“Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three

ACT THREE

The right bank of the River Mincio (On the left is a two-storied house, half fallen into ruin.At ground level, beyond an arcade, the interior of a rustic wine shop can be seen and a rough stone staircase leading to a loft with a small bed which,since there are no shutters, is in full view. Downstairs,in the wall facing the road, is a door that opens inwards. The wall itself is so full of cracks and holes here that whatever takes place within is clearly visible.In the background are the deserted fields along the Mincio, which runs behind a crumbling parapet.Beyond the river lies Mantua. It is night. Gilda and Rigoletto, both ill at ease, are standing in the road; Sparafucile is seated at a table in the wine shop.)

RIGOLETTO
And you love him?

GILDA
I always will.

RIGOLETTO
Yet I have given you time to forget.

GILDA
I love him.

RIGOLETTO
Poor woman’s heart! Ah, the scoundrel!
You shall be avenged, o Gilda.

GILDA
Have pity, my father!

RIGOLETTO
And if you were sure of his lack of faith,
would you still love him?

GILDA
I do not know, but he adores me.

RIGOLETTO
He does?

GILDA
Yes.

RIGOLETTO
Well then, just watch.
(He leads her to a crack in the wall. She looks through
into the wine shop.)

GILDA
I see a man.

RIGOLETTO
Wait a moment.
(The Duke, wearing the uniform of a cavalry officer,
enters the wine-shop through a door on the left.)

GILDA (startled)
Ah, father!

DUKE (to Sparafucile)
Two things and quickly...

SPARAFUCILE
What things?

DUKE
A room and a bottle of wine!

RIGOLETTO
These are the fellow’s habits.

SPARAFUCILE
Oh, the gay blade!
(He goes into an adjoining room.)

DUKE
Women are as fickle
as feathers in the wind,
simple in speech,
and simple in mind.
always the loveable,
sweet, laughing face,
but laughing or crying,
the face is false for sure.
Women are as fickle, etc.
If you rely on her
you will regret it,
and if you trust her
you are undone!
Yet none can call himself
fully contented

who has not tasted
love in her arms!
Women are as fickle, etc.
(Sparafucile returns with a bottle of wine and two glasses, which he puts on the table; then he strikes the ceiling twice with the pommel of his sword. At this signal, a buxom young woman in gypsy costume comes jumping down the stairs. The Duke runs to kiss her, but she eludes him. Meanwhile, Sparafucile, having slipped out into the road, speaks softly to Rigoletto.)

SPARAFUCILE
Your man’s in there. Is he to live or die?

RIGOLETTO
I’ll come back later to conclude our business.
(Sparafucile moves off behind the house in the direction of the river.)

DUKE
One day, if I remember rightly,
my pretty one, I met you...
I asked someone about you
and was told that you live here.
Let me say that ever since,
my heart has been yours alone.

GILDA (to herself)
Deceiver!

MADDALENA
Ah! Ah! And of twenty others
that maybe you’re forgetting?

I think my fine young man
is a bit of a libertine.

DUKE
Yes, I’m a monster.

GILDA
Ah, father!

MADDALENA
Leave me alone, you scatterbrain!

DUKE
Ho, what a fuss!

MADDALENA
Behave yourself!

DUKE
Be nice to me.
Don’t play hard to get.
Good behaviour doesn’t exclude
jollity and love.
(caressing her hand)
Pretty white hand!

MADDALENA
You are joking, sir.

DUKE
No, no.

MADDALENA
I’m ugly.

DUKEK
iss me.

GILDA (to herself)
Deceiver!

MADDALENA
You’re drunk!

DUKE
With love.

MADDALENA
My cynical friend,
you like to joke, don’t you?

DUKE
No, no. I want to marry you...

MADDALENA
I want your word of honour.

DUKE (ironic)
Sweet little maid!

RIGOLETTO (to Gilda, who has seen and heard all)
Haven’t you seen enough?

GILDA
The wicked deceiver! etc.

MADDALENA
I want your word of honour! etc.

DUKE
Sweet little maid! etc.

