La Traviata Cd

[Camie Fons]

Atragic opera written by Italian composer, Giuseppe Verdi, La traviata follows the story of Violetta (a high-class courtesan in 19th-century Paris) and her passionate love affair with Alfredo (a young nobleman).

Piave and Verdi wanted to follow Dumas in giving the opera a contemporary setting, but the authorities at La Fenice insisted that it be set in the past, "c. 1700". It was not until the 1880s that the composer's and librettist's original wishes were carried out and "realistic" productions were staged.[3] La traviata has become immensely popular and is among the most frequently performed of all operas.

For Verdi, the years 1851 to 1853 were filled with operatic activity. First, he had agreed with the librettist Salvadore Cammarano on a subject for what would become Il trovatore, but work on this opera could not proceed while the composer was writing Rigoletto, which premiered in Venice in March 1851. In addition, personal affairs in his home town limited his activities that spring, but after Rigoletto's success in Venice, an additional commission was offered by Brenna, the secretary of La Fenice.

Verdi and Giuseppina Strepponi visited Paris from late 1851 and into March 1852. In February the couple attended a performance of Alexander Dumas fils's The Lady of the Camellias. As a result of this, Verdi's biographer Mary Jane Phillips-Matz reports, the composer immediately began to compose music for what would later become La traviata.[4] However, Julian Budden notes that Verdi had probably read the Dumas novel some time before, and, after seeing the play and returning to Italy, "he was already setting up an ideal operatic cast for it in his mind",[5] shown by his dealings with La Fenice.

Francesco Maria Piave was engaged to write the new libretto and the two men tried to come up with a suitable subject, but the composer complained that his librettist "had not yet offered him an 'original' or 'provocative' idea". Writing to Piave, he added that "I don't want any of those everyday subjects that one can find by the hundreds."[6] But at the same time, the composer expressed concern about censorship in Venice, something with which he was very familiar after his dealings with the censors concerning Rigoletto. As the months dragged on into October, it was agreed that Piave would come to Sant'Agata (Verdi's home near Busseto) and work with the composer. One subject was chosen, Piave set to work, and then Verdi threw in another idea, which may have been La traviata. Within a short time, a synopsis was dispatched to Venice under the title of Amore e morte (Love and Death).[7] However, Verdi wrote to his friend De Sanctis telling him that "for Venice I'm doing La Dame aux camlias which will probably be called La traviata. A subject for our own age."[8] Although still bogged down at Sant'Agata, Piave was sanguine: "Everything will turn out fine, and we'll have a new masterpiece from this true wizard of modern harmonies".[9]

The audience jeered at times during the premiere, directing some of their scorn at the casting of soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli in the lead role of Violetta. Though she was an acclaimed singer, they considered her to be too old (at 38) and overweight to credibly play a young woman dying of consumption. (Verdi had previously attempted to persuade the manager of La Fenice to re-cast the role with a younger woman, but with no success.) Nevertheless, the first act was met with applause and cheering at the end; but in the second act, the audience began to turn against the performance, especially after the singing of the baritone Felice Varesi and the tenor Lodovico Graziani. The next day, Verdi wrote to his friend Emanuele Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter: "La traviata last night a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers'? Time will tell."[11]

While there were demands for productions from impresarios in various Italian cities, Verdi was loath to allow them unless he could be sure of the strength of the singers, and in spite of their pleas, the composer refused. As Budden notes, it came to be Venice "that made an honest woman of Violetta"[12] when Verdi allowed a performance at the Teatro San Benedetto. Some revisions took place between 1853 and May 1854, mostly affecting acts 2 and 3, but the opera was performed again on 6 May 1854 and was a great success, largely due to Maria Spezia-Aldighieri's portrayal of Violetta. "Then [referring to the La Fenice performances] it was a fiasco; now it has created a furore. Draw your own conclusions!" reported Piave (who had overseen the production in Verdi's absence).[13]

