One of a series of short intros to several operas by Verdi

1. Super-stars Renee Fleming and Rolando Villazon give great
performances in this 2006 Met production of Verdi’s 1852
masterpiece La Traviata, his 19th opera. Villazon is a very
passionate singer and is very physical in his performance –
perfect for the romantic role of Alfredo. He is exciting to watch.

2. The plot revolves around Violetta, a manic-depressive young
courtesan who is dying of consumption (TB). She is burning the
candle at both ends with many wild parties supported by her
paramour, the Baron. She knows she doesn’t have long to live
so she tries to make the most of her time left.
The opera is based on a novel by
Alexander Dumas. The risqué theme
made problems with the censors of the
day. There was pressure on Verdi to
make the time setting be in the past and
he could not have it staged at all in a
realistically current way until 30 some
years after the premiere. Productions in
London and here also ran into immorality
objections until after 1900. Now it is one
of the top three most performed operas in
the world, with Carmen and La Boheme.

3. The death toll from consumption, which also does in Mimi in La
Boheme, was considerable back then. In 1815, one in four deaths
in England was due to "consumption", the archaic word for TB. By
1918, one in six deaths in France was still caused by TB.
Before the Industrial Revolution, folklore often associated
tuberculosis with vampires. When one member of a family died
from it, the other infected members would lose their health slowly.
People believed this was caused by the original person with TB
draining the life from the other family members.
Violetta’a death
bed scene

4. Verdi often had problems with the government censors, who
objected to salacious themes in his operas as well as dangerous
political ideas. Western civilization has long been prudish
compared to some other cultures. The ancient Hebrews were
very prudish and Christianity inherited that. Here is a funny
biblical example, from the Book of Exodus.
Egyptians wore short linen garments in their hot climate and the
Jews would have also, when they left Egypt in the Exodus. When
Hebrew priests climbed up a stepped altar, people who gathered
around the base could look up their short kilts. Men did not wear
underwear. So Moses is commanded as follows: Exodus 20:23 –”Do
not ascend my altar by steps, that your nakedness not be exposed
upon it”. In Exodus 28:42 Moses is given instructions for the first
“designer jeans” for priests - “You shall also make for them (Aaron
and his sons) linen breeches to cover their nakedness; they shall
extend from the hips to the thighs” They are then told to wear them
on all religious occasions, on pain of death. Don’t want views of the
naughty bits distracting people from the religious rites being done.

5. But back to serious material. Verdi’s adored first wife and two
children died of illness when he was a young man. He was devastated
by this. Verdi was working on his 2nd
opera when this happened.
His second wife was an operatic
soprano.

6. These early losses
dominated Verdi’s
emotional life and
several of his later
opera have very
touching scenes of close
father/daughter
contact. In La Traviata
the daughter is not seen
but is referred to by her
father in saintly terms.
In next week’s opera, Simon
Boccanegra, a father “loses” his
very young daughter and then
spends years searching for her.
He has immense joy when he
eventually finds his now adult
daughter. Clearly this theme of
family loss had a strong lifelong
resonance with Verdi.