Rigoletto
Our opera for October is Verdi's "Rigoletto". It has one of the most well-known tenor arias of all time, "La Donna è mobile", which means "Woman is fickle". But the fickle, or at least faithless one is the Duke of Mantua himself -- the classic opera bad-boy. Earlier in the opera the Duke sings another aria that displays his poor opinion of women, "Questo o quello" -- "This one or that one".
Verdi chose as the source for his libretto a then recent Victor Hugo play, "Le Roi s'amuse", which translates to "The king amuses himself". Appropriately, this opera story is about a powerful Duke (at that time Italy was a collection of city-states and ducal states that ran like small kingdoms) who can and does do whatever he likes for his amusement and pleasure. You'll love the music, but the Duke -- not so much.
Our Showing - 2 hr 5 mins
Placido Domingo as the Duke of Mantua in the 1977 Metropolitan Opera presentaion of Rigoletto.
Synopsis
Elegant opera guide from the Met. The synopsis begins on page 7, but there's a lot of good information here.
Libretto
Libretto for Rigoletto in Italian on the left and English on the right.
Pappano Lecture
Generous, musically insightful lecture from Sir Antonio Pappano of the Royal Opera.
Other Performances
There are several versions that have English subtitles and more that don't. Unfortunately, some of the more desireable versions do not have subtitles at all. Here is a list of links to subtitled versions: