ArtsAutosBooksBusinessEducationEntertainmentFamilyFashionFoodGamesGenderHealthHolidaysHomeHubPagesPersonal FinancePetsPoliticsReligionSportsTechnologyTravel

La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi. Brilliant Italian opera

Updated on April 17, 2014

Giuseppe Verdi

Source

A speedy gallop through the plot of La Traviata

Of all the many annoyances that can bedevil relationships, that of the interfering in-law is perhaps the worst. In La Traviata, (the famous opera by Giuseppe Verdi), we are presented with a prime example of this pernicious ilk in the person of Baron Giorgio. This, puffed up with pride, old man considers the courtesan Violetta to be not good enough for his precious son Alfredo; conveniently forgetting that there was probably a conglomeration of pregnant milkmaids and housemaids, that could claim his youthful self as the progenitor of their offspring. He might impregnate them, but the risk to family honour would prevent him marrying any of them. That seems to have been the attitude he adopted towards Violetta. The status of his family would be fatally compromised, if the scandal of his son’s mésalliance was allowed to continue. Of course, he just had to visit Violetta and plead with her to end the relationship. He even raised the spectre of his beloved daughter being unable to make a good marriage, because of the shame. His idea of a suitable alliance was probably to have her tied to some hoary old git with plenty of land and money. The life story of the daughter would probably make for a tragic opera in its own right, but we are still waiting for someone to create it.

Of course, the upshot of all his interfering is that the relationship is broken off. The young courtesan should have sent the old hypocrite off with a flea in his ear but Violetta, who obviously had more goodness than sense, instead leaves a note for Alfredo, telling him that all is over. She then takes herself off to a big party, to try to get over things.

La Traviata, like most operas, does not have a straightforward plot, so the story is not ended when Alfredo gets his marching orders. He follows Violetta to the party and accuses her of being in love with Baron Douphol, (her ex, but now reduced to the status of “just good friends”). In order to keep her promise to his father, she says she is. In a rage Alfredo throws a load of money at her feet in payment for her “services”. Nobody has ever thrown filthy lucre at my feet. I wish I knew her secret. But that’s my personal grief. Violetta’s was different. She faints on the floor and then, when she revives, tells Alfredo about the deep love she feels for him. I think, at this stage, he must be pretty confused. First she loves him, then she doesn’t and finally she deeply adores him. His state of mind can hardly have been improved, when he is abused by his fellow guests for disrespecting a lady. To add insult to injury, his self- righteous “old man”, (who had caused all the problems in the first place), joins in the condemnation.

In the final part of the opera, the baron tries to make amends for all the trouble caused by his snobbery. He speaks to his son and praises Violetta for the sacrifice she had, (foolishly in my opinion), made to uphold his precious family reputation and begs him to ask his slighted beloved to forgive him. The unfortunate girl receives a letter from him also, to tell her that he is trying to put things right. He seems to be in denial about his responsibility for the whole sorry mess. I really don’t like that baron at all. The phrase “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted” could have been written with him in mind. Alfredo rushes to her home and arrives just before she expires from the tuberculosis which I omitted to mention had been ravaging her fair body from the beginning of the tale. Sadly it all happens too late and the lovers are reunited only for a very brief spell, (just long enough to sing a couple of beautiful arias). Violetta perks up for a brief moment and then dies in her true love’s arms.

The premiere of La Traviata

Source

Quality products from Amazon.

La Traviata is launched on the world

Whatever the operatic eccentricities of the plot might be, La Traviata is one of the most popular operas of all time and the brilliant music of Verdi has been entrancing audiences since 1853. There were some objections raised to its subject by some of the more prudish elements in society, as it was considered immoral to promote a courtesan as heroine. Such was the attitude of mid Victorian society, where hypocrisy had become a way of life. Also the first performance at La Fenice in Venice attracted some booing in the second act, due to the unfortunate fact that the soprano was considered too old and too fat to play the part of a young woman dying of TB. In fact, none of the leading singers came up to the exacting standards of the Venetian opera goers. Verdi was thwarted as well in his wish to produce his work in modern dress. The local operatic establishment insisted on eighteenth century costumes. The composer considered that the premiere was a flop and he was reluctant to risk his reputation in further Italian performances, at least, until the problems over the singers were overcome. When these teething problems were dealt with, La Traviata was performed to great acclaim and it has delighted audiences ever since.

