The Tale Verdi Set
Verdi begins the opera with perhaps his most intriguing overture. Labeling it a “Preludio” or Prelude — a term that links closely with the concept of stage drama — Verdi narrates Violetta’s life, but in reverse order of how we will see her in the opera. The opening depicts Violetta as we will find her in Act 3, its solemn, quiet theme painting a picture of this once lively beauty as she awaits death. Verdi then foreshadows one of Violetta’s most dramatic (and well-known) moments, this time in Act 2; knowing that she must leave Alfredo, she declares her love and pleads for his (“Amami, Alfredo”). This shift will begin at about 1:19 into the excerpt. After the first statement of that theme, Verdi presents it again, this time intertwining it with a decorative line played by the strings (beginning at about 2:12); this countermelody imitates the coloratura ornaments that we will hear in Violetta’s Act 1 music, especially in “Sempre libera degg’io.” In this inventive way, Verdi takes us musically from her deathbed to our initial meeting with her, very much alive in the world of the Parisian demimonde.
Read an insightful interview with stage director Marta Domingo about her work with La traviata
Prelude
Act 1
The Prelude brilliantly ushers us into Violetta’s home amidst a boisterous party at which she and her fellow demimondaines entertain their friends. One of the guests is Alfredo Germont, who has long admired Violetta. When she calls for a toast, it is he who leads the others in raising their glasses. Afterwards, the revelers turn to dancing. Violetta, however, feels weak and urges the others to go on without her; this is the first hint - save for the foreshadowing in the Prelude - that she is suffering from consumption. Alfredo stays behind to warn her that her lifestyle will surely be her death. Promising to care for her, he opens his heart in a passionate declaration. Violetta responds that he will forget her in time. As dawn approaches, the guests prepare to leave. Alone, Violetta, touched by Alfredo’s words, wonders if he indeed might be the one for her but quickly balks at the notion that true love even exists. Laced with fierce coloratura, her response proclaims that she will continue to live for life’s extravagant pleasures. From outside, we hear Alfredo echo his proposal of love.
Act 2
Three months have passed. Violetta and Alfredo have become lovers and have escaped from the party life in Paris. After expressing his happiness at their life in the countryside, Alfredo is told by the maid that Violetta has had to sell her belongings to support their venture. Stung, Alfredo rushes off to Paris to raise money. While he is gone, his father arrives to confront Violetta; expecting to find the usual woman of her status, he is stunned to discover that she has scruples and, even more surprising, that she honestly loves his son. Yet he pleads his case to her: his daughter is to be married into an honorable family. If Alfredo continues to live with her, this marriage can never take place, thus ruining his daughter’s chances for a decent life. Making a valiant sacrifice, Violetta agrees to leave Alfredo. She promises to explain to him - even if it be a lie, but asks that Germont only tell his son the truth when she is dead. After the older man leaves, she begins to write Alfredo but is interrupted by his return. Agitated, she begs him to love her always and then rushes away. His father re-enters and tries to calm his son with memories of his home in Provence. A servant then presents Alfredo with Violetta’s letter, announcing that she must leave him. His jealousy possesses him, for he imagines that she has returned to the life of a demimondaine.
Alfredo returns to Paris as well and enters the home of Violetta’s friend, Flora, who is entertaining guests. Violetta soon arrives with her protector, Baron Douphol, who joins Alfredo in a heated game of cards. Violetta manages to speak privately with Alfredo, and, as she had promised his father, lies by saying that she no longer loves him. Insane with jealousy, Alfredo calls out to the guests and, in the consummate insult, tosses money at Violetta as payment for her affections. The crowd is outraged but no more so than Germont, who has witnessed his son’s behavior. The act ends as everyone reacts to this emotionally charged moment.
