| On the way home that night, Rigoletto broods over Monterone’s curse. A dark figure, Sparafucile, steps from the shadows, offering his services as an assassin. The jester dismisses him, reflecting that his own tongue is as sharp as any murderer’s dagger. He enters the courtyard. Gilda, his daughter, rushes into his arms. When she questions him about her long-dead mother, Rigoletto nostalgically describes his wife as an angel, adding that Gilda is everything to him. But he will not reveal his name or allow her to leave the house except to go to church. Rigoletto warns her nurse, Giovanna, to admit no one. He runs out to the street when he hears someone at the gate. At the same moment, the Duke slips into the courtyard, unseen by Gilda, who confesses to Giovanna that she is in love with a young man who follows them to church. Waving Giovanna away, the Duke tells Gilda that he loves her too, and is “Gualtier Maldè,” a poor student. At the sound of footsteps – Ceprano and Borsa are rallying courtiers outside – Gilda begs him to leave and they exchange excited goodbyes. Repeating his name, Gilda goes up to bed. Meanwhile, the malicious courtiers stop Rigoletto outside and ask him to help abduct Ceprano’s wife, who lives across the street. The jester is duped into wearing a blindfold and holding a ladder against his own garden wall. The courtiers break into his house and carry Gilda off. Rigoletto discovers the deception only when he realizes that the abduction is taking too long and hears Gilda’s cries for help. He tears off the blindfold and rushes into the house. Not finding Gilda, he remembers Monterone’s curse. |
