Monday, October 10, 2011

Rigoletto (The Ultimate Challenge for Baritones)

Verdi once said that the title role in "Simon Boccanegra" is a thousand times more difficult than Rigoletto. Simon Boccanegra is insanely hard, but I still think Rigoletto wins the title for the ultimate challenge in the baritone repertoire. He sings a lot, and has to sing very high constantly. Perhaps not as much as Simon Boccanegra, but still a lot. There are several high G naturals written in the duet with Gilda in Act I. Also, there are a lot of interpolated high notes which are not written in the score. Verdi was very in favor of interpolated high notes because they strengthen the drama. Most singers go up to the tenor range at the end. Verdi did not write that. The roles difficult tessitura is only the beginning of why the role of Rigoletto is so challenging. First and foremost, he is a Verdi baritone, and nothing less. He must have a darker and more powerful voice than a lyric baritone. Lyrics sing the role, like Fischer-Dieskau. I respect his musicianship, but his type of voice does not cut it for Rigoletto in my opinion. Rigoletto needs to sing with tremendous power, but also lyricism. His act two aria "Cortigianni" is an example of those two qualties. The lyrical singing in a Verdi baritone has a darker quality than that of the lyric baritone. Verdi is very big on expressing various emotions such as anger, sadness, desperation etc.. in his vocal writing. Rigoletto goes from intense anger to tearful begging in this aria. The lyrical section is the tearful begging section. That section must be sung lyrically with a darker vocal quality that lyric baritones simply do not have. I cannot stress that enough. There are still more challenges to this role which cannot be overlooked. Rigoletto is a hunchback, and has to stand in a hunched position. An obvious point, but what about singing in that position? Normally standing in a hunched over position puts the neck in an outward position, which means that the neck and spinal cord are not straight. Baritones singing this role have to be smart about maintaining good posture, but still be in character. Sherill Milnes remarked in the series "A Homage to Verdi" that if a singer performing Rigoletto is not careful about maintaining his posture to support his vocal mechanism, he will not be able to vocally get through the part. This is a challenge for anyone singing the role. If my neck is out, my larynx goes up, which equals not good. It is certainly possible to be this character and sing it. I have seen several singers perform this part, and they are careful with their posture when they are actually singing, and obviously walk like a hunchback when they are not singing. Rigoletto gets to sing some of the greatest music ever written for the baritone voice. The role sure is tough though. So is portraying this dark character. Rigoletto is a very emotional man who compares himself to the assassin Sparafucile. Sparafucile kills people in a literal sense for money. Rigoletto does it by mocking people. Slandering people verbally may actually be worse than killing people. Unfortunately it is Rigoletto's fate. It is his occupation, but he has a conscience. Plus, Gilda is his daughter, and the only family he has left. Obviously, he has had a difficult past which we know really nothing about. He does have fond memories of it, and he loves his daughter. That is his good side. He is a villain for the most part. The character is tough emotionally to portray, which is tiring on the singer performing the role. Rigoletto has to be sung by singer who is a Verdi baritone, a good actor, and a smart musician and vocal technician. Pretty challenging for sure.

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