Act I opens in a salon in the _Duke's_ palace. A suite of other
apartments is seen extending into the background. All are brilliantly lighted for the fête that is in progress. Courtiers and ladies are moving about in all directions. Pages are passing to and fro. From an adjoining salon music is heard and bursts of merriment.
[Music]
There is effervescent gayety in the orchestral accompaniment to the scene. A minuet played by an orchestra on the stage is curiously reminiscent of the minuet in Mozart's "Don Giovanni." The _Duke_ and _Borsa_ enter from the back. They are conversing about an "unknown charmer"--none other than _Gilda_--whom the _Duke_ has seen at church. He says that he will pursue the adventure to the end, although a mysterious man visits her nightly.
Among a group of his guests the _Duke_ sees the _Countess Ceprano_, whom he has been wooing quite openly, in spite of the _Count's_ visible annoyance. The dashing gallant cares nothing about what anyone may think of his escapades, least of all the husbands or other relatives of the ladies. "Questa o quella per me pari sono" (This one, or that one, to me 'tis the same).
[Music]
This music floats on air. It gives at once the cue to the _Duke's_ character. Like _Don Giovanni_ he is indifferent to fate, flits from one affair to another, and is found as fascinating as he is dangerous by all women, of whatever degree, upon whom he confers his doubtful favours.
_Rigoletto_, hunchbacked but agile, sidles in. He is in cap and bells, and carries the jester's bauble. The immediate object of his satire is _Count Ceprano_, who is watching his wife, as she is being led off on the _Duke's_ arm. _Rigoletto_ then goes out looking for other victims. _Marullo_ joins the nobles. He tells them that _Rigoletto_, despite his hump, has an inamorata. The statement makes a visible impression upon _Count Ceprano_, and when the nobles, after another sally from the jester, who has returned with the _Duke_, inveigh against his bitter tongue, the _Count_ bids them meet him at night on the morrow and he will guarantee them revenge upon the hunchback for the gibes they have been obliged to endure from him.
The gay music, which forms a restless background to the recitatives of which I have given the gist,
[Music]
trips buoyantly along, to be suddenly broken in upon by the voice of one struggling without, and who, having freed himself from those evidently striving to hold him back, bursts in upon the scene. It is the aged _Count Monterone_. His daughter has been dishonoured by the _Duke_, and he denounces the ruler of Mantua before the whole assembly. His arrest is ordered. _Rigoletto_ mocks him until, drawing himself up to his full height, the old noble not only denounces him, but calls down upon him a father's curse.
_Rigoletto_ is strangely affrighted. He cowers before _Monterone's_ malediction. It is the first time since he has appeared at the gathering that he is not gibing at someone. Not only is he subdued; he is terror-stricken.
_Monterone_ is led off between halberdiers. The gay music again breaks in. The crowd follows the _Duke_. But _Rigoletto_?
The scene changes to the street outside of his house. It is secluded in a courtyard, from which a door leads into the street. In the courtyard are a tall tree and a marble seat. There is also seen at the end of the street, which has no thoroughfare, the gable end of _Count Ceprano's_ palace. It is night.
As _Rigoletto_ enters, he speaks of _Monterone's_ curse. His entrance to the house is interrupted by the appearance of _Sparafucile_, an assassin for hire. In a colloquy, to which the orchestra supplies an accompaniment, interesting because in keeping with the scene, he offers to _Rigoletto_ his services, should they be needed, in putting enemies out of the way--and his charges are reasonable.
[Music]
_Rigoletto_ has no immediate need of him, but ascertains where he can be found.
_Sparafucile_ goes. _Rigoletto_ has a soliloquy, beginning, "How like are we!--the tongue, my weapon, the dagger his! to make others laugh is my vocation,--his to make them weep!... Tears, the common solace of humanity, are to me denied.... 'Amuse me buffoon'--and I must obey." His mind still dwells on the curse--a father's curse, pronounced upon him, a father to whom his daughter is a jewel. He refers to it, even as he unlocks the door that leads to his house, and also to his daughter, who, as he enters, throws herself into his arms.
