| The Duke of Mantua | Signori | Mirate |
| Rigoletto | Varesi | |
| Sparafucile | Ponz | |
| Count Monterone | Damini | |
| Marullo | Kunnerth | |
| Matteo Borsa | Zuliani | |
| Count Ceprano | Bellini | |
| Usher of the Court | Rizzi | |
| Gilda | Signore | Teresa Brambilla |
| Maddalena | Casaloni | |
| Giovanna. | Saini | |
| Countess Ceprano | Morselli | |
| Page | Modes Lovati |
The story belongs to the sixteenth century, in the city of Mantua and its environs.
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi. Author: Francesco Maria Piave.
First sung in Venice, Gran Teatro la Fenice. March 11, 1851.
ACT I
Dukes and duchesses, pages and courtiers, dancing and laughter: these things all happening to music and glowing lights, in the city of Mantua four hundred years ago!—that is "Rigoletto."
There lived, long ago, in Mantua, the Duke and his suite, and the only member of his household who dared do as he pleased was the Duke of Mantua's jester, Rigoletto. The more deformed a jester happened to be, the more he was valued in his profession, and Rigoletto was a very ugly little man, and as vindictive and wicked as he was ill-favoured in appearance. The only thing he truly loved was his daughter, Gilda. As for the Duke of Mantua, he loved for the time being almost any pretty woman who came his way.
On the night of a great ball at the Duke's palace he was thinking of his latest love, Gilda, the jester's daughter. The Duke usually confided his affairs to his servant Borsa, and the ball had no sooner begun than he began to speak with Borsa of his newest escapade. He declared that he had followed Gilda to the chapel where she went each day, and that he had made up his mind to speak with her the next time he saw her.
"Where does this pretty girl live, your Highness?"
"In an obscure and distant street where I have followed her each day. At night a queer-looking fellow is admitted, thus I am sure she has a lover. By the way, whom do you think that fellow to be?" the Duke asked with a laugh.