Oper

Giuseppe Verdi

Rigoletto

Melodramma in drei Akten

Text Francesco Maria Piave

Saturday 21. December 2024 19:00 – 22:00 2 Intermissions Main Stage
Area 1 255 €
Area 1

255 €

Area 2 209 €
Area 2

209 €

Area 3 180 €
Area 3

180 €

Area 4 122 €
Area 4

122 €

Area 5 94 €
Area 5

94 €

Area 6 69 €
Area 6

69 €

Area 7 45 €
Area 7

45 €

Area 8 30 €
Area 8

30 €

Area 9 18 €
Area 9

18 €

Standing room
Standing room


Cast at
21. December 2024

Il Conte di Monterone

Il Conte di Ceprano

La Contessa di Ceprano

Ein Page der Herzogin

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Pierre Audi

Bühne und Kostüme

Christof Hetzer

Licht

Bernd Purkrabek

Dramaturgie

Bettina Auer

3 more dates

Rigoletto

Cast at Wednesday 18. December 2024

Herzog von Mantua

Sparafucile

Il Conte di Monterone

Borsa

Andrew Turner

Il Conte di Ceprano

La Contessa di Ceprano

Ein Page der Herzogin

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Pierre Audi

Bühne und Kostüme

Christof Hetzer

Licht

Bernd Purkrabek

Dramaturgie

Bettina Auer
Area 1 242 €
Area 1

242 €

Area 2 198 €
Area 2

198 €

Area 3 165 €
Area 3

165 €

Area 4 113 €
Area 4

113 €

Area 5 89 €
Area 5

89 €

Area 6 65 €
Area 6

65 €

Area 7 42 €
Area 7

42 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 17 €
Area 9

17 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Subscription 11
Subscription 11

Season 2024/2025

Choose a day of the week and your favorite seats and enjoy five performances in one season.

The following performances are included in this subscription:

18. December 2024: RIGOLETTO
12. Febuary 2025: TOSCA
05. March 2025: WERTHER
07. May 2025: BALLET: PATHÉTIQUE
04. June 2025: TANNHÄUSER

Rigoletto

Cast at Wednesday 25. December 2024

Herzog von Mantua

Sparafucile

Il Conte di Monterone

Borsa

Andrew Turner

Il Conte di Ceprano

La Contessa di Ceprano

Ein Page der Herzogin

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Pierre Audi

Bühne und Kostüme

Christof Hetzer

Licht

Bernd Purkrabek

Dramaturgie

Bettina Auer
Area 1 242 €
Area 1

242 €

Area 2 198 €
Area 2

198 €

Area 3 165 €
Area 3

165 €

Area 4 113 €
Area 4

113 €

Area 5 89 €
Area 5

89 €

Area 6 65 €
Area 6

65 €

Area 7 42 €
Area 7

42 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 17 €
Area 9

17 €

Standing room
Standing room

Ö1 U27  
Rigoletto

Cast at Sunday 29. December 2024

Herzog von Mantua

Sparafucile

Il Conte di Monterone

Borsa

Andrew Turner

Il Conte di Ceprano

La Contessa di Ceprano

Ein Page der Herzogin

Musikalische Leitung

Inszenierung

Pierre Audi

Bühne und Kostüme

Christof Hetzer

Licht

Bernd Purkrabek

Dramaturgie

Bettina Auer
Area 1 242 €
Area 1

242 €

Area 2 198 €
Area 2

198 €

Area 3 165 €
Area 3

165 €

Area 4 113 €
Area 4

113 €

Area 5 89 €
Area 5

89 €

Area 6 65 €
Area 6

65 €

Area 7 42 €
Area 7

42 €

Area 8 29 €
Area 8

29 €

Area 9 17 €
Area 9

17 €

Standing room
Standing room

Included in: Cycle »Verdi«
Cycle »Verdi«

Season 2024/2025

Central works by the Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi united in one cycle. You will gain a comprehensive insight into the composer's musical oeuvre and his timeless significance for the world of opera.

15. October 2024: MACBETH
29. December 2024: RIGOLETTO
2. Febuary 2025: IL TROVATORE
20. March 2025: DON CARLO

About the Production

Rigoletto

Storyline

At a party, the Duke of Mantua explains that he has been pursuing a young woman he doesn't know for weeks.

He finds fidelity ridiculous; all women are attractive to him. He has just set his sights on Countess Ceprano, egged on by his court jester Rigoletto. Marullo tells the other courtiers about his latest discovery: the ugly Rigoletto seems to have a mistress. As Rigoletto is hated at court but unassailable, the courtiers - led by Count Ceprano - want to take revenge on him and plan to kidnap his supposed lover.

When Rigoletto mocks Count Monterone, who accuses the Duke of dishonoring his daughter, Monterone curses the despot and his cynical functionary.
On his way home, Rigoletto encounters the contract killer Sparafucile. When he unexpectedly offers him his services, Rigoletto is interested. He recognizes his own reflection in Sparafucile; they are both outsiders.

Troubled by Monterone's curse, Rigoletto blames society and his dubious profession for his own wickedness.

With his daughter Gilda, whom he keeps hidden away from the world, Rigoletto wants to find all the happiness that life denies him. He avoids all her questions about her and his identity. For fear of losing her, Rigoletto forbids his daughter to have any contact with the outside world apart from going to church. Nevertheless, a young man secretly courts her. It is the Duke, who pretends to be a penniless student.

