There are strong situations here, variety, brilliance, pathos!” This is how Giuseppe Verdi assessed Victor Hugo's drama The King Amuses himself. The composer was always attracted by plots with a dynamic development of action and clashes of passions - Hugo's drama formed the basis of the opera, which Verdi also wrote rapidly, in forty days at the beginning of 1851. At the insistence of censorship, changes were made to the libretto - the historical figures of King Francis I of France and his jester Triboulet were replaced by the Duke of Mantua and the jester with the fictitious name Rigoletto. Verdi considered this opera one of his best compositions. The audience also fell in love with her - the opera was enthusiastically received, despite the fact that the composer abandoned the big historical drama, focusing on acute psychological situations and the personalities of the characters.
Director Nikolai Markelov's appeal to classical Italian opera is, first of all, an exact adherence to the remarks of Verdi himself, who always carefully worked out not only musical, but also stage dramaturgy. Both for the composer and for the stage director, the vocal parts of stunning beauty and expressiveness became the main ones in this musical performance. Immersion in the world of turbulent feelings is a feature of the Renaissance, characteristic of the 16th century, when the action of the opera takes place. The production reflects the contrasts of the Renaissance: light and shadow, throwing between the high and the earthly, the sensual and the divine…
