SYNOPSIS
Act I
Violetta’s house in Paris
Violetta Valéry is having one of her many parties.
Among her guests are her friend Flora, the Marchese
d’Obigny, and Baron Douphol. Gastone arrives with
his friend Alfredo Germont whom he introduces to
Violetta as one of her ardent admirers. Violetta is
flattered by Alfredo’s devoted attention. When she serves
champagne, he sings the well-known ”Brindisi Libiamo
ne’lieti calici.”
When the guests begin to leave for the ballroom,
Violetta starts to go with them but has a sudden fainting
spell. She bids the others go without her, and all except
Alfredo leave. He expresses his concern for her health
and warns that she must abandon her frivolous way of
life. He tells Violetta of his love for her (“Un dì felice”).
She responds that she can only offer friendship. Gaston
asks them to join the others, but Alfredo prepares to
leave. Violetta gives him a camellia she is wearing and
tells him he may return to her when it wilts. He promises
to come the following day and again tells her of his love
and happiness.
Alone, Violetta sings of her joy and of the love Alfredo
has kindled in her heart (“È strano!...Ah, fors’ è lui”).
Suddenly she thinks of her way of life and decides to
forget Alfredo and continue to live life day by day for
pleasure (“Sempre libera”).
Act II
Violetta’s country home near Paris
Alfredo has convinced Violetta to leave her life in the
city and they are living together in the country. He sings
of his happiness (“Dei miei bollenti spiriti”). Annina,
Violetta’s servant, tells him she has been in Paris to sell
Violetta’s possessions in order to pay their expenses.
A shocked Alfredo leaves for Paris to recover Violetta’s
things and to clear her debts. Soon she enters, looking
for Alfredo, and is surprised to learn he has gone to
Paris. When Giuseppe brings her a letter bearing an
invitation from Flora, Violetta reads it and tosses it aside.
A guest is announced; he is Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s
father. While he is impressed when he learns that they
have been living on her money rather than Alfredo’s, he
asks her to sacrifice her love. Alfredo’s sister is betrothed,
and her fiancé will leave if her brother continues with his
scandalous lifestyle (“Pura siccome un angelo”).
Violetta tells of her love and happiness, but Germont,
although sympathetic with her plight, assures her
Alfredo’s love will not last. She finally agrees to leave
her lover, but asks Germont to tell both his daughter
and Alfredo of her sacrifice after she is dead (“Dite alla
giovine”). With an embrace, Germont tells her he is
grateful and departs.
Quickly Violetta writes a note accepting Flora’s invitation
and a letter to Alfredo. When he returns, she says she
must leave but tearfully asks him to love her as she will
always love him (“Amami, Alfredo”).
After she goes, a messenger appears and hands Alfredo
her letter. As he reads, his father returns. The letter is
Violetta’s farewell, and Germont attempts to console his
shocked and disconsolate son (“Di Provenza il mar”).
Alfredo then sees the letter from Flora and rushes off in a
fit of jealousy.
Act III
Flora’s home
The guests are entertained by gypsies who are telling
fortunes. After dancers perform an imitation bullfight,
Alfredo enters alone. Soon Violetta arrives with Baron
Douphol. Alfredo gambles with him and wins. When
supper is announced, the Baron promises to continue the
game later. All leave, but Violetta and Alfredo return.
She warns him to leave; she fears the Baron will kill him.
He promises to leave if she will follow him, but she tells
him she has made a solemn vow to see him no more.
When he demands to know to whom she made the
vow, she lies, telling him it was the Baron with whom
she is now in love. Angrily he calls the guests back and,
announcing that Violetta has spent everything she had
on him, throws his purse of winnings at her feet. He has
now paid her back in full! She faints, and the shocked
and angered guests demand he leave. His father, who
has just arrived, also denounces him. When Violetta
revives, she tells the remorseful Alfredo she still loves him.
As the curtain falls, the Baron challenges him to a duel.
Act IV
Violetta’s bedroom, some time later
A poignant prelude portrays the mortally ill Violetta.
Her doctor tells Annina that she will probably die by
nightfall. Violetta rereads a letter she has received from
Giorgio Germont in which he tells her that the duel has
been fought and the Baron wounded. He has told his
son of her sacrifice, and Alfredo is on his way to beg
her forgiveness. Violetta knows it is too late (“Addio al
passato”). As the sound of revelers is heard from outside,
Alfredo rushes in, begs her forgiveness and asks her to
leave with him forever (“Parigi, o cara, noi lasceremo”),
but she weakens and falls into a chair. Annina goes
for the doctor, and soon returns with him and the elder
Germont who admits he has wronged Violetta and
blesses her. Violetta gives Alfredo a miniature portrait of
herself, telling him he must give it to the girl he will one
day marry (“Se una pudica vergine”). Feeling a sudden
surge of energy, she speaks of being reborn, then falls
lifeless as Alfredo calls her name.
