The Opera

Friday night B and I went to see the Opera for the first time. We saw Rigoletto. It was an amazing story of love and loss and as in every opera that I know of someone has to die at the end. It was an amazing story sung in Italian with English subtitles of what they are singing. Also, there was a summery in the program of the opera.

The Opera was about a man who was a court jester and he had been cursed by the count for mocking him. The court jester was accused of having a lover by the count. The court jester was terrified of the curse. The court jester was approached by a man offering to kill the duke, who enjoyed the company of women and was also cursed along with the court jester. Then, the court jester returns home to his daughter, who many thought was his lover that he was accused of having earlier. The daughter only went between home and church but had a man she was interested in, however she did not tell her dad about this. She was confessing her love to her nurse when the duke comes in a hears her confess her love for him. He then convinces her of his love and when she asked his name he hesitated and gave her another name upon hearing her father coming back home. The daughter sends the duke away and repeat their vows to love one another. Later the people of the court come over thinking that the daughter is the jesters lover and plan to abduct her. They convince the court jester, Rigoletto that they are actually abducting someone else's wife to get him to help them in the abduction. They blindfold him and have him hold the later, and by the time he realized it was his daughter who was abducted it was to late. Later, the duke and the daughter disappear together and at this time the noblemen who helped abduct Rigoletto's daughter announce that they had abducted his lover. The court jester, Rigoletto enters looking for his daughter and tells them that it was his daughter that was abducted and not his lover. At this the people feel awful. Once he found his daughter she asks everyone to leave and tells her father what had happened to her. At this point the court jester decides he wants revenge on the duke. So, he goes and finds the man who offered to kill the duke to make a deal with him. He agrees to do the job and the court jester says he wants to get rid of the body himself. So, the hit man and his sister who helps him lure the duke to stay with them. At this time the court jester and his daughter hear the whole conversation and the daughter is thinking, that is just what he said to me and gets more upset. So, the court jester tells her to go to Verona and meet him the next day. So, he thinks she is off to Verona but instead she dresses up as a boy. She hears the conversation between the hit man and his sister who is falling for the duke. They decide to not kill the duke but someone else and give a different body to the court jester and still get their money. Also, they talked about killing the court jester. So, the daughter dressed as a boy hears this and decides to give her life for her fathers. She bangs on the door and they answer and take her life. At midnight when her father returns he pays them and gets the body and in the distance hears the duke singing. He thinks that is impossible, then figures out that the body must be someone else. At this point, he opens up the bag and sees it was his daughter and is very upset. That is the end.

All and all I loved seeing this opera and had a great time with B.