LA TRAVIATA - The Musical

THE STORY OF
LA TRAVIATA
BEGINS WITH
THE TRUE STORY OF
ALPHONSINE ROSE PLESSIS
Nonant-le-Pin, 1824 –
Paris, 1847
MUCH MORE
THAN A SIMPLE
CAMELLIA
Alphonsine Rose Plessis was born in a village in Normandy, where she
spent her childhood in severe poverty. Her father was an alcoholic, her
mother was no doubt more sophisticated and well-mannered but subject to
a violent husband, and her grandmother was a wholly unscrupulous prostitute.
Alphonsine, aged 13 and unable to read or write, fled to Paris. After various
jobs and mishaps, she met Agénor De Gramont, Duke of Gramont and future
diplomat under Napoleon III. The duke took Alphonsine under his wing,
introducing her to elite circles where she mixed with aristocrats, politicians,
intellectuals and artists, enabling her to accumulate significant wealth very
quickly.
To give herself a new aura of distinction, she changed her name to Marie
Duplessis.
And with this new name, they fell at her feet... and into her bed: Nestor
Roqueplan, Editor-in-chief of Le Figaro; Dr Veron, Director of the Paris
Opera; and, spellbound by her sophistication, the renowned pianist Franz
Liszt. She married Count Édouard de Perregaux, taking the noble title of
countess and had a genuine love affair with Alexandre Dumas fils.
At just 23 years of age, after years of suffering with the disease, Alphonsine
died of tuberculosis in 1847, at home, in bed at 11 Boulevard de la Madeleine
in Paris.
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