Synopsis by Dr. Nicolas Reveles, San Diego Opera
PROGRAM NOTES
Since Dumas’ novel and play were so well known, Verdi
was able to omit some of the facets of the story that would
have offended the censors; the audiences could fill in the
gaps. (The play had been performed in Venice just a week
before the première of the opera.) Venice was one of
the few cities in which such a story could be told without
extensive changes. Still there were a few problems. Verdi
wanted it to reflect the contemporary scene but the censors
insisted it be moved back to about 1700, the time of Louis
XIV, so the “lascivious” goings-on would not be seen as
a reflection of “modern” life. The original title, Amore e
morte (Love and Death) also had to be changed. (Traviata
is the past participle of the verb traviare meaning to go
astray so “la traviata” is the “one who has gone astray.”)
Verdi had provisionally agreed to the casting of Violetta
with the option of changing his mind by a certain date.
In his preoccupation the date passed. Though he tried
to make a change, his request was denied. Against his
wishes, Violetta was sung by Fanny Salvini-Donatelli who
was not young and was somewhat large for a dying
consumptive. He thought the singers did not understand
their roles and criticized them to their faces at the final
rehearsal, not a tactic to instill confidence in them. Piave
quotes him as saying:
“The whole company is unworthy of the great Teatro La
Fenice…I have no hopes for the outcome which will be a
total fiasco, and so the interest of the management will be
sacrificed,…and so will my reputation be sacrificed.”
Thus predisposed for failure, Verdi reported that it was
a total fiasco. This has been repeated over and over,
giving the impression that the première was a disaster. In
fact, it was a considerable success. The public began to
shout for Verdi after the prelude and called out again and
again during the performance. Reviews said that the music
was magnificently played and “the public was ravished
by the most beautiful and lively melodies that have been
heard in a long time.” They did criticize the voices of the
singers and the consensus was that he should try again
with a better cast. However, there was also dissension, for
example:
“The love depicted by Verdi is voluptuous, sensual, totally
lacking that angelic purity found in Bellini’s music…Verdi
was unable to resist the temptation of setting to music a
filthy and immoral subject with the aim of rendering it more
common and acceptable.”
In particular, the fair sex had to be protected from such
spectacles, “which insinuate poison into the soul.”
La Traviata was repeated nine times during its first season,
and the attendance and reception continued to improve,
being better than many other productions at La Fenice that
season. Genoa and Naples wanted to produce the work
immediately but Verdi refused. After a few changes, and
with a better cast, it appeared again in Venice in 1854
and was a resounding success! Now he could say: “Then
it was a fiasco, now it is creating an uproar!” Today it is
one of the most popular operas in the repertory, many
equally healthy sopranos have sung the role of Violetta,
and the time is usually set about 1850 in accordance with
Verdi’s original wishes.
La Dame aux camélias
[Francesco Maria Piave’s libretto for La Traviata is based upon
the novel La Dame aux camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The
following article traces the creation of that work. - NMR]
Alexandre Dumas, fils (son), born in Paris in 1824, is
considered one of the foremost French dramatists of
the nineteenth century. He was the illegitimate son of
Alexandre Dumas, pére (father), the author of such novels
as The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers.
Dumas was raised by his seamstress mother, Catherine
Labay, until his father legally recognized him and
assumed responsibility for his care. He attended college
but left before receiving a degree. His illegitimacy caused
him much unhappiness, both in private school and in
college where he had few friends. At age seventeen, he
moved in with his father, soon adopted his extravagant
lifestyle and fell into debt. At the theatre one evening
he first saw Marie Duplessis, already famous in the
demimonde for her beauty and ability to get men to
spend money on her. In an episode reflected in the
opera, he was at her home one day when a coughing
episode resulted in her spitting up blood. He urged her
to change her way of life, but she replied, “I should
die. This life of excitement is what keeps me alive.” He
offered the kind of life she would need to get well, and
she finally agreed upon the condition. “You are not to spy
on me, you are not to ask questions; I shall live exactly
as I please without giving you any account of what I do.”
Thus began liaison, as a result of which Dumas was soon
deeply in debt. Finally, he decided he must break with
her and sent her the following letter.
