Verdi opera originally titled the curse
#VERDI OPERA ORIGINALLY TITLED THE CURSE SERIES#
He and his creative team including the set designer Charles Edwards and the costume designer Brigitte Reiffenstuel, also making their Met debuts draw inspiration from “The Disasters of War,” Goya’s series of etchings. McVicar simply updates the story from Spain in 1409 to the early 19th century, during the Spanish War of Independence, which makes the factional strife seem more contemporary. Rather than encumbering the opera with a heavy-handed concept, Mr. The baritone Dmitri Hvorostovsky is Count di Luna, a staunch royalist at the court of Prince Aragon and unknown to either Manrico’s lost brother.ĭmitri Hvorostovsky, kneeling, and Marcelo Álvarez, right, are the long-lost brothers in David McVicar’s production at the Met. The tenor Marcelo Álvarez sings Manrico, the troubadour of the title, an officer in the rebel forces at a time of civil war in Spain. McVicar four strong singers to work with. There are four daunting and equally important lead roles to cast, and the Met has given Mr. This may not be the most imaginative or visually striking “Trovatore.” But it is a clear-headed, psychologically insightful and fluid staging. And with this “Trovatore” the Met knew what it was getting: the production was introduced at the Lyric Opera of Chicago in 2006. But on Monday night the Met introduced a new staging by the Scottish director David McVicar, in his company debut. The curse comes to fruition when Gilda likewise falls in love with the Duke and eventually sacrifices her life to save him from the assassins hired by her father.Actually, “double curse” was the way Peter Gelb, the general manager of the Metropolitan Opera, referred to the company’s seeming inability to present a decent production of Verdi’s “Trovatore” in its laughably inept last two tries, in 19. The opera's original title, La maledizione (The Curse), refers to the curse placed on both the Duke and Rigoletto by a courtier whose daughter had been seduced by the Duke with Rigoletto's encouragement. Its tragic story revolves around the licentious Duke of Mantua, his hunch-backed court jester Rigoletto and Rigoletto's beautiful daughter Gilda. It is considered by many to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi's middle-to-late career. Despite serious initial problems with the Austrian censors who had control over northern Italian theatres at the time, the opera had a triumphant premiere at La Fenice in Venice on 11 March 1851. The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave based on the play Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo. Rigoletto is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi. Recorded live at the Teatro Regio di Parma, 16, 20, and 22 October 2008. Un paggio della duchessa – Scilla Cristiano Un usciere di corte – Alessandro Bianchini La contessa di Ceprano – Scilla Cristiano Il conte di Monterone – Roberto Tagliavini Opera production by Teatro Regio di Parma on the occasion of Festival Verdi.įor the series of operas from 'Festival Verdi', the Istituto Italiano di Cultura presents Rigoletto by director Stefano Vizioli, and music director Massimo Zanetti.