Verdi’s La Traviata, conducted by David Stern, will be sung at the Israeli Opera beginning this week. Take some time to learn more about Verdi’s most often-hummed opera at the “Towards Opening” lecture, this Saturday (May 11) at 11:00. Musical director Michael Ajzenstadt will chat with members of the cast and artistic team, and discuss the opera and the current production. You’ll also get a sneak peek at some of the singers, who will perform short excerpts and arias.
La Traviata was composed during Verdi’s “middle period”, alongside Il Trovatore, over the course of four weeks. On its first performance, the opera flopped; today, it is the most-performed opera in the world, according to Operabase. Peel back the layers of history and you’ll uncover a fascinating picture of Parisian life and European culture, and a story that still inspires artistic interpretations today.
Like all operas this season, La Traviata is based on a literary work – La Dame aux Camélias, a novel and later a play by Alexandre Dumas the younger. The play, “Camille”, was one of the most popular plays in Europe, with Sarah Bernhardt famously performing the title role of Marguerite Gautier (Violetta Valéry in Verdi’s opera) not only on the stage, but also in a 1911 film.
“La Traviata” means “The Fallen Woman” – one who has strayed. Marguerite Gautier is a Parisian courtesan, living a life of sin, when she meets Armand Duval, who falls in love with her. She abandons her lifestyle to live with Armand, but their happiness is doomed when his father arrives and persuades her to give up the relationship. The story ends tragically, with Marguerite’s death from “phthisie” – tuberculosis.
Who was the “Dame aux Camélias“? The character of Marguerite Gautier was in fact based on real-life courtesan Marie Duplessis, who was Dumas’ lover from 1844 to 1845. Beautiful, intelligent and self-educated, she was mistress to several influential men in Paris, and may have at some point been in a relationship with Franz Liszt. When she died of tuberculosis at age 23, hundreds attended her funeral. Dumas’ book was published a year after her death. The play premiered in 1852, and the opera followed only a year later. Interestingly, La Traviata was also the first opera performed in Israel in 1923 – making it a particularly good choice for Verdi’s bicentennial celebrations.
The “Towards Opening” lecture will take place this Saturday (May 11th) at 11:00. Tickets cost 70 NIS and are available online at the Israel Opera’s website, or by phone at 03-692-7777.
