Discover the upcoming dates for Verdi's opera Rigoletto around the world and book your tickets now!

"La donna è mobile," "Caro nome"... unforgettable arias punctuate Verdi's popular success. It should not be forgotten that Rigoletto is above all a heart-wrenching drama where the villain is not who you think!

This passionate and heart-wrenching drama had a tumultuous history before being presented to the public. When the Italian composer chose to adapt Victor Hugo's "Le Roi s'amuse", the play had already been censored by the French court, whose dissolute morals it denounced in rather direct language. Verdi and his librettist Francesco Maria Piave went into exile to write, transposed the action, changed the title and names, rewrote, and negotiated. On March 11, 1851, the opera was finally presented at La Fenice in Venice.

THE STORY

The action takes place in Mantua in the 16th century. The pleasure-seeking, libertine Duke has seduced a young girl who is none other than Gilda, the daughter of his jester, Rigoletto. Determined to kill the seducer, the caring and loving father is nevertheless unable to save his daughter, who, having taken the Duke's place out of love, succumbs in her father's arms.

THE CHARACTERS

• Rigoletto, jester to the Duke of Mantua, baritone
• Duke of Mantua, noble libertine, tenor
• Gilda, daughter of Rigoletto, soprano
• Sparafucile, hired killer, bass
• Maddalena, sister of Sparafucile, mezzo-soprano