RIGOLETTO
Haven’t you seen enough? etc.

DUKE
Fairest daughter of love,
I am a slave to your charms;
with but a single word you could
relieve my every pain.
Come, touch my breast and feel
how my heart is racing.
With but a single word, etc.

MADDALENA
Ah! Ah! That really makes me laugh;
talk like that is cheap enough...

GILDA
Ah, these are the loving words...

MADDALENA
...believe me, I know exactly
what such play-acting is worth!

GILDA
...the scoundrel spoke once to me!

RIGOLETTO (to Gilda)
Hush, weeping can do no good, etc.

GILDA
O wretched heart betrayed,
do not break for sorrow.

MADDALENA
I, my fine sir, am quite accustomed
to foolish jokes like this,
my fine sir!

DUKE
With but a single word you could
relieve my every pain.

GILDA
O wretched heart betrayed,
do not break for sorrow, etc.

MADDALENA
Ah! Ah! That really makes me laugh;
talk like that is cheap enough, etc.

DUKE
Fairest daughter of love,
I am a slave to your charms, etc.

RIGOLETTO (to Gilda)
You are now convinced he was lying.
Hush, and leave it up to me
to hasten our revenge.
It will be quick, it will be deadly,
I know how to deal with him.
Listen to me, go home.
Take some money and a horse,
put on the men’s clothes I provided,
then leave at once for Verona.
I shall meet you there tomorrow.

GILDA
Come with me now.

RIGOLETTO
It’s impossible.

GILDA
I’m afraid.

RIGOLETTO
Go!
(The Duke and Maddalena continue to laugh and talk
together as they drink. Gilda having left, Rigoletto goes
behind the house and returns with Sparafucile,
counting out money into the cut-throat’s hands.)
Twenty scudi, you said? Here are ten,and the rest when the work is finished.He is staying here?

SPARAFUCILE
Yes.

RIGOLETTO
At midnight I shall return.

SPARAFUCILE
No point:
I can throw him in the river without help.

RIGOLETTO
No, no, I want to do it myself.

SPARAFUCILE
All right; his name?

RIGOLETTO
Do you want to know mine as well?
He is Crime, I am Punishment.
(He leaves; the sky darkens, lightning flashes.)

SPARAFUCILE
The storm is getting closer.
The night will be darker.

DUKE
Maddalena?
(trying to embrace her)

MADDALENA (pushing him away)
Wait...my brother is coming.

DUKE
So?

MADDALENA
Thunder!

SPARAFUCILE (entering)
It’s going to rain soon.

DUKE
So much the better.
You can sleep in the stable...
or in hell...wherever you like.

SPARAFUCILE
Thank you.

MADDALENA (softly to the Duke)
Ah no!...You must leave.

DUKE (to Maddalena)
In this weather?

SPARAFUCILE (softly to Maddalena)
It means twenty gold scudi.
(to the Duke)
I’ll be glad to offer you my room.
If you want to see it, let’s go up now.
(Taking a lamp, he starts up the stairs.)

DUKE
Good; I’ll be with you in a moment.
(He whispers something to Maddalena, then follows
Sparafucile.)

MADDALENA
Poor lad! He’s so handsome!
God! What a night this is!

DUKE
(upstairs, noticing that the loft is open on one side)
We sleep in the open, eh? Good enough!Goodnight.

SPARAFUCILE
Sir, may God protect you.

DUKE
We’ll not sleep long; but I’m tired.
(He lays down his hat and sword and stretches out on
the bed. Maddalena, meanwhile, has sat down at the
table below. Sparafucile drinks from the bottle which
the Duke left unfinished. Both are silent for a moment,
lost in their thoughts.)

Oh, women are fickle,
as feathers in the wind,
simple in speech
and simple in mind...
simple in speech and in mind...
women... are fickle... etc.
(He falls asleep.)

MADDALENA
He is really most attractive,
this young man.

SPARAFUCILE
Oh, yes...to the tune
of twenty scudi.

MADDALENA
Only twenty!...That’s not much!
He was worth more.