As Rigoletto leaves the house, the Duke storms Gilda with declarations of love that seem to make her maiden dreams come true. Noise in the street forces the Duke to leave: the courtiers come to abduct Rigoletto's "sweetheart". Rigoletto, blinded by a mask, even helps them - in the belief that the Countess Ceprano is being stolen. Rigoletto realizes the truth too late.

The Duke finds Rigoletto's house deserted. He laments the loss of his beloved, for whom he believes he feels deep affection for the first time.

At court, he learns that Gilda has been abducted to the palace by his courtiers and hurries to her. Rigoletto desperately searches for his daughter, but the courtiers leave him in the lurch, even when he tells them that they have not abducted his mistress, but his daughter. When the Duke sends Gilda away, she tries to confide in her father. But Rigoletto thinks only of bloody revenge.

In order to finally "cure" Gilda of her love for the Duke, Rigoletto takes her to Sparafucile's house

and forces her to watch as the Duke pleasures himself with the prostitute Maddalena (Sparafucile's sister). Rigoletto sends his daughter away to prepare their escape and instructs Sparafucile to kill the Duke. But Gilda returns secretly and witnesses how Maddalena persuades her brother to murder the first person who comes along before midnight instead of the Duke.

Gilda then decides to sacrifice herself for her love. She knocks on the door. A little later, Sparafucile hands Rigoletto the body in a sack. At the moment of his greatest triumph - Rigoletto feels like an all-powerful avenger - he hears the Duke's voice. Horrified, he opens the sack and sees his dying daughter. Without understanding the course of events, Rigoletto blames Monterone's curse for the tragedy.

Act 1 60 min
Intermission 25 min
Act 2 & 3 75 min

Pierre Audi and his team wanted to tell the story of Rigoletto in a "poetic, dark way". To this end, set designer Christoph Hetzer has created a "world of shadows and darkness" on the revolving stage, a timelessly dark landscape that hints at the Renaissance period in the costumes. Pierre Audi casts a Rigoletto into this world, whom he describes as completely isolated - "an Italian Wozzeck, so to speak".

The melodies of "La donna e mobile" and "Caro Nome", the arias of the Duke and Gilda, have to a certain extent become the signature tunes of Italian opera. Verdi's successful work was sometimes criticized by contemporary critics as "superficial" in the sense of being composed for superficial effect. The influential Viennese music critic Eduard Hanslick also criticized the orchestration as "thick and noisy". Over the decades, it was not only fellow composers such as Igor Stravinsky who commented positively on the work; the progress Verdi made on the way from a number opera to a through-composed opera with Rigoletto has also since been acknowledged.

"The subject is large, powerful and contains a character who is one of the greatest creations of which the theater of all countries and all times can boast."
So wrote Giuseppe Verdi to his librettist Francesco Maria Piave. The subject was that of Victor Hugo's Le Roi s'amuse, the character of the court jester Tribulet, and both were to become Rigoletto, the opera that marked Verdi's breakthrough. Verdi initially wanted to keep the title, but if an alternative was needed, the work was to be called La maledizione(The Curse). The composer was deeply convinced of the central function of the curse of an "unhappy father who laments the stolen honor of his daughter" for the dramaturgy of the piece, and he also fought for this constellation against the censorship authorities, who objected to the work. After a few changes - the French king became the Duke of Mantua - the way was finally cleared for Rigoletto to triumph.

© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper
© Wiener Staatsoper

FAQ

Tickets for our standing room can be purchased online or at the Bundestheater box office from 10 am on the day of the performance. BundestheaterCard holders can book standing room tickets online the day before the performance.

In addition, a fixed contingent of standing room tickets is available for regular evening performances from 80 minutes before the start of the performance at our standing room box office (Operngasse entrance).

Our operas are sung in the original languages - these vary depending on the work.

At each seat, subtitles in different languages can be switched on or off via a separate subtitle screen. In addition to the original language of the opera, you can choose from up to eight languages: German, English, Italian, French, Russian, Japanese, Spanish, Chinese (Mandarin).

In the event of a change of performance, you can of course return or exchange your tickets.

As changes to the cast cannot be ruled out due to illnesses or other hindrances of artists, there is no entitlement to a refund of the ticket price or exchange in this case.

Tickets cannot be returned or exchanged if you are not admitted to the auditorium due to being late (even after the interval).

About Your Visit

Cloakroom

The cloakrooms are located next the the entrances at the Operngasse. You can find additional cloakrooms on the left and right side of the balcony and the gallery and in the boxes. All cloakrooms are free of charge.

Be on Time

We kindly ask you to arrive on time for the performances. Latecomers can only be admitted during the intermission. After the intermission, re-entry will not be possible.

Food and Drink

Our gastronomy opens at the same time entry is permitted. You can enjoy some snacks and drinks before the performance starts or you can book a table for the break.

Practical Information

You can find more practical information regarding your visit (e.g. Dresscode, barrier-free-access, …) here.

 

Discounts, Subscriptions, Cycles

Discounts

The Vienna State Opera offers the following discounts:

  • Under 27
  • Children- & Youth-Tickets
  • BundestheaterCard
  • Ballett-Bonus
  • Ö1-Club
  • Culture Pass »Hunger auf Kunst und Kultur«
  • Disability ID
More info

Subscriptions

Choose a week-day and your favorite seat and enjoy five performances.

  • 4x Opera, 1x Ballet
  • spread out over the whole season
  • up to 30 % discount compared to the regular ticket price
More info

Cycles

Buy multiple performances as a package!

  • big selection of different cycles
  • bundled together by composers, artists or topics
  • spread out over the whole season
  • up to 10 % discount compared to the regular ticket price
More info