02 June 2023 (Fri), 19:00 World famous Mariinsky Ballet and Opera Theatre - Opera and Concert Hall - Tour of the Perm Opera and Ballet Theater Opera "La traviata". Giuseppe Verdi (opera in three acts, four scenes)
Schedule for "La traviata". Giuseppe Verdi (opera in three acts, four scenes) 2022
Baritone: Vasily Ladyuk Conductor: Migran Agadzhanyan
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi
World premiere: 6 March 1853, La Fenice, Venice
Premiere in Russia: 26 April 1868 Mariinsky theatre, St Petersburg, Russia
opera in three acts, four scenes
Libretto by Francesco Maria
Piave, after Alexandre Dumas fils's play La Dame
aux camelias (1852)
Performed in
Italian
La Traviata: Flop and Triumph
It is hard now to believe that an opera as much-loved throughout the world as
La Traviata could have flopped so spectacularly at its premiere. The
first performance of the opera – on 6 March 1853 at the famous Teatro La
Fenice in Venice – almost ended in scandal. Part of the audience shouted
aggressively and laughed out loud, whistling their extreme disapproval. On the
next day, the reviewer from one paper wrote that: "The sotto voce music of the
final act cannot be heard. It is drowned out by the audienceґs laughter." Verdi
himself wrote to a friend: "La Traviata yeasterday was a fiasco. Who is
to blame, me or the singers?... Time will tell." The composer could only guess
at the reasons – the renowned prima donna Fanny Salvini-Donatelli had such
a full figure that it was impossible to believe her Violetta was dying of
consumption; the tenor Ludovico Graziani (Alfredo) had a cold; the baritone
Felice Varesi (Giorgio Germont) had not learned his part properly... If only
that had been all! Verdi had brought to the stage the heroine of Alexandre Dumas
filsґs play La dame aux Camйlias – a demimondaine (in Italian
la traviata means "the fallen one") whose existence is shown as pure
and unselfishly loving when compared with the deceits and corruption of ґpoliteґ
society. The composer knew the risk that he was taking when he wrote to a
friend: "The subject is contemporary. Others might not attempt to broach it
because of propriety, because of the age, or because of a thousand other silly
prejudices... I broach it with the greatest pleasure." If only Verdi had
followed centuries of tradition and chosen a love story with nymphs and cupids,
or at least taken his characters from a distant age, then ґpoliteґ society would
probably have welcomed his new opera. But when it was contemporary characters on
the stage instead of mythological figures or the heroes of knightly romances?
When the action doesnґt take place in ancient ruins or a medieval castle? When
the heroes wander round not in classical togas or crusader armour, but in the
latest Paris fashions? Sorry, no! Weґve come to the opera, and we expect
everything to look like an opera! (Itґs worth noting in brackets that
contemporary directors are universally enamoured with the conceit of dressing
all their characters – from Wagnerian gods and Shakespearian heroes to the
characters of Glinka and Mussorgsky – in modern suites and miniskirts).
A year later, on 6 May 1854, La Traviata was performed with
triumphant success on the stage of another Venice opera theatre, San Benedetto.
While making almost no changes to the score, Verdi submitted to the tastes of
music-lovers and opera-goers: the characters were robed in historic costumes.
"Thank God theyґre not us!", sighed the ґpoliteґ audience with relief. They did
not notice the most important aspect of Verdiґs new opera, or rather without
noticing that they were being taught what was most important – the new
language. New not in the sense of radical innovation in harmonics or
orchestration, but new in the essence and dignity of the music itself, in the
honesty and naturalness of the musical speech, and in the truth of the emotions.
This was what forced (taught!) the audience to empathize with the heroine, who
was transformed from a product that could be bought into a human being
with loves and passions. This was what made La Traviata an opera for
everybody – in other words, a true masterpiece. Yosif Rayskin
Schedule for "La traviata". Giuseppe Verdi (opera in three acts, four scenes) 2022
|