He cautions her about going out. She says she never ventures beyond the courtyard save to go to church. He grieves over the death of his wife--_Gilda's_ mother--that left her to his care while she was still an infant. "Deh non parlare al misero" (Speak not of one whose loss to me).
[Music: Deh non parlare al misero]
He charges her attendant, _Giovanna_, carefully to guard her. _Gilda_ endeavours to dispel his fears. The result is the duet for _Rigoletto_ and _Gilda_, beginning with his words to _Giovanna_, "Veglia, o donna, questo fiore" (Safely guard this tender blossom).
_Rigoletto_ hears footsteps in the street and goes out through the door of the courtyard to see who may be there. As the door swings out, the _Duke_, for it is he, in the guise of a student, whose stealthy footsteps have been heard by the jester, conceals himself behind it, then slips into the courtyard, tosses a purse to _Giovanna_, and hides in the shadow of the tree. _Rigoletto_ reappears for a brief moment to say good-bye to _Gilda_ and once more to warn _Giovanna_ to guard her carefully.
When he has gone _Gilda_ worries because fear drove her to refrain from revealing to her father that a handsome youth has several times followed her from church. This youth's image is installed in her heart. "I long to say to him 'I lo--'"
The _Duke_ steps out of the tree's shadow, motions to _Giovanna_ to retire and, throwing himself at _Gilda's_ feet, takes the words out of her mouth by exclaiming, "I love thee!"
No doubt taken by surprise, yet also thrilled with joy, she hearkens to him rapturously as he declares, "È il sol dell'anima, la vita è amore" (Love is the sun by which passion is kindled).
[Music: È il sol dell'anima, la vita è amore,]
The meeting is brief, for again there are footsteps outside. But their farewell is an impassioned duet, "Addio speranza ed anima" (Farewell, my hope, my soul, farewell).
He has told her that he is a student, by name Walter Maldè. When he has gone, she muses upon the name, and, when she has lighted a candle and is ascending the steps to her room, she sings the enchanting coloratura air, "Caro nome che il mio cor" (Dear name, my heart enshrines).
[Music:
Caro nome che il mio cor Festi primo palpitar,]
If the _Gilda_ be reasonably slender and pretty, the scene, with the courtyard, the steps leading up to the room, and the young maiden gracefully and tenderly expressing her heart's first romance, is charming, and in itself sufficient to account for the attraction which the rôle holds for prima donnas.
Tiptoeing through the darkness outside come _Marullo_, _Ceprano_, _Borsa_, and other nobles and courtiers, intent upon seeking revenge for the gibes _Rigoletto_ at various times has aimed at them, by carrying off the damsel, whom they assume to be his inamorata. At that moment, however, the jester himself appears. They tell him they have come to abduct the _Countess Ceprano_ and bear her to the Ducal palace. To substantiate this statement _Marullo_ quickly has the keys to _Ceprano's_ house passed to him by the _Count_, and in the darkness holds them out to _Rigoletto_, who, his suspicions allayed because he can feel the Ceprano crest in basso-relievo on the keys, volunteers to aid in the escapade. _Marullo_ gives him a mask and, as if to fasten it securely, ties it with a handkerchief, which he passes over the piercings for the eyes. _Rigoletto_, confused, holds a ladder against what he believes to be the wall of _Ceprano's_ house. By it, the abductors climb his own wall, enter his house, gag, seize, and carry away _Gilda_, making their exit from the courtyard, but in their hurry failing to observe a scarf that has fluttered from their precious burden.
_Rigoletto_ is left alone in the darkness and silence. He tears off his mask. The door to his courtyard is open. Before him lies _Gilda's_ scarf. He rushes into the house, into her room; reappears, staggering under the weight of the disaster, which, through his own unwitting connivance, has befallen him.
"Ah! La maledizione!" he cries out. It is _Monterone's_ curse.