Vancouver Opera Performs Verdi’s Rigoletto
March 7 • 10 • 12 • 14 • 17, 2009
All performances 7:30 pm
In Italian with English translations projected above the stage
The performance will last approximately 2 hours and 30 minutes, with one intermission.
Conducted by Leslie Dala
Directed by Glynis Leyshon
Act 3 of Rigoletto
Rigoletto, who is now obsessed with seeking revenge, has plotted with the assassin Sparafucile to kill the Duke. Gilda, who despite everything is still in love with the Duke, pleads with her father for his life. Rigoletto takes her to Sparafucile’s inn and forces her to watch as the Duke, again dressed as a student, seduces Maddalena, Sparafucile’s sister. Gilda is devastated and Rigoletto sends her away while he and Sparafucile finalize their plan to murder the Duke.
Meanwhile, Maddalena pleads with her brother to spare the handsome young student and to murder the hunchback instead. Sparafucile refuses to kill Rigoletto but agrees on a compromise: he will kill the next stranger who comes through the door so as to be able to produce a dead body. Gilda, who has returned, overhears the plan and she decides to sacrifice herself. She enters and is stabbed.
Rigoletto returns to the inn to claim the duke’s body. Sparafucile produces a heavy sack, which Rigoletto begins to drag away. As he does so, he hears the Duke singing in the distance. Frantic, he tears the sack open to find his dying daughter inside. As she dies, Rigoletto cries out, remembering Monterone’s curse.