I have been very busy for the past week. I have been playing my violin in the orchestra for an opera. An opera is like a play, but instead of spoken dialogue it has singing and music. The opera that we are performing is called Rigoletto, and it is by the famous 19th century Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi.
Verdi wrote his operas in Italian, of course, but we are singing Rigoletto in English. This is a bad idea. Because the opera is in English, the audience will be able to understand what is happening. It would be better if they simply enjoyed the singing and the music, without worrying about what the words mean. Why? Because the plot of Rigoletto, like the plots of most operas, is complicated and unbelievable.
This is what happens in the opera. The Duke of Mantova is well-known for chasing pretty women. Recently, he has seen a very attractive girl in church. He has flirted silently with her during prayers. She does not know that he is the Duke of Mantova, because he has disguised himself as a poor student. And he does not know that she is Gilda, the daughter of Rigoletto. Part way through the first act of the opera, the Duke/poor student visits Gilda secretly. They declare their love for each other, and there is a lot of passionate singing and music that makes you feel warm inside.
Rigoletto — Gilda's father — is the Duke's jester. That means, it is his job to play the fool, tell jokes, make mischief and generally make people laugh. I do not think he is a good jester. There are no good jokes anywhere in the opera, and Rigoletto has made enemies of many other people at the Duke's court.
Rigoletto's enemies have discovered that he has a mistress. As a joke, they kidnap her. But she isn't Rigoletto's mistress at all. She is Gilda, his daughter. And Rigoletto is very upset. He is very protective of his daughter and forbids her to have any contact with men. He comes to the court in a very bad temper, and finds Gilda. Gilda — the silly girl — thinks this would be an excellent time to tell Rigoletto about the handsome young man at church. The news makes Rigoletto even more unhappy. His beautiful innocent daughter — first she is kidnapped, and now she is pursued by handsome young men in churches. His honour is insulted. He must have revenge. He decides that the handsome young man must go. He hires an assassin — a professional killer — to kill the handsome young man. But due to some unfortunate circumstances which are too ridiculous to explain, the assassin kills Gilda instead. She dies in Rigoletto's arms. Rigoletto has destroyed the only person in the whole world that he loves. It is all very sad. The audience dab their eyes with large spotted handkerchiefs. The opera comes to an end.
Maybe I am wrong. Maybe things like this happen every week in Italy. But I think that Rigoletto would find it difficult to explain to a British policeman why he is standing in the street in the middle of the night holding the body of his daughter. "I see, sir. So you hired an assassin to kill a young man whom you now understand to be the Duke of Mantova. But he kills this young lady instead. Quite so, sir. I think you had better come with me to the police station, sir."