SPARAFUCILE
His sword: if he’s asleep,
bring it down to me.
(Maddalena goes upstairs and stands looking at the
sleeping Duke, then she closes the balcony as best she
can and comes down carrying the sword. Gilda,
meanwhile, appears in the road wearing male attire,
boots and spurs, and walks slowly towards the inn
where Sparafucile is still drinking. Frequent thunder
and lightning)

GILDA (to herself)
Ah, my reason has left me!
Love draws me back...

Father, forgive me!
(thunder)
What a terrible night!
Great God, what will happen?

MADDALENA
(having put the Duke’s sword on the table)
Brother?

GILDA (peeping through a crack)
Who is speaking?

SPARAFUCILE (rummaging in a cupboard)
Go to the devil!

MADDALENA
He’s an Apollo,
that young man; I love him,
he loves me...let him be...
let’s spare him.

GILDA (listening)
Dear God!

SPARAFUCILE (throwing her a sack)
Mend this sack!

MADDALENA
Why?

SPARAFUCILE
Because your Apollo, when I’ve cut his throat,
will wear it when I throw him in the river.

GILDA
I see hell itself!

MADDALENA
But I reckon I can save you the money
and save his life as well.

SPARAFUCILE
Difficult, I think.

MADDALENA
Listen...my plan is simple.
You’ve had ten scudi from the hunchback;
he’s coming later with the rest...
Kill him, and the twenty...

GILDA
What do I hear?

MADDALENA
...you’ve got...

GILDA
My father!

MADDALENA
...so we lose nothing.

SPARAFUCILE
Kill the hunchback? What the devil do you mean?
Am I a thief? Am I a bandit?
What client of mine has ever been cheated?
This man pays me, and I shall deliver.

MADDALENA
Ah, have mercy on him!

SPARAFUCILE
He must die.

MADDALENA
I’ll see he escapes in time.
(She runs towards the stairs.)

GILDA
Oh, merciful girl!

SPARAFUCILE (holding her back)
We’d lose the money.

MADDALENA
That’s true!

SPARAFUCILE
Don’t interfere.

MADDALENA
We must save him.

SPARAFUCILE
If someone else comes here
before midnight, they shall die in his place.

MADDALENA
The night is dark, the weather too stormy;
no one will pass by here at this late hour.

GILDA
Oh, what a temptation! To die for the ingrate?
To die! And my father?...Oh, Heaven, have mercy!

MADDALENA
The night is dark, etc.

SPARAFUCILE
If someone else comes here, etc.

GILDA
Oh, Heaven, have mercy, etc.
(A distant clock chimes half-past eleven.)

SPARAFUCILE
There’s still half an hour.

MADDALENA (weeping)
Wait, brother...

GILDA
What! A woman like that weeps, and I do nothing
to help him! Ah, even if he betrayed my love
I shall save his life with my own!
(She knocks on the door.)

MADDALENA
A knock at the door?

SPARAFUCILE
It was the wind.(Gilda knocks again.)

MADDALENA
Someone’s knocking, I tell you.

SPARAFUCILE
How strange! Who’s there?

GILDA
Have pity on a beggar;
grant him shelter for the night.

MADDALENA
A long night will it be!

SPARAFUCILE
Wait a moment.
(searching in the cupboard)

MADDALENA
Come on, get on with it, finish the job.
I am eager to save one life with another.

SPARAFUCILE
So, I’m ready; open the door;
all I want to save is the gold.

GILDA (to herself)
Ah, death is near, and I am so young!
Oh, Heaven, for these sinners I ask thy pardon.
Father, forgive your unhappy child!
May the man I am saving be happy.

MADDALENA
Get on with it, etc.

SPARAFUCILE
So, I am ready, etc.

MADDALENA
Get on with it!

SPARAFUCILE
Open up!

MADDALENA
Enter!

GILDA (to herself)
God! Forgive them!

