"Opéra en Plein Air" is a music festival which aims to raise the popularity of lyric art among the general public. Each year, a performance company is invited to stage an opera with a new and totally original interpretation. This is a chance to discover a masterpiece from the repertoire in one of a number of leading French heritage sites around the Ile-de-France: the Château de Vaux le Vicomte in Seine-et-Marne, the Parc de Sceaux in Hauts-de-Seine and the Sénat in the centre of the Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris are hosting this initiative which is unique in its field.

During the 2009 festival, you will be able to discover Giuseppe Verdi’s "Rigoletto", in a staging by actor, scriptwriter and director Francis Perrin.

Created in 1851 based on a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, "Rigoletto" is the first opera in Verdi’s "popular trilogy", followed by "La Traviata" and "Le Trouvère". Believing that opera must always be based on good drama, quality writing and strong sentiments, Verdi turned to "Le Roi s’amuse" (1832) by Victor Hugo for inspiration when writing “Rigoletto”. Hugo’s play is a controversial work which was banned the day after its first performance on the pretext of its political allusions. The cause of the scandal was that the King of France (Francis I) was presented as an outrageous libertine!
For the Italian composer, "Le Roi s’amuse" was an ideal source of inspiration since it combined individual psychological drama and criticism of those in power. He transferred the action from the royal court of France to the court of the Duke of Mantua and also changed the names: Triboulet, Francis I’s famous jester, becomes Triboletto, before being transformed, through a play on the word for “jester” and the verb "to laugh", into Rigoletto.

From a musical point of view, the opera achieves the ideal balance between Italian tradition and the new forces at work: the “bel canto” is still central but Verdi has stripped it of its ornamentation. The virtuosity takes second place to dramatic expression and thereby captures the spontaneity of the spoken theatre, embellished with all the richness of song.

Useful informations :
0 892 707 920
www.operaenpleinair.com