Giuseppe Riva

Francesco Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur concerns a doomed love based on a real story about an actress involved in a famous love triangle. Mirella Freni sings the title part in this production that was broadcast on television originally in 1989. Gianandrea Gavazzeni conducts the orchestra. Live from La Scala, 1989

Rigoletto is a jester in the court of the Duke of Mantua. He has a hunch-back and he's rather unattractive, but he's good at his job of humiliating the courtiers for the amusement of the Duke. The courtiers, of course, are not amused. The Duke is a ladies man who feels his life would be meaningless if he couldn't chase every skirt he sees. In fact, we learn as the opera begins that he's recently been noticing a young lady every Sunday on her way to church, and he's vowed to have his way with her. What nobody realizes is that the girl is the jester's beloved daughter, Gilda, and that Gilda has seen the Duke every Sunday and is smitten with him. Suddenly Count Monterone appears at court, furious that the Duke has seduced his daughter. Rigoletto ridicules Monterone, the Duke laughs, and Monterone casts an awful curse on both of them. Later, the courtiers discover that Rigoletto is secretly living with Gilda...

Live from La Scala Saturday 06 July 1985