Study Guide
La traviata
Student Nights at the Opera
Thursday, April 15, 2010
6:30pm - 8:00pm
For the Classroom Teacher
This one-page, online Study Guide is meant to supplement your lesson plan on opera
and the San Diego Opera docent's visit to your classroom. It is filled with basic
information about the opera your students are going to see at the Civic Theatre.
Click on the highlighted text with your mouse in order to see a definition of the
term, to hear an audio excerpt from the opera, or to see an image to help illustrate
the text.
For further investigation of the opera, go to Operapaedia
for more articles on La traviata, the
San Diego Opera Podcasts for audio programs on opera, and
OperaTalk for 30-minute videos on the opera produced by UCSD-TV and
the San Diego Opera Education and Outreach Program.
Students: Welcome to the Opera!
Very soon you are going to experience opera at San Diego’s Civic Theatre. We at
San Diego Opera want to make sure that you have a great time seeing and hearing
the spectacular sets and beautiful music, sung by some of the greatest voices in
the world! In order to help you become more familiar with the opera, feel free to
use this one-page study guide. Click or scroll over the words or phrases in bold
and you will see images from the opera and hear music from it. Some of the links
will take you to our Operapaedia site where you can read more about the
opera, the composer and the period in which the opera was written. Have fun exploring
the wonderful world of opera, and we look forward to seeing you at your Student
Night at the Opera!
For the Student
The
operaLa
traviata was written by
Giuseppe Verdi, an Italian composer
who was also the composer of this season's Nabucco. Verdi lived from 1813
to 1901. The opera La traviata was first performed in 1853 at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice.
The story of the opera is based on a play by
Alexandre Dumas,
La dame aux camelias, which had itself only
premiered six years before the writing of the opera. It was a very 'contemporary'
story for the time, as you will see.
Act I
It is an evening in August, in the salon of the Paris house of Violetta Valéry (soprano).
Violetta is having a dinner party for her friends who are celebrating her recent
recovery from illness. Among the guests is Alfredo Germont (tenor),
who has loved and admired her from a distance. Alfredo takes a glass of champagne
and toasts Violetta's health in the famous
brindisi"Libiamo
ne' lieti calici". As the guests begin to go into the dining
room, Violetta has a coughing spell, but she sends them on telling them that she
will join them soon. Alfredo stays behind and professes his love for Violetta. In
this duet, "Un dì felice,
eterea" , his passionate melody contrasts with her frivolous response:
he loves her, but she wants to be free of commitment. The guests, including Alfredo,
soon leave. In a beautiful aria, Violetta wonders about this young man from the
country, whether she should allow herself to fall in love with him ("Ah fors'è lui").
But then, she casts all of that aside, trying to believe that she lives for a life
of pleasure ("Sempre
libera"). In the middle of this aria she hears Alfredo singing
to her from the street below. Will she allow herself to love him? Will she not?
She insists on her independence!
Act II
Violetta has fallen for Alfredo, against her better judgment. They now live together
in a country house outside of Paris. Alfredo sings an aria about his happiness,
"Dei miei bollenti spiriti"
. The maid tells him that Violetta has been selling off her belongings
in order to keep paying the bills, and he runs off the Paris to raise enough money
to pay her back and keep them from poverty. Violetta enters and soon a guest is
announced: it is
Giorgio Germont (baritone), Alfredo's father. He has heard
of Alfredo's love for Violetta and he has traveled from Provence to beg her to break off the
relationship. He explains to Violetta that Alfredo's younger sister is about to
be married to a wonderful young man, ("Pura
siccome un angelo") but the family is scandalized by the fact that
his son is living with Violetta. The relationship is threatening the possibility
of the marriage. Violetta tells him that she would never give up Alfredo ("Non sapete") and
that he is everything to her. Germont is insistent, telling her that she will find
others to love
, and she finally gives in
("Dite alla giovine")telling him to assure his daughter that she
will do the right thing. Germont leaves, and Violetta sits down to write Alfredo
a farewell letter. In the middle of writing her note, Alfredo returns, questioning
why she seems to be so upset. She responds with a simple declaration of love, "Amami, Alfredo"
and she rushes out. A servant brings Alfredo the farewell letter, he reads it and
despairs just as his father returns and tries to comfort him with images of his
family home in Provence
("Di Provenza il mar, il sol").
