La Traviata

Violetta is the most sought-after courtesan of the Parisian demimonde. However, her encounter with Alfredo makes her pleasure-seeking life seem questionable: they fall in love and try to build a life for themselves, far from the fast pleasures of the city. Her past, however, catches up with Violetta. Alfredo’s father persuades her that a separation is the only way to restore his family honour. Alfredo, unaware of the true reasons for her decision, insults Violetta in public. When they are finally reunited, Violetta has run out of time.

Giuseppe Verdi was on the lookout for such a provocative, innovative tale when he encountered the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas the Younger. In the spring of 1852 he saw the “Lady of the Camellias” as a play adapted by the writer himself at the Vaudeville Theatre in Paris. The impression this made on him strengthened his resolve to use the tale for his next opera; the story gave him an opportunity to reformulate his grand theme: love defeated by the resistance of society.