Renaissance Italy has never been portrayed more opulently and more
realistically than in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's film of Verdi's "Rigoletto",
the composer's first true masterwork for the stage. Towering over the
production is Luciano Pavarotti as the cynical, dissolute Duke of Mantua,
one of the famed tenor's greatest vocal and dramatic roles. Rigoletto is
magnificently portrayed by the Swedish baritone Ingvar Wixell. His
beautiful daughter Gilda is interpreted by Edita Gruberova, one of the
leading coloratura sopranos of our time. Director Jean-Pierre Ponnelle,
"whose stage and television work has brought a new and grandly colorful
vitality to opera interpretation" (The New York Times), acclaimed Italian
cameraman Pasqualino de Santis (Death in Venice) and architect Gianni
Quaranta have created a spellbindingly unique atmosphere. The drama unfolds
with a powerful authenticity highlighted by the historic locations in which
it was filmed: Parma's Teatro Farnese of 1628, Mantua's Palazzo Te, famed
for its frescoes by Giulio Romano, and the Palladian-style Teatro Olimpico
in Sabbioneta. Riccardo Chailly's vibrant interpretation of Verdi's score,
with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra responding magnificently to his
conducting, is a perfect complement to Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's
high-intensity retelling of the drama.
