Giuseppe
Verdi
La traviata
The woman led astray
November 1, 2014
Libretto by Francesco Maria Piave
Opera in three acts based on La Dame aux
Camélias by Alexander Dumas
Premiere 6th March 1853, Teatro La Fenice,
Venice, Italy
Sung in Italian with English supertitles
projected above the stage
Dress Rehearsal Photos by Dennis Kern
Community comes together to produce
classy 'La Traviata'
Violetta Valéry, La Traviata’s “fallen
woman” may be the most heart-wrenching character
in all of opera: a high-spirited but deceptively
delicate woman who unexpectedly finds, and then
selflessly gives up, the love of her brief life.
Rousing, soaring, heartbreaking melodies so
familiar you will need to restrain yourself from
humming along. Sung in the original Italian.
Cast
Violetta: Lynell
Kruckeberg
Alfredo: Christopher
Bengochea
Annina: Carolyn
Coefield
Giorgio Germont: Cory
Neal Schantz
Flora Bervoix: Michelle
Berger
Dottore Grenvil: William
Mouat
Gastone: Jacob
Scharbrough
Conductor: Barbara
Day Turner
Stage Director: Matt
Haney
Chorus Master: Janie
Sutton
Orchestra Manager: Richele
Sitton
Choreographer: Krista
Marshall
Stage Manager: Dodie
Rife
Costume Director: Loretta
Wittmer
Quick Facts
The opera was first performed in Venice on March
6, 1853. The first audience laughed all the way
through the last act. Verdi wrote "(it) was a
fiasco; it is useless to ask why, it is a fiasco
and that is that."
The first successful performance was a year
later. Since then La Traviata has become one of
the most performed and popular operas ever.
On May 25, 1858, three different opera companies
performed it at the same time, in three
different theaters in London--Her Majesty's,
Covent Garden, and Drury Lane.
"La Traviata" means "the woman who has been led
astray."
The opera is based on the play La Dame aux
camelias (1852) by Alexander Dumas the younger,
which he adapted from his autobiographical novel
of the same name (1848).
The real-life original of Violetta Valery was
Marie Duplessis, who died aged twenty-three. In
Dumas's novel and play, she is called Marguerite
Gautier.
Verdi wanted the opera in contemporary dress,
but because this was considered too shocking it
was originally set in the era of Louis XIV
(1638-1715). The first 'modern' production (i.e.
set in the 1850's) was not until 1906.
Verdi himself was not disturbed by sex outside
marriage. He was with Guiseppina Strepponi for
twelve years before he married her in 1859. She
already had two children by another partner.
Tuberculosis (also called consumption) is still
one of the world's most serious diseases even
though an antibiotic (streptomycin) was
developed in 1944. In England and Wales in 1988
there were 5164 cases, and 478 deaths.