LA TRAVIATA - The Musical

AND THEN CAME
GIUSEPPE VERDI’S OPERA
LA TRAVIATA
Venice, 1853
MUCH MORE
THAN A SIMPLE
CAMELLIA
In the audience on 2 February 1852, watching the premiere of La Dame aux
Camélias, was Giuseppe Verdi with his lover and future wife Giuseppina
Strepponi.
On the stage, the character of Marguerite Gautier – the Lady of the Camellias
– was brought to life.
The theatre was full, the public stunned and amazed by the story. At the end
of the play, the women had tears in their eyes, and everyone was overcome
with emotion. Through the endless applause, Verdi realised that the story
of Paris’ most famous Lorette was something monumental. And so the
character of Marguerite, a fallen woman, redeemed by a young man’s love
and destined to an untimely death, inspired him to compose an opera with
music that would portray and heighten the emotion of the story.
He appointed the librettist Francesco Piave to write an original and captivating
story in which the themes of love, sacrifice and death weave together
in tragedy.
The name of the young lover was transformed once again into Alfredo Germont
and the character of Marguerite Gautier became Violetta Valéry, the
fallen woman, La Traviata.
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