11
La Traviata
Verdi and La Traviata
Since Alphonsine Plessis, better known as Marie Duplessis,
died a few months before Verdi’s first trip to Paris in 1847,
he would not have met her. However, it is entirely possible
that Giuseppina Strepponi knew her; she certainly would
have known of her. In 1852, the couple was in Paris and
saw Dumas’ La Dame aux camélias. Verdi had promised a
new work for La Fenice in Venice and Piave was working
on a libretto for a subject not now known. The composer
told him to stop immediately and to begin a new work to
be based on Dumas’ play. This is a testimony to the effect
the piece had had on him because earlier he had said: “I
don’t like prostitutes on stage.” He composed what was
to become La Traviata, completing most of it in four weeks
while he was still rehearsing Il Trovatore.
PROGRAM NOTES
My dear Marie, I am neither rich enough to love you as
I should like, nor poor enough to be loved by you as you
would like. There is nothing for us to do but forget — you
a name which must mean very little to you; I a happiness
which is no longer possible for me. Needless to tell you
how miserable I am, since you know how I love you.
So, this is goodbye. You are too tenderhearted not to
understand the reason for this letter, too intelligent not to
forgive me. A thousand souvenirs, — A.D.
He was on a trip to Spain and North Africa when he
learned that she was gravely ill. He wrote to her, telling
her he would return and ask for her forgiveness. But
he waited too long. Duplessis died of tuberculosis in
1846. Her tragic death, along with bitterness over his
illegitimacy, inspire Dumas to write the novel La Dame
aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), portions of
which are based on the Duplessis-Dumas affair. The name
of the hero, Armand Duval, is a thin disguise for the
author. Actually, Dumas tells the story in the third person
as it was related to him by Armand Duval.
The Music of La Traviata
It is difficult for us to imagine today how revolutionary La
Traviata must have seemed to contemporary audiences.
Today it is a standard repertory item, and most of us
are familiar with its tunes and more famous dramatic
moments. But considering the traditions of Italian opera
as exemplified in the operas of the bel canto period
which preceded the appearance of Verdi’s masterpiece,
La Traviata could not be more different. Perhaps the
greatest difference is the tinta or color of the piece:
whereas most Italian operas of the period were given to
grandiosity, Verdi’s 1853 opera has an almost chamberlike texture favoring intimacy over bombast. Listen to
the prelude, for instance, which is meant to be played
by the strings of the orchestra as softly as possible. This
is a terribly difficult moment to bring off because it is
so exposed and so obviously calculated to produce a
special effect. But it perfectly introduces a story about
flawed, fragile human beings and sets the audience up
for a tragedy that will unfold in the enclosed Parisian
settings of salon, country house and bedroom.
Of course, the opera has a large enough number of ‘hit’
tunes to rival even Bizet’s Carmen. Verdi knew how to use
a tune, especially to carry the action of the drama. The
carefree, swaggering nature of the drinking song in Act
I perfectly characterizes the nature of the party at hand.
Through the use of sheer melody, the duet “Un dì felice”
establishes the two very different characters of Alfredo
and Violetta: Alfredo ardent and lyrical, Violetta (at least
at this point in the drama) flighty and restless. And the
glorious “Amami, Alfredo,” used as the basis for the
orchestral prelude, returns in Violetta’s vocal line as she
leaves the country house in Act II, a particularly telling
instance of Verdi’s use of thematic reminiscence.
Verdi’s sensitivity to text (and sub-text!) is apparent
throughout the drama. The perfect example is the elder
Germont’s duet with Violetta, an extraordinary sevenmovement piece that charts the heroine’s psychological
arc from indignant rage to selfless acceptance of her fate.
Simultaneously, the duet follows Germont’s movement
from stern, protective father to consoler and friend.
Knowing how demanding Verdi was on his librettists,
it is not far-fetched to believe that these humanly true
depictions of the characters’ emotional journeys were
dictated by the composer himself in order to have
something substantial to develop musically. The music
supports the characters’ development in every way,
making this one of the most perfect scenas in all opera.
Add to these attributes the use of dance music as
accompaniment to conversation in Act I, the concertato
at the end of Act III, (initiated by Alfredo’s tossing of the
money in Violetta’sface, a shocking coup de theatre for
the time), the reminiscence of love duet music during
the final scene and the false recuperation of the heroine
just before her death, and you have an opera whose
music and text are perfectly intertwined, a model for all
composers to follow. There is simply no end to the glories
of La Traviata, and its popularity is well deserved.
Program Notes by Dr. Nicolas Reveles, San Diego Opera
La Traviata - Der Eklat am Spieltisch.
Oil painting attributed to Carl d’Unker (1828-1866).