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The Two Traviatas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1972

Julian Budden
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Extract

An opera so widely known and loved as La traviata may seem. a strange subject for musicological research. It was first performed in March 1853. From the following year onwards it enjoyed an uninterrupted reign as an international favourite. Throughout the nineteenth century it came second in popularity only to Il trovatore; while Verdi himself, when asked at one point which of his own operas he preferred, is said to have replied, ‘Speaking as a professional, Rigoletto, speaking as an amateur, La traviata’. In the period following his death many of Verdi's works now considered masterpieces sank for a while below the horizon—but not La traviata. Today it is not only Verdi's best-loved opera, but the most popular piece in the entire operatic repertory. What more could there be to find out about it?

Type
Research Article
Information
Proceedings of the Royal Musical Association , Volume 99 , 1972 , pp. 43 - 66
Copyright
Copyright © 1974 The Royal Musical Association and the Authors

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Footnotes

a

The paper was illustrated with á performance of the entire duet from Act II in its original version, sung with piano accompaniment by Barbara Iilley (soprano) and Richard Jackson (baritone).

References

1 Monaldi, G., Verdi, la vita, le opere, 3rd edn., Milan, 1926, p. 152, n.Google Scholar

2 All the early biographies written before C. Gatti's two-volume study (Verdi, Milan, 1931) maintain that La traviata failed initially because it was given in modern dress (see Monaldi, op. cit., p. 157; F. Toye, Giuseppe Verdi, his Life and Works, London, 1931, p. 82). In fact it was given in the costumes of Louis XIV's time. From the same sources we are given to understand that the leading soprano, Fanny Salvini-Donatelli, was too plump to curry conviction as a consumptive. In fact she received more applause than anyone else.Google Scholar

3 See for example Charles and Mary Jane Matz, ‘Verdi's revenge’, High Fidelity, xx/3 (New York, March 1972), 62–65.Google Scholar

4 Gazzetta musicale di Milano, 9 March 1853; quoted in Bongiovanni, G., Dal carteggio inedito Verdi-Vigna, Rome, 1941, p. 24.Google Scholar

5 Gazzetia privilegiata di Venezia, 6 March 1853; quoted in Verdi e La Fenice, Venice, 1951, p. 50.Google Scholar

6 Letter from Verdi to Vigna, 17 May 1854; Bongiovanni, op. cit., p. 36.Google Scholar

7 See A. Luzio and G. Cesari, I copialettere di Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, 1913, p. 533; F. Walker, The Man, Verdi, London, 1962, p. 296 (in translation).Google Scholar

8 Letter from Verdi to Faccio (undated; December 1878-January 1879); R. De Rensis, Franco Faccio e Verdi, Milan, 1934, p. 183.Google Scholar

9 10 March 1853; F. Schlitzer, Mondo teatrale dell' ottocento, Naples, 1954, pp. 157–8; F. Abbiati, Giuseppe Verdