Verdi: Rigoletto - Anna Moffo, Robert Merrill, Alfredo Kraus, Rosalind Elias, Ezio Flagello, RCA Italiana Opera Chorus and Orchestra, Georg Scolti / Sony Classical Opera, Home Of The Great Singers / RCA Red Seal 2x Audio CD 2015 / 88875073452

UPC 888750734525 

Sung in Italian

Rigoletto is an opera by Giuseppe Verdi that premiered at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice in 1851. The libretto is by Francesco Maria Piave and is based on the melodrama Le roi s'amuse by Victor Hugo (1832). The opera was initially criticized by the censors ; Verdi and Piave therefore had to, among other things, change the originally intended title La maledizione (The Curse) and move the setting from Paris to Mantua . However, the elements essential to Verdi, such as the crippled main character Rigoletto and the sack into which his dying daughter is put, remained intact.

The opera is considered Verdi's first masterpiece and established his world fame. Verdi himself considered Rigoletto to be one of his most successful works, and unlike other Verdi operas, there are no revisions or new versions. Rigoletto was an overwhelming success at its premiere and was played at almost all European opera houses over the next few years. In the second half of the 19th century, the libretto was often criticized as a “scary piece” and the music as trivial “organ grinder music”; Today, Rigoletto 's status among audiences and experts is undisputed. The opera has been part of the repertoire of many opera houses for over 160 years and is still one of the most frequently performed Italian operas, which is reflected not only in regular new productions , but also in a large number of recordings on sound and video media.

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Released in double CD thick jewel cas