JAMES MEENA

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR EDITORIAL

He Real Raviata T

TVerdi’s beloved opera, La traviata (The Fallen Woman) is based on the novella La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The novella tells the real-life story of Dumas’ love affair with Marie Duplessis, an exceptionally gifted and beautiful young woman.

Marie, like so many young women from the provinces of France, went to Paris at a young age where she fell into the life of a courtesan. The tragedy is both Marie’s status in what the Parisians called the demi-monde (the half world) of the courtesan, and her death at the age of 23. Her death devastated Dumas, whose love for her is embodied in the novella.

This is only part of the story of La traviata, however. When one digs into the reason a composer, (particularly a famous composer who has many options for subjects) chooses a subject the reasons are often more compelling than simply, “Verdi thought La dame aux Camélias would be a good subject for his next opera”.

Why would Verdi, famous and sought after, choose a subject that he knew would be an affront to the majority of the public (which it was)? Just to make a point? Perhaps that is precisely the reason.

Women in 19th century Italy were expected to be married, raise children, and take care of the home, while men were expected to support their families. For a woman to do otherwise would endanger her status, often earning her ridicule and social isolation. Women in the arts, and particularly actors and opera singers, were considered to be low class, of low character and not worthy of respect.

Verdi’s first wife, Margherita Barezzi, and his two young children died over the period of 18 months. At the age of 27 he was alone. Over the period of several years, he formed an attachment to the famous soprano, Giuseppina Strepponi, who performed the lead in his first big hit, Nabucco

Giuseppina was unmarried but had children who she left with her family to be raised. She pursued her career and support them with her earnings as a major opera star. This stain on her reputation remained with her the majority of her life -- but Verdi didn’t care. What began as friendship became much more, but when Verdi and Giuseppina (at the time unmarried) moved to his home town of Busseto, she was ostracized, shunned and humiliated (with the exception of Margherita’s father, the extraordinary Antonio Barezzi).

This ‘Scarlet Letter’ scenario played out at the time Verdi was commissioned to write a new opera for Teatro la Fenice in Venice. That opera is La traviata, or The Fallen Woman. It would seem that in the case of both Alexandre Dumas, fils and Giuseppe Verdi, their love for extraordinary women was expressed in their art, for which we, more than 150 years later, are grateful.

James Meena, Artistic Director

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