May 28, 2020

Rigoletto - "Caro nome che il mio cor"

"Caro nome che il mio cor" ("Sweet name that made my heart"), is an aria from Giuseppe Verdi's opera Rigoletto.

In this opera, the Duke of Mantua is a notorious womanizer and his court jester, the pitiful and vicious Rigoletto, has an acid tongue when recounting tales of men's wives, daughters and sisters who have all succumbed to the Duke's charms. When Rigoletto discovers that his own daughter has fallen prey to the Duke, the jester seeks revenge for the loss of her innocence, but his vengeance consumes him and proves to be his curse. Some lose their hearts and others their lives in this dramatic story of love, lust, and retribution.

In this scene Gilda (Rosa Feola), Rigoletto's naive, virginal daughter, dreamily muses on the name of the man with whom she is in love, unaware that it is a false name and that he is not who he pretends to be.

"Caro nome che il mio cor"

Song title: "Caro nome che il mio cor" ("Sweet name that made my heart")

Opera: Rigoletto

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi

Year Written: 1851

Language: Italian

Performance dates: October 7 – November 3, 2017

Artists: Rosa Feola (Gilda) and the Lyric Opera Orchestra under Maestro Marco Armiliato


Special thanks to the Chicago Federation of Musicians local 10-208 and artists of the American Guild of Musical Artists.