Opera of operas

Tragedy and sacrifice. Youth versus authority. Freedom versus principles. The hapless love of the courtesan Violetta Valéry and the young Alfredo Germont is perhaps the saddest and most popular story that opera has ever sung. But La traviata is not only a stirring tragedy; it is also a portrait of youth rebelling against the values and social conventions of a hypocritical bourgeoisie of the 19th century.

Opera of operas, La traviata has been beating in the audience’s hearts for 170 years, pulled on the carousel of its emotional peaks with one of the most heartrendingly delicate preludes ever composed, and with arias that are impetuous -Sempre libera-, imploring -Pura siccomme un angelo-, or sudden outbursts of urgent desire -Amami, Alfredo- in a long list of scenes which have been seared into the memory of opera lovers.