Too often I allow my memories of great singers to be dulled by late career behavior, delving into unsuitable roles or just plain laziness.  Perhaps the greatest examples are Renata Scotto and Luciano Pavarotti, who are heard in their full youthful glory in this performance of Rigoletto from 50 years ago. 

When they collaborated as Gilda and the Duke of Mantua in Rome with Kostas Paskalis and Carlo Maria Giulini on the podium, Scotto was 32 and Pavarotti 31.  Listening to this magnificent performance, I was astounded how much these singers eventually came to represent–to me–opera at its worst.

After years of glorious Cio-Cio-Sans, Lucias, Mimís, Gildas, Adinas, Aminas, and the heroines of Il tritttico (as La Cieca reminded us yesterday), I began to have doubts about Scotto as early as her first performances in I vespri siciliani and Luisa Miller, culminating in the notorious 1981 Met opening night Norma.  I could never again take her seriously after that bizarre fiasco.

Similarly, I was wowed by Pavarotti as Tonio, Rodolfo (in La bohème and Luisa Miller), the Duke, Arturo, Nemorino, Fernando, and even his first Cavaradossis, but my admiration began to fade when he took on Un ballo in maschera and continued in a downhill spiral colored by his participation as one of The Three Tenors, stadium concerts, collaborations with pop stars, and the sloppy musicianship and antics that dominated his last years as a performer.

For the younger readers of Parterre who perhaps know these singers only from their late careers, I hope this Rigoletto will reveal why they belong in the pantheon of opera legends, just as it has brought back long-forgotten memories of their great performances to me.

Giuseppe Verdi: Rigoletto

Teatro dell’Opera di Roma
Carlo Maria Giulini
19 November 1966

Rigoletto – Kostas Paskalis
Gilda – Renata Scotto
Il duca di Mantova – Luciano Pavarotti
Sparafucile – Paolo Washington
Maddalena – Bianca Bortoluzzi
Giovanna – Corinna Vozza
Il conte di Monterone – Plinio Clabassi
Marullo – Arturo La Porta
Borsa – Fernando Jacopucci