Rigoletto, the Duke's court jester in Piave's libretto, is transformed by Mayer into a hanger-on and comic along the lines of Don Rickles and Joey Bishop.
The country house was in a town near the Piave River, a trip the doctor could make in three days, by crossing the lagoon by gondola to Portegrandi and then continuing in a carriage.
The locale of "Rigoletto" changed even before its first performance in 1851 Francesco Maria Piave adapted the libretto from an 1832 Victor Hugo play set in France, but objections by censors led to the shift to Italy.