The opera (in the revised version) was first performed in Madrid on 1 February 1855 with Spezia-Aldighieri at Teatro Real, in Vienna on 4 May 1855 in Italian and in Barcelona on 25 October at Gran Teatre del Liceu. It was first performed in England on 24 May 1856 in Italian at Her Majesty's Theatre in London,[14] where it was considered morally questionable, and "the heads of the Church did their best to put an injunction upon performance; the Queen refrained from visiting the theatre during the performances, though the music, words and all, were not unheard at the palace".[15] It was first performed in the United States by the Max Maretzek Italian Opera Company on 3 December 1856 in Italian at the Academy of Music in New York.[16] George Templeton Strong noted in his diary: "People say the plot's immoral, but I don't see that it's so much worse than many others, not to speak of Don Giovanni, which as put on the stage is little but rampant lechery",[17] while the Evening Post critic wrote: "Those who have quietly sat through the glaring improprieties of Don Giovanni will hardly blush or frown at anything in La traviata."[18]

The opera was first performed in France on 6 December 1856 in Italian by the Thtre-Italien at the Salle Ventadour in Paris,[14] and on 27 October 1864 in French as Violetta (an adaptation by douard Duprez, older brother of the tenor Gilbert Duprez) at the Thtre Lyrique on the Place du Chtelet with Christina Nilsson in the title role.[19] The French adaptation of the libretto was published in 1865.[20]

According to the Encyclopdia Britannica, La traviata became one of the most frequently performed operas during Verdi's lifetime.[21] It is often ranked highly on annual lists of most performed operas.[22][23]

Violetta Valry, a famed courtesan, throws a lavish party at her Paris salon to celebrate her recovery from an illness. Gastone, a viscount, has brought with him a friend, Alfredo Germont, a young bourgeois from a provincial family who has long adored Violetta from afar. While walking to the salon, Gastone tells Violetta that Alfredo loves her, and that while she was ill, he came to her house every day. Alfredo joins them, admitting the truth of Gastone's remarks.

Violetta arrives with Baron Douphol. They see Alfredo at the gambling table. When he sees them, Alfredo loudly proclaims that he will take Violetta home with him. Feeling annoyed, the Baron goes to the gambling table and joins him in a game. As they bet, Alfredo wins some large sums until Flora announces that supper is ready. Alfredo leaves with handfuls of money.

Banda: Verdi did not fully orchestrate the parts of the on-stage band, but rather composed it in the style of a piano reduction, leaving the actual realization to the person in charge of the band. Over the years many versions were created, varying from theater to theater depending on the instruments available, but none of them is authoritative. A widespread version is: 1 piccolo, 4 clarinets, 2 horns, flugelhorn, 3 trumpets, at least 2 trombones, low brasses (number unspecified), bass drum.[26]

The prelude to the opera begins with very soft, very high strings depicting the frail heroine, followed by the main love theme of the opera, which is then played on lower strings while the higher instruments decorate the melody.[27]

This delicate atmosphere is altered on curtain rise by lively dance tunes in the orchestra. After the famous "Brindisi", an offstage band plays a series of waltzes (waltz rhythms pervade the first act of the opera, creating a Parisian atmosphere).[27] The concluding part of Violetta's solo scene that ends the first act is full of vocal decoration and feverish ornamentation as she swears to stay free ("Sempre libera"). These coloratura effects are not required for the character after the first act.[27]

La traviata is the only one of Verdi's many operas to be set entirely indoors. Unlike Il trovatore, which was composed simultaneously, La traviata is an intimate piece, full of tender lyricism. The character of Violetta dominates the work and her music changes as she develops through the drama, from the hectic, almost hysterical coloratura of the first act, to the more dramatic passages of the second, and the spiritual quality of her music as she dies in act 3.[27]

Join us for the annual Opening Night Dinner at HALL Arts Hotel on Friday, October 18, 2024. Guests will enjoy a cocktail reception and dinner before the performance of La traviata at the Winspear Opera House.

A Russian soprano, a Serbian baritone, and an Italian tenor will grace La traviata when Verdi's exquisite romance returns to Lyric . Albina Shagimuratova (Violetta) and Željko Lučić (Germont) are great favorites with Lyric audiences, and Giorgio Berrugi (Alfredo) is making one of the season's most eagerly awaited company debuts.

Gorgeous music. A beautiful, heartbreaking story, memorably told. Terrific performances across the board. Lavish over-the-top costumes for the party scenes. What's not to love Check out what the critics have to say about La traviata.

When Germont arrives, he is horrified to see Violetta in such terrible condition. She gives Alfredo a miniature of herself in happier days, and asks that he give it to the woman he will one day marry. Violetta suddenly declares that she has found new strength, but then falls lifeless.

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