"We was with you!  At Rigoletto's!" (From *Some Like It Hot*)

"Ah!  Le goy s'amuse!" (Berlin cabaret comedian responding to a patron's
extended, possibly exaggerated laughter)

On Saturday night, I attended the Washington Opera's production of
*Rigoletto*.  It had been sorely damned with the faintest of praise in
the Washington Post last month and I went because the ticket was paid for.

It was one of the grandest opera experiences I can recall from the years
I've been attending local opera on my season subscriptions.

The title role was sung by Haijing Fu; the Duke, by David Miller; Gilda, by
Anna Netrebko; Sparafucile, by Simone Alberghini; Maddalena, by Svetlana
Serdar.  Heinz Fricke conducted.

 From the opening orchestral passage, the opera proceeded w/ never a letup
in the charge of its music.  To mention memorably performed passages would
be almost like a real time recapitulation of the opera itself.  (Verdi was,
IMO, a master writer of vocal ensemble pieces in a way *very* few other
opera composers have been.) The famous arias, and the famous ensembles,
all had a freshness that belied their long familiarity.  To single out one
example, because to me it was *not* one I recalled being familiar with,
Rigoletto's monologue in the first act after speaking w/ Sparafucile, the
hit man, "Pari Siamo", an exaltation to cynicism, abruptly transforms into
touching tenderness as he greets and talks to his daughter Gilda
reaffirming his love for her and for her deceased mother.

Even the post's critique had acknowledged Netrebko's performance as Gilda.
She was wonderful from her "Caro nome" to the final scene, stabbed and
trundled in a sack, begging her father's forgiveness for having deceived
him as she had forgiven the duke, leaving him free to continue leading his
life of lechery.  The heavy applause at the opera's end exploded into a
tumult as the entire audience rose to its feet, almost in unison, as she
took her curtain call.

A week ago, after having attended *Le Cid* and *Susannah* over the same
weekend, I noted that I had enjoyed the latter more.  I was beginning to
believe that (w/ some exceptions) I had simply gotten tired of traditional
opera and welcomed Carlisle Floyd's work, because it was, for all its
concessions to tonality, a contemporary work, miles away from the 19th
century productions that *Le Cid* seemed to typify.  I realized today,
that the preference that I stated last week simply reflected that Giuseppe
Verdi was, IMO, miles away from Massenet.

Of course I shall be looking forward to Washington Opera's *Otello* later
in the season.

Walter Meyer <[log in to unmask]>