Editing Rigoletto (section)

== Performance history ==
[[File:Felice Varesi.jpg|thumb|upright=0.55|[[Felice Varesi]], the first Rigoletto]]
[[File:Teresa Brambilla by Antoine Maurin (1845).jpg|upright=0.55|thumb|[[Teresa Brambilla]], the first Gilda]]

=== 19th-century productions ===
''Rigoletto'' premiered on 11 March 1851 in a sold-out La Fenice as the first part of a double bill with [[Giacomo Panizza]]'s ballet ''Faust''. [[Gaetano Mares]] conducted, and the sets were designed and executed by Giuseppe Bertoja and [[Francesco Bagnara]].{{sfnp|Casaglia|2005}} The opening night was a complete triumph, especially the ''scena drammatica'' and the Duke's cynical [[aria]], "[[La donna è mobile]]", which was sung in the streets the next morning<ref name="Downes">{{harvp|Downes|1918|pp=38–39}}</ref> (Verdi had maximised the aria's impact by only revealing it to the cast and orchestra a few hours before the premiere, and forbidding them to sing, whistle or even think of the melody outside of the theatre).<ref name="Downes"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Rahim|first=Sameer|author-link=Sameer Rahim|title=The opera novice: ''Rigoletto'' by Giuseppe Verdi|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/opera/9183265/The-opera-novice-Rigoletto-by-Giuseppe-Verdi.html|work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]|location=London|date=3 April 2012|access-date=9 March 2013}}</ref> Many years later, Giulia Cora Varesi, the daughter of Felice Varesi (the original Rigoletto), described her father's performance at the premiere. Varesi was very uncomfortable with the false hump he had to wear; he was so uncertain that, even though he was quite an experienced singer, he had a panic attack when it was his turn to enter the stage. Verdi immediately realised he was paralysed and roughly pushed him on the stage, so he appeared with a clumsy tumble. The audience, thinking it was an intentional gag, was very amused.{{sfnp|Kimbell|1985|p=279}}

''Rigoletto'' was a great box-office success for La Fenice and Verdi's first major Italian triumph since the 1847 premiere of ''[[Macbeth (Verdi)|Macbeth]]'' in Florence. It initially had a run of 13 performances and was revived in Venice the following year, and again in 1854. Despite a rather disastrous production in [[Bergamo]] shortly after its initial run at La Fenice, the opera soon entered the repertory of Italian theatres. By 1852, it had premiered in all the major cities of Italy, although sometimes under different titles due to the vagaries of censorship (e.g. as ''Viscardello'', ''Lionello'', and ''Clara de Perth'').{{efn|The opera was performed as ''Viscardello'' in Bologna and as both ''Lionello'' and ''Clara de Perth'' in Naples.}} From 1852, it also began to be performed in major cities worldwide, reaching as far afield as [[Alexandria]] and [[Istanbul|Constantinople]] in 1854 and both [[Montevideo]] and [[Havana]] in 1855. The UK premiere took place on 14 May 1853 at what is now the [[Royal Opera House]], Covent Garden in London with [[Giovanni Matteo Mario]] as the Duke of Mantua and [[Giorgio Ronconi]] as Rigoletto, conducted by [[Michael Costa (conductor)|Michael Costa]]. In the US, the opera was first seen on 19 February 1855 at New York's [[Academy of Music (New York City)|Academy of Music]] in a performance by the [[Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company]].{{sfnp|Kimbell|2001|p=991}}{{sfnp|Casaglia|2005}}{{sfnp|Phillips-Matz|1993|p=286}}{{sfnp|Martin|2011|page=81}}

=== 20th century and beyond ===
Several modern productions have radically changed the original setting. These include [[Jonathan Miller]]'s 1982 production for the [[English National Opera]], which is set amongst the [[American Mafia|Mafia]] in New York City's [[Little Italy, Manhattan|Little Italy]] during the 1950s; [[Doris Dörrie]]'s 2005 production for the [[Bavarian State Opera]], where the Court of Mantua became [[Planet of the Apes (1968 film)|The Planet of the Apes]]; director Linda Brovsky's production for Seattle Opera, placing the story in Mussolini's fascist Italy, in 2004 (repeated in 2014); and [[Michael Mayer (director)|Michael Mayer]]'s 2013 production for the [[Metropolitan Opera]], which is set in a casino in 1960s [[Las Vegas]]. Different characters portray different archetypes from the [[Rat Pack]] era, with the Duke becoming a [[Frank Sinatra]]-type character and Rigoletto becoming [[Don Rickles]].{{sfnp|Loomis|2005}}{{sfnp|O'Connor|1989}} In March 2014, [[Lindy Hume]], artistic director of Australia's [[Opera Queensland]] staged the opera set in the party-going world of disgraced former Italian prime minister [[Silvio Berlusconi]].<ref>[[Lindy Hume]], [https://www.theguardian.com/music/australia-culture-blog/2014/mar/19/verdis-rigoletto-plays-right-into-the-hands-of-a-silvio-fox "Verdi's Rigoletto plays right into the hands of a Silvio fox"], ''[[The Guardian]]'' (London), 19 March 2014</ref>