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Giuseppe Verdi

Caro nome che il mio cor

"Caro nome che il mio cor" (Sweet name that made my heart), or "Caro nome" for short, is an aria for coloratura soprano from act 1 of Verdi's opera Rigoletto. It is part of the standard Italian

Sentiment#

Gilda, 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” is Gilda’s first extended expression of independent emotions, and shows both her tenderness and her simplicity. The aria is preceded by a shimmering figuration described by Verdi scholar Julian Budden as an example of Verdi’s finest woodwind writing. This aria is a breathtaking portrayal of young love in all its innocence and idealism. It marks the first step in Gilda’s transformation from ingénue to self-sacrificing heroine.

  • , Maria Callas
  • Details, opera-inside.com
  • Detailed analysis, Rhiannon Giddens, Nadine Sierra, Paul Thomason, Carl Pickhardt, Aria Code podcast (17 January 2019, Metropolitan Opera, WNYC)
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi