Rigoletto and the Verdi baritone

After La Boheme, Puccini wrote Tosca and Madam Butterfly, a trio of masterpieces that have remained in the repertoire ever since. Fifty years earlier, Verdi had accomplished a similar trick only more quickly with Rigoletto (premiered in 1851), Il Trovatore (1853) and La Traviata (also 1853). All three are tuneful, compelling works but each is also very different from the others.

Titta Ruffo as Rigoletto