More than a century and a half after its premiere, Giuseppe Verdi’s La Traviata continues to be one of the most regularly staged operas in the repertoire. Yet the opening night on 6 March 1853 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice was a debacle: the composer was let down by the quality of the house’s singers and Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, at the age of thirty-eight, was an improbable Violetta. Undeterred, Verdi revived the work, again in Venice, at the Teatro San Benedetto exactly two months later. That night was a triumph and La Traviata has never looked back.
Violetta Valéry, a Parisian courtesan, captivates all around her. Given her profession, she can barely afford to fall for one of her lovers. To her surprise, Alfredo Germont sweeps her off her feet, only for his father, Giorgio, to demand that she end her relationship with his son for the sake of his family’s reputation. Heartbroken, Violetta does as Giorgio asks and provokes a torrent of abuse from Alfredo towards her. Giorgio, finding that he is more ashamed of Alfredo’s behaviour than he was of his son having chosen Violetta in the first place, relents and does all he can to reunite the couple. But time is running out: Violetta, a victim of tuberculosis, is dying.
