Rigoletto
Scene: Antechamber in the Duke's
Palace
Cast
Conductor, VINCENZO BELLEZZA
Chorus Master, ROBERT AINSWORTH from The Royal Opera House, Covent
Garden
The wicked Duke of Mantua has been paying court to Gilda ; though he is unaware of the fact, she is the daughter of his jester, Rigoletto, who has sworn to avenge his daughter's dishonour. But not long afterwards the Duke is attracted by the charms of Magdalena, sister of the assassin Sparafucile. Rigoletto has arranged with Sparafucile for the Duke's murder, but by an unhappy mischance Gilda, dressed as a boy so that she and her father may flee from Mantua, is stabbed by Sparafucile's dagger, and her body thrown into a sack. Rigoletto takes possession of it in the belief that it is his master's body which he is bearing away. His utter despair on finding that it is his beloved daughter who has been killed is the culminating point in the tragedy of the grim story.