Patrick Bade
Rigoletto, Part 2
Summary
“Rigoletto” is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi (1813–1901). The Italian libretto was written by Francesco Maria Piave and based on the 1832 play “Le roi s'amuse” by Victor Hugo. The work, Verdi’s sixteenth in the genre, is widely considered to be the first of the operatic masterpieces of Verdi’s middle-to-late career. Patrick Bade plays a variety of the score’s highlights and discusses the opera’s significance. Part 2 of 2.
Patrick Bade
Patrick Bade is a historian, writer, and broadcaster. He studied at UCL and the Courtauld Institute of Art. He was a senior lecturer at Christie’s Education for many years and has worked for the Art Fund, Royal Opera House, National Gallery, and V&A. He has published on 19th- and early 20th-century paintings and historical vocal recordings. His latest book is Music Wars: 1937–1945.
I don’t really know. I mean, I haven’t seen one for a very long time. There is that very good Hispanic baritone, Alvarez. That’s a terrific, terrific voice. Real first class voice. I’m not sure about Gilda. The last one I heard from the Met was that German soprano. Can’t remember her name at the moment. I didn’t care for her at all. I thought the voice was shallow and unsteady.
Well, in an Italian, in a context of the early 19th century, an aria has a particular form, which I described of the recitative central, slow, melodic section and a fast, moving, showy section. People use the aria, use the word very, very loosely in lots of different ways, but that’s how it would’ve been understood at the time, in the first half of the 19th century.