MADDALENA, SPARAFUCILE
Enter!
(Dagger in hand, Sparafucile positions himself behind
the door; Maddalena opens it, then runs to close the
big door under the archway while Gilda enters.
Sparafucile closes the door behind her and the rest is
darkness and silence.)
(Rigoletto comes down the road alone, wrapped in his cloak. The violence of the storm has abated, now there is only the occasional thunderclap and flash of lightning.)

RIGOLETTO
At last the moment of vengeance is at hand!
For thirty days I have waited,
weeping tears of blood
behind my fool’s mask.
This door...
(examining the house)
is closed!...ah, it is not yet time!
I shall wait.

What a night of mystery!
A tempest above,
a murder below!
Oh, how big I feel now!
(The clock chimes twelve.)
Midnight!

SPARAFUCILE (coming out of the house)
Who’s there?

RIGOLETTO (about to enter)
It is I.

SPARAFUCILE
Wait.
(He goes into the house and returns with the sack.)
Here is your man, dead.

RIGOLETTO
Oh joy!...A light!

SPARAFUCILE
A light? No, the gold!
(Rigoletto gives him a purse.)
Let’s throw him into the river quickly...

RIGOLETTO
No, I can do it alone.

SPARAFUCILE
As you wish. This is not a good place.
Further on the stream is deeper.
Quick, so that no one sees you. Goodnight.
(He goes back into the house.)

RIGOLETTO
He’s in there!...Dead!
Oh, but I must see him!
But what’s the use?...It’s him all right!
I can feel his spurs!
Now look upon me, O world!
Here is a buffoon, and this is a mighty prince!
He lies at my feet! It’s him! Oh joy!
At last you are avenged, O grief!
Let the river be his tomb,
a sack his winding sheet!
To the river! To the river!
(He is about to drag the sack towards the river, when
he hears, to his amazement, the voice of the Duke in
the distance.)

DUKE
Women are as fickle, etc.

RIGOLETTO
His voice!...This is a trick of the darkness!
(drawing back in terror)
No!...No! This is he!...
(shouting towards the house)
Damnation! Hola!...You devil of a bandit!
(He cuts open the sack.)
Who can this be, here in his stead?
(lightning)
I tremble...It’s a human body!
My daughter!...O God!...My daughter!
Ah, no, it cannot be!
She has left for Verona!
(kneeling)
It was a spectre...It is she!
Oh, my Gilda, child, answer me!

Tell me the murderer’s name! Holà...Is no one there?
(knocking desperately at the door)
No one!...
(returning to Gilda)
My daughter? My Gilda?...Oh, my daughter!

GILDA
Who calls me?

RIGOLETTO
She speaks!... She moves!...
She is alive! Oh, God!
Ah, my only joy on earth...
look at me...say who I am...

GILDA
Ah, my father!

RIGOLETTO
I’m mystified!...What happened?...
Are you wounded? Tell me...

GILDA (pointing to her heart)
The dagger wounded me here.

RIGOLETTO
Who struck you?

GILDA
I deceived you...I was guilty...
I loved him too much...now I die for him!

RIGOLETTO (to himself)
Great God in heaven! She was struck by the bolt
that I, in righteous vengeance, loosed!

(to Gilda)
Beloved angel! Look at me, listen to me!
Speak, speak to me, dearest child.

GILDA
Let me be silent! Forgive me, and him.
Bless your daughter, O my father –
in heaven above, near my mother,
I shall pray for you evermore.

RIGOLETTO
Do not die, my treasure, have pity!
Oh, my dove, you must not leave me!

GILDA
In heaven above, etc.

RIGOLETTO
Oh my daughter!
No, you must not leave me, do not die.
If you go away, I shall be alone!
Do not die, or I shall die beside you!

GILDA
No more...Forgive him.
My father...Farewell!
In heaven above, etc.

RIGOLETTO
Oh my daughter, my Gilda!
No, you must not leave me, do not die!
(She dies.)

RIGOLETTO
Gilda! My Gilda! She is dead!
Ah, the curse!
(Tearing his hair in anguish, he falls senseless upon his
daughter’s body.)

END

libretto by Dale McAdoo, 1956, revised 1989

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three