62. Rigoletto on Rossi Street
Carlo Rossi was a prominent architect who was active in St. Petersburg in the early 19th century. He was born in Naples, Italy, but as a child moved to Russia with his mother, a ballerina. He designed many well-known buildings in the city center, including the Mikhailovsky Palace and the General Staff building. Among his creations is a street (now named in his honor) that is located just across the Fontanka River from the Tolstoy House. Architect Rossi Street is intended to have perfect proportions, with the width of the street exactly equal to the height of the matched buildings on either side (all dimensions are 22 meters). Further, the street is exactly 10 times as long, at 220 meters. The larger building at the far end is the home of the Alexandrinsky Theater, and the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet fills the buildings on the east side of the street. This school was established in 1738 and is one of the world's premiere ballet dance academies - Nijinsky, Nureyev and Baryshnikov were all students there.
The city of St. Petersburg is hosting a summer opera series this July with productions in prominent outdoor locations throughout the city - the VI St. Petersburg International All Together Opera Festival. These free productions feature world-class singers from local companies in St. Petersburg and elsewhere in Russia, Europe, and even the United States. On Saturday evening, Rossi Street was the location for a production of “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi. This is certainly one of the best-known operas in the repertoire, although I had never seen it (I've only been to three or four full opera productions). "La Donna รจ Mobile" is the justifiably famous aria from Rigoletto, and you've likely heard it before even if you don't know it by name.
I found a decent vantage point relatively close to the front, but could only see the left side of the stage as most of my view was blocked by a monitor. So I ended up watching much of the action on TV, even while being able to clearly hear the orchestra and singing. Some light rain brought out the umbrellas, which blocked even more of the view during the second act.
I didn't look up information about the story in advance, and I'm not fluent in Italian, so I did not follow all the details of the plot too closely. In reading about it after the fact, I can state with all sincerity that I completely missed about 75% of the plot - I had no idea the dramatis personae included a hunchbacked court jester and an assassin, or that the female lead was supposed to be the daughter of one of the male leads. But with opera, I'm in it primarily for the music anyway, and this production did not disappoint on that score.
The city of St. Petersburg is hosting a summer opera series this July with productions in prominent outdoor locations throughout the city - the VI St. Petersburg International All Together Opera Festival. These free productions feature world-class singers from local companies in St. Petersburg and elsewhere in Russia, Europe, and even the United States. On Saturday evening, Rossi Street was the location for a production of “Rigoletto” by Giuseppe Verdi. This is certainly one of the best-known operas in the repertoire, although I had never seen it (I've only been to three or four full opera productions). "La Donna รจ Mobile" is the justifiably famous aria from Rigoletto, and you've likely heard it before even if you don't know it by name.
I found a decent vantage point relatively close to the front, but could only see the left side of the stage as most of my view was blocked by a monitor. So I ended up watching much of the action on TV, even while being able to clearly hear the orchestra and singing. Some light rain brought out the umbrellas, which blocked even more of the view during the second act.
I didn't look up information about the story in advance, and I'm not fluent in Italian, so I did not follow all the details of the plot too closely. In reading about it after the fact, I can state with all sincerity that I completely missed about 75% of the plot - I had no idea the dramatis personae included a hunchbacked court jester and an assassin, or that the female lead was supposed to be the daughter of one of the male leads. But with opera, I'm in it primarily for the music anyway, and this production did not disappoint on that score.
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