The immortal music of Giuseppe Verdi

I will conclude by leaving you with two short videos from performances of this gem of Italian opera. Enjoy.

The drinking song from La Traviata

Sempre Libera

working

This website uses cookies

As a user in the EEA, your approval is needed on a few things. To provide a better website experience, hubpages.com uses cookies (and other similar technologies) and may collect, process, and share personal data. Please choose which areas of our service you consent to our doing so.

For more information on managing or withdrawing consents and how we handle data, visit our Privacy Policy at: https://corp.maven.io/privacy-policy

Show Details
Necessary
HubPages Device IDThis is used to identify particular browsers or devices when the access the service, and is used for security reasons.
LoginThis is necessary to sign in to the HubPages Service.
Google RecaptchaThis is used to prevent bots and spam. (Privacy Policy)
AkismetThis is used to detect comment spam. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide data on traffic to our website, all personally identifyable data is anonymized. (Privacy Policy)
HubPages Traffic PixelThis is used to collect data on traffic to articles and other pages on our site. Unless you are signed in to a HubPages account, all personally identifiable information is anonymized.
Amazon Web ServicesThis is a cloud services platform that we used to host our service. (Privacy Policy)
CloudflareThis is a cloud CDN service that we use to efficiently deliver files required for our service to operate such as javascript, cascading style sheets, images, and videos. (Privacy Policy)
Google Hosted LibrariesJavascript software libraries such as jQuery are loaded at endpoints on the googleapis.com or gstatic.com domains, for performance and efficiency reasons. (Privacy Policy)
Features
Google Custom SearchThis is feature allows you to search the site. (Privacy Policy)
Google MapsSome articles have Google Maps embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
Google ChartsThis is used to display charts and graphs on articles and the author center. (Privacy Policy)
Google AdSense Host APIThis service allows you to sign up for or associate a Google AdSense account with HubPages, so that you can earn money from ads on your articles. No data is shared unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Google YouTubeSome articles have YouTube videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
VimeoSome articles have Vimeo videos embedded in them. (Privacy Policy)
PaypalThis is used for a registered author who enrolls in the HubPages Earnings program and requests to be paid via PayPal. No data is shared with Paypal unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook LoginYou can use this to streamline signing up for, or signing in to your Hubpages account. No data is shared with Facebook unless you engage with this feature. (Privacy Policy)
MavenThis supports the Maven widget and search functionality. (Privacy Policy)
Marketing
Google AdSenseThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Google DoubleClickGoogle provides ad serving technology and runs an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Index ExchangeThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
SovrnThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Facebook AdsThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Unified Ad MarketplaceThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
AppNexusThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
OpenxThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Rubicon ProjectThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
TripleLiftThis is an ad network. (Privacy Policy)
Say MediaWe partner with Say Media to deliver ad campaigns on our sites. (Privacy Policy)
Remarketing PixelsWe may use remarketing pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to advertise the HubPages Service to people that have visited our sites.
Conversion Tracking PixelsWe may use conversion tracking pixels from advertising networks such as Google AdWords, Bing Ads, and Facebook in order to identify when an advertisement has successfully resulted in the desired action, such as signing up for the HubPages Service or publishing an article on the HubPages Service.
Statistics
Author Google AnalyticsThis is used to provide traffic data and reports to the authors of articles on the HubPages Service. (Privacy Policy)
ComscoreComScore is a media measurement and analytics company providing marketing data and analytics to enterprises, media and advertising agencies, and publishers. Non-consent will result in ComScore only processing obfuscated personal data. (Privacy Policy)
Amazon Tracking PixelSome articles display amazon products as part of the Amazon Affiliate program, this pixel provides traffic statistics for those products (Privacy Policy)
ClickscoThis is a data management platform studying reader behavior (Privacy Policy)