Giuseppe Verdi composed his opera Rigoletto in 1851 and together with La Traviata (1853) and Il Trovatore (1853), this opera belongs to the top of Verdi's middle period of composing.

The prelude to Rigoletto is built on Rigoletto's recollection of the curse, that is called down upon him in the first act and whose working out is the subject of the opera.In the last act this curse is fulfilled by the death of Rigoletto.