's score, with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra responding magnificently to his conducting, is a perfect complement to Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's high-intensity retelling of the drama.