The music of La traviata has a kind of close-up, intimacy about it, which
perfectly matches the story. The opera's beautiful melodies often come from the
orchestra. The orchestra is led by the conductorwho
gives the tempo with his baton and 'cues' the instruments of the orchestra (as well
as the singers on stage) when it's time for them to play or sing. Behind the stage
('backstage') there are many workers moving sets
and props, raising and lowering the curtain, focusing the stage lights, helping
the singers to adjust their costumes or preparing props that will be used in the
opera. Opera is about spectacleas well as story and music.
Audiences have always expected a big 'show' in the opera theatre, and that's what
we try to give them!
At San Diego Opera we perform all operas in the languages for which they were written,
most often Italian, French and German, but also in Russian, Czech, and even English!
But you will understand every word of the opera because of the supertitlesthat
are projected over the stage and provide a complete translation into English.
The singers in our operas are opera stars from all over the world,
and who have sung in the finest opera theatres in London, Paris, Milan and New York
. The San Diego Opera Chorus is a professional
chorus made up mostly of singers from the San Diego area, many of whom are opera
soloists in their own right.
La traviata
This is the cover of the original libretto of La traviata, given to the
audience at the first performance in 1853. It included the entire text of the opera.
Giuseppe Verdi
This is a photograph of Verdi at the time of the premiere of La traviata.
Teatro la Fenice
Here is a postcard containing a picture of the interior of the Teatro la Fenice
in Venice as it looked at the time of Verdi's La traviata. The theatre
burnt down in 1996 and was rebuilt in 2005, exactly as it looked before.
Alexandre Dumas
A photograph of Alexandre Dumas, the author of the play upon which La traviata
is based. Dumas was inspired by his own love for the famous Parisian socialite Marie
DuPlessis.
La dame aux camelias
Translated into English, the title of the play means The Lady of the Camellias,
from the fact that Violetta wears a white camellia flower in her dress.
Brindisi
A brindisi is an Italian term meaning a public toast to someone's health,
good luck, or congratulations on an important event like a wedding or graduation
and it is usually made with wine or champagne.
Libiamo!
Click above to listen to Alfredo's brindisi. This is the most
well-known melody from La traviata.
(Alfredo is asked to give a toast to Violetta at her party.)
Alfredo: Let's drink from the joyous chalice where beauty flower…let
the fleeting hour to pleasure's intoxication yield. Let's drink to love's sweet
tremors, to those eyes that pierce the heart. Let's drink to love, to wine that
warms our kisses!
Everyone: Let's drink to love, to wine that warms our kisses!
Violetta: (rising) With you I would share my days of happiness;
everything is folly in this world that does not give us pleasure. Let us enjoy life,
for the pleasures of love are swift and fleeting as a flower that lives and dies
and can be enjoyed no more. Let's take our pleasure! While its ardent, brilliant
summons lures us on.
Everyone: Let's take our pleasures of wine and singing and mirth
till the new day dawns on us in paradise.
Violetta: Life is just pleasure.
Alfredo: But if one still waits for love…
Violetta: I know nothing of that…don't tell me…
Alfredo: But there lies my fate.
Everyone: Let's take our pleasures of wine and singing and mirth
till the new day dawns on this paradise of ours.
Alfredo/Violetta Duet
Not truly a love duet, this duet simply tells us through music what Alfredo and
Violetta are feeling about each other. He loves her very much; she wants to remain
free. Click above to listen to an excerpt from this duet.
(“Un di felice”) (In this duet we hear the essential difference between Alfredo's
passionate pouring out of his heart, and Violetta's dismissal of love, wanting to
live a life only of pleasure.)
Alfredo: One happy day you flashed lightly into my life; and since
then I've lived in tremulous possession of that unspoken love, the pulse of the
whole world, mysterious, unattainable, the torment and delight of my heart.
Violetta: If that is true, then leave me! Friendship is all I can
offer you. I don't know how to love, I couldn't feel so great an emotion. I'm being
honest with you—sincere…you should look for someone less, then you wouldn't find
it hard to forget me.
Violetta's Aria
In opera we often find a character given a double aria, actually two arias, the
first one slow and lyrical, the second one fast and exciting. This double aria gives
the audience a look at the often conflicting feelings that a character can experience
in one scene. In this case, "Ah fors'è lui" is slow and beautiful as Violetta
wonders whether she should allow herself to fall in love with Alfredo. Click above
for an excerpt.
(“Áh, fors'è lui”) (Alone, Violetta thinks about the young man who just left her
apartment.)
Violetta: Was this the man my heart, alone in the crowd, delighted
many times to paint in vague, mysterious colors? This man, so watchful yet retiring,
who haunted my sick bed and turned my fever into the burning flame of love! That
love, the pulse of the whole world, mysterious, unattainable, the torment and delight
of my heart.
Violetta's Aria
This is the second half of Violetta's double aria, the fast and exciting part of
the aria which ends Act I. In it, Violetta decides (at least for now!) that she
will not allow herself to fall in love with Alfredo, that she will continue
seeking a life of pleasure. Click above for an excerpt.
(“Sempre libera”) (Violetta tries to decide whether to let her heart take her away
from pleasure.)
Violetta: Free and aimless I must flutter from pleasure to pleasure,
skimming the surface of life's primrose path. As each day dawns, as each day dies,
gaily I turn to the new delights that make my spirit soar.
Alfredo's Aria
Click above for an excerpt of Alfredo's aria. Notice the orchestra underneath the
voice using plucked string instruments to suggest the rapid beating of Alfredo's
heart.
(“De miei bollenti spiriti”) (In Act II we see Alfredo and Violetta's country house.
He is alone and he thinks about his love for Violetta.)
Alfredo: My passionate spirit and the fire of youth she tempers
with the gentle smile of love. Since the day when she told me “I want to live, faithful
to you alone!” I have forgotten the world and lived like one in heaven!
Provence
Provence is a region in the southernmost part of France. It is a beautiful, sunny,
wine-growing region on the Mediterranean Sea. In earlier times it was considered
so far from civilized Paris that the word 'provincial' was coined to describe a
simple, rural area with unsophisticated people. Here is a map of France showing
the location Provence.
Violetta & Germont's Duet
Click above for an excerpt from Germont's duet with Violetta, as Germont pleads
with Violetta to leave his son.
Violetta/Germont Duet (“Pura siccome un angelo”) (Germont tells Violetta about his
young daughter, who is about to marry.)
Germont: God gave me a daughter as pure as an angel; and if Alfredo
refuses to return to the bosom of his family, the man she loves and who loves her,
the one whose wife she was to be, will break the chain that was to bind them in
their happiness. I pray you not to change the roses of their love to flowers of
sadness. Surely your heart will not deny the prayer I utter now.
Violetta & Germont's Duet
Click above for an excerpt from Violetta's desperate response to Germont.
Violetta/Germont Duet (“Non sapete”) (Violetta cannot believe that Germont is asking
her to give Alfredo up.)
Violetta: You cannot know the kind of passion…living, overwhelming…that
burns in my heart! I have no friends, no family still living. Alfredo swore, that
I should find them all in him. How should you know that my life is threatened by
a fell disease? That already I see the end is near? If I parted from Alfredo, my
suffering would be so unbearable that I would rather die, why yes, much rather die!
Bella voi siete e giovane
Click above for an excerpt from Germont's assurance that Violetta will one day find
someone else.
Violetta/Germont Duet
Click above for an excerpt from Violetta's acceptance of what she must do: give
up Alfredo.
(“Ah, dite alla giovine”) (Violetta finally gives in to Germont's wishes.)
Violetta: Ah, say to your daughter, pure as she is and fair, that
there's a victim of misfortune whose one ray of happiness before she dies is a sacrifice
made for her.”
Violetta's Outburst
Click above to listen to Violetta's outburst, "I love you, Alfredo".
Violetta's Outburst (“Amami, Alfredo!”) (Violetta, leaving the house, sees Alfredo.
She has been crying, knowing that she must leave him. As she goes, she says:)
Violetta: I felt like crying, but I'm better now. (controlling
herself) You see? I'm smiling…you see? I'm all right now…I'm smiling. I
shall be there among the flowers, always near to you. Love me, Alfredo, love me
as I love you! Farewell!
Germont's Aria
Click above to listen to Germont's song about home life in Provence.
(“Di Provenza”) (Consoling his son Alfredo, Germont sings of their home in Provence.)
Germont: What has vanished from your heart, the dear sea and soil
of Provence? What has dimmed from your eyes the bright sunshine of your native country?
Even in sorrow remember you were happy there, there alone can peace shine on you
again.
