Rigoletto Rigoletto: Opera in the Crypt
Vienna, Peterskirche — Krypta
About the Event
Experience Giuseppe Verdi's “Rigoletto” in an exceptionally intense chamber version that allows you to experience opera in a whole new way. In close proximity to the artists, legendary arias and duets such as “La donna è mobile” unfold with stirring power. The proximity creates a palpable exchange of energy – direct, emotional, and deeply moving.
The deliberately reduced, dramaturgically sharpened version allows characters and relationships to emerge more clearly and reveals new, fascinating facets of this masterpiece.
With Leah Manning, shooting star of the 2021 Salzburg Festival (live broadcast on 3Sat), as well as Vienna's audience favorites Eli Our, Florian Pejrimovsky, Sergio Tallo‐Torres, and Max Sahliger, a top‐class ensemble takes to the stage.
Accompanied by an exquisite, original piano version, “Rigoletto” sounds as Verdi originally presented his work: pure, immediate, and with great emotional power. The centuries‐old vaults of the crypt provide a unique, atmospherically dense setting for this.
As Austria's smallest opera theater, OPER in der KRYPTA stands for extraordinary intensity and the highest quality. Deep beneath Vienna's St. Peter's Church, you will experience opera in a way that is more personal, intimate, and haunting than almost anywhere else. An opera experience that gets under your skin.
The KRYPTA is pleasantly temperate in every season.
Plot
Act 1
The Duke of Mantua has fallen in love with a beautiful stranger in church. To pass the time, he tries to seduce Countess Ceprano, whereupon Rigoletto, his court jester, mocks her husband. The count swears revenge. Rigoletto suggests to the duke that he get rid of the count so that he can have his way with the countess. The courtiers then swear revenge on Rigoletto as well.
When the Count of Monterone, whose daughter has been dishonored by the Duke, demands justice, he is rebuffed and mocked by Rigoletto. Monterone curses the two and is arrested.
Disturbed by the curse, Rigoletto rushes home to check on his beautiful daughter Gilda. On the way, he meets the assassin Sparafucile, who offers him his services. Just in case, he asks where he can find him.
When he arrives, Gilda asks him about her origins. But he does not even tell her his name, saying that “Father” must suffice. Rigoletto forbids her to leave the house except to go to church and returns to the Duke's palace.
However, the Duke has followed him and recognizes Gilda as the unknown beauty from the church. Disguised, he introduces himself to her as a student and declares his love for her. Meanwhile, the courtiers prepare to kidnap Gilda from the house in revenge against Rigoletto.
The courtiers, who believe Gilda to be Rigoletto's lover, are already standing by with a ladder, ready to carry out the abduction. When Rigoletto returns, driven by a sense of foreboding, they explain to him that they are planning to abduct Countess Ceprano. Rigoletto agrees to help and even allows himself to be blindfolded while he holds the ladder, which is leaning against his own house. When he hears Gilda's cries for help, he finally understands, but it is too late.
Act 2
At first, the Duke reacts angrily to the abduction of his mistress, but when the courtiers tell him that she is already in his bedchamber, he rushes to her.
Rigoletto demands that the courtiers return Gilda to him, but they only mock him, even when they learn that she is his daughter. When they refuse him access to the Duke's chambers, he berates them in a fit of rage.
Gilda then appears from the bedroom and embraces her father. When he realizes that she has not only been kidnapped, but also dishonored and has fallen in love with the Duke, he swears revenge on the Duke.
Act 3
To prove to Gilda that the Duke is unfaithful, he takes her to Sparafucile's hideout, a tavern. The disguised Duke seeks out Sparafucile's sister Maddalena there. Rigoletto sends his daughter, disguised as a man, to Verona to keep her safe and, without revealing his name, instructs Sparafucile to murder the Duke and deliver his body to him in a sack at midnight.
However, Maddalena stands in her brother's way and begs for her lover's life. Sparafucile wants to grant his sister's wish and plans to murder the next man who walks through the door. After all, he has already received part of the payment.
Gilda, who has overheard everything, decides to sacrifice herself for her beloved Duke. Disguised as a man, she enters the tavern and is stabbed to death by Sparafucile at the height of a violent thunderstorm.
At midnight sharp, Rigoletto receives the sack containing what he believes to be the Duke's body. But when he hears the Duke's voice in the distance, he opens the sack and recognizes his dying daughter. Monterone's curse did not strike the Duke, but him instead.
Program
- Giuseppe Verdi – Rigoletto
Cast / Production
Rigoletto Florian Pejrimovsky
Gilda Leah Manning
Herzog von Mantua Sergio Tallo‐Torres
Maddalena Eli Our
SparafucileMax Sahliger
Musical direction Ekaterina Nokkert
Production & Presentation Dorothee Stanglmayr
Address
Peterskirche, Petersplatz, Vienna, Austria — Google Maps
