4YA to Broadcast RIGOLETTO

Radio Record, Volume IV, Issue 5, 15 August 1930, Page 1

4YA to Broadcast RIGOLETTO

by

Verdi

1. 1814, during the seemingly uncontrollable ‘advances of the Napoleonic Armies, a little village in the north-west of the province of Parma in the north of Italy was sacked by the invaders. In terror the women and children fled before the foe and, fearing massacre, sought shelter in a church, where they believed they would be'safe.. But it: was not so, the pillagers rushed in and murdered all they could reach. One woman sought the cover of the belfry, and there with her, infant child huddled, unobserved while all below were murdered. This was the mother of Verdi, who was destined to be one of the world’s greatest writers of

opera, and much of his character has been attributed to this incident in his infancy. . : . When a boy of seven, that is nearly a hundred years ago, he © = became a serving hoy in a village church, and it was here that he '™~ vealised the power that music had over him. Once through his preoccupation in the organ music he forgot the ritual and was knocked unconscious by a priest whom he failed to supply with water at the right moment. His musical career can be said to have commenced when his parents gave him a spinet (a kind of harpsichord) and, exploring the possibilities of this, discovered the major third and fifth of the key of C. On trying to repeat this experience the next day, no matter how he tried, he could not locate the combination of notes. Ina fit of anger he seized a hammer and began to belabour the instrument which, of course, yielded to his exhortation and had to be repaired. Instead of making a charge the spinet-maker inscribed :-- _ "This I do gratis in consideration of the good disposition of the boy Giuseppe Verdi shows in learning to play on this istrument which quite satisfies me for any trouble: (Signed) Stephen Cavaleitti, A.D., 1821. © ‘ Tas outburst is, however, by na means typical of Verdi, who was outwardly calm, gentle and "His musical ability was discovered a little later by an itinerant fiddler, and fostered. At the age of eleven the young Verdi, who had received considerable coaching from good musicians, became organist of the church of his home village. When only 18 he was given a bursary to enable him to study in the Conservatorium of Milan, but that body of musicians did not want him, it being stated that the youth showed no musical disposition. | However, he took private lessons in composition, and returned to Busseto as conductor of the Philharmonic Society and organist -this was in the year 1833, and Verdi was then only 20 years old. _ Two years later he married, and at the age of 24 he returned to Milan with the finished score of an opera, "Oberto, Conte di San .. Bonifacio," which was accepted and performed with success in 1839. This was Verdi’s first opera, but before this time he had been busy, having written between 13 and 18 marches for brass band, .short symphonies, six concertos and variations for piano (which he played himself), and a cantata. . He was immediately commissioned by the musical authorities of Milan to write three operas, one every eight months. i

the composition of his first commissioned opera, Verdi’s wife and both children died in swift succession; small’ wonder: that-an opera distateful in subject, and completed under such conditions should prove a "dead failure." Verdi was despondent and determined to give up composition for good.. However,’ the Commissionets persuaded him to set to music Solera’s "Nabucco," which ‘was given at La Scala in-1842 with tremendous applause. The ‘success, of "I Lombardi alla prima Crociata" also at La Scala the following year was yet more emphatic; especially as_ voicing, symbolically, the national aspirations of the patriotic Milanese. Success "followed success, and the great heights to which he attained were due to hard work and a love for the art. . ' Verdi’s works naturally group themselves into three periods. The operas of the first period, ending with "Stiffelio" (1850), while making concessions to the prevailing taste, give evidence of ‘an inborn dramatic instinct, superior to that of any of his compatriots, a fact which Italian critics recognised from the beginning. | HE second period is ushered in by "Rigoletto" (1851) and ends with "Don Carlos" in 1867. Whereas during the first decade of his career Verdi wrote at least one opera every year, new works now appear at increasingly longer intervals; there is a steady improvement in the technical workmanship, and a noticeable growth as regards artistic moderation and refinement of taste. His powerful individuality saved Verdi from ever becoming an imitator.. It is known that Verdi was a great admirer and close student of Wagner’s scores, but in all his music there is not a single reminiscerice, nor one measure for which he is indebted to the Bayreuth master. » ; Verdi married again in 1849, and after his second wife’s death

he founded to her memory a home for. for aged musicians of either sex; for its maintenance he set aside immediately £100,000, and after his death the royalties of all his works, payable for 30 years. The full extent of this last provision may be estimated from the fact that during his life Verdi received in royalties from "Aida" alone the sum of £160,000. Raicoverro" is one of Verdi's earlier operas. [1 was produced in 1851, and its composer died just half a century later. It is in the older discontinuous style (with set songs, etc.), and is very Italian in its type of tune and in its expression of passion. The plot is based upon a play of Victor Hugo, "Le Roi s’amuse" ("The King’s Diversion"’). In any selection from "Rigoletto" we are sure to find two or three tunes that, as soon as the work was produced (in Venice, three- (Concluded on page 2.),

Rigoletto

(Continued from page 1.) quarters of a century ago), ‘were whistled all through the city. We shall almost certainly hear the Duke’s gay song about women, "Questa o Quella," telling how one is as good as another to him; his uncom. plimentary ballad, "La Donna e mobile’ ("Woman is fickle") and the eestatie "Caro nome," the love song of Gilda, the heroine, when she calls upon the "dear name" of her lover (the Duke, who has pretended to be a poor student). The detached, descending notes at the. opening of this song make it easy to identify. The Plot of the Opera. (THERE is the gay Duke of Mantua, -whose life is one long adventure with pretty women. High or low in degree, it matters not so long as they gratify his will. His hunchback jester, Rigoletto, is his fidus Achates. DPven the

Court of Mantua have their feelings outraged and resent it on Rigoletto. Count ~Monterone, whose young daughter has been betrayed by the Duke, turns and curses Rigoletto for having arranged thé affair. Unknown to the Duke, Rigoletto has a pretty daughter, Gilda, whom he keeps im hiding, fearing the Duke may cross her path. When the Duke confides in him that he has caught sight of 2 pretty girl at church, the jester, little guessing the girl is his daughter, promises more sport. Rigoletto, still trembling in fear of Monterone’s curse, seeks out his daughter to make sure of her safety. She does not tell him, however, of the handsome young stranger she has met in church. In the méanwhile some’ of the courtiers, having found out that Rigoletto is guarding a young girl, jump to the conclusion that the girl is his mistress, and plan to abduct her, adding to the irony of it by tell ing him they are seizing a certain other damsel. Thus they enlist Rigo letto in their scheme, telling him, however, that he must come with them blindfolded. So, unwittingly, Rigo-

letto actually aids in carrying off his daughter to the Duke’s private apartments. Rigoletto discovers the plot, and hastening to the palace, arrives only to find that his daughter has been betrayed by the Duke. Rigoletto vows vengeance and seeks out Sparafucile, a hired assassin, who agrees to murder the man who calls and asks for his sister, Maddalena, that night. The bargain is struck,.and Rigoletto pays the blood-money,. Rigoletto induces Maddalena, Sparafucile’s pretty sister, to entice the everamorous Duke to her home that night. Once there, the ruffianly assassin will complete the bargain: . Gilda overhears this plot and, in spite of the fickleness of her ducal lover, resolve to save him. The Duke goes to Mad dalena’s house. The time comes f the assassin to murder the Duke, but Maddalena has. listened to the Duke’s love-making, and would save him. Her brother says he has agreed to kill someone, and he means to. This gives Gilda, who is in hiding there, the chance she wants of sav-ing-her Duke. Passing herself off as a page, she presents herself at the door. ‘To Sparafucile itis all one; he has been paid to kill a2 man who ealls to see his sister. He stabs the page. Gilda’s body is sewn up in 2 sack preparatory to being thrown into the river. Rigoletto, to complete his revenge, claims the body and carries it. to'the river-bank himself. -As he is about to cast it into the water, he hears the voice of the Duke singing a love-song in the distance. He cuts open the sack and finds his beautiful daughter, Gilda, expiring. The curse has been sheeted home. ‘s