Word: rigoletto
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...score. Though Verdi the patriot worked at odds with Verdi the composer, the fervor of his convictions could occasionally inspire him as well. The opening aria "Let us be free," for example, is charged with the kind of youthful brio that was to come to full flower in Rigoletto, written five years later. Fresh, forcefully direct, the Attila score was polished for six months by Conductor Amaducci, until each facet sparkled. The result was worthy of a setting in any opera house...
...more interested. James K. Guthrie, of the California Arts Commission, observes that "boys and girls have suddenly found that progressive jazz, folk singing and rock 'n' roll aren't enough. The blood and thunder of Salome and Elektra attract them; they like the wild rhythms of Rigoletto and Trovatore. And they are often impressed by skill and sheer stamina: 'Man-did you hear that high B-flat knocked...
...music are sexy. Most operatic heroines fail to wait for the wedding ceremony (Manon, Mimi, Tosca, Aïda, Carmen, Santuzza, Brünnhilde), and they (Norma, Marguerite, Sieglinde, Suor Angelica) have a lot of illegitimate children. Whatever one may think of the plots, one remembers the characters. Rigoletto may end up absurdly with the heroine killed by mistake and then carried in a sack by her own father, who thinks he is carrying the corpse of her traducer; but the bitter, malevolent jester excoriating the decadent court society of his day remains unforgettable...
OPERA: Baritones rarely get the girl, but this year they take the cake. Geraint Evans turns in one of opera's great characterizations as the lecherous old swindler in RCA Victor's Falstaff, amply supported by the other singers and by Conductor Georg Solti. In Rigoletto (Deutsche Grammophon), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. best known for his sorrowful lieder. proves himself equally expressive as the tragic hunchback in a powerful performance led by Rafael Kubelik...
JUSSI BJOERLING sings operatic duets with Robert Merrill and scenes (from II Trovatore, Rigoletto) with Zinka Milanov and others (RCA Victor). Like Caruso, whose popularity he nearly attained, the Swedish tenor died before 50, but unlike Caruso he was able to leave a treasury of well-engineered recordings of Italian opera. These excerpts date from 1950 to 1956, and show his voice getting slightly heavier and darker while retaining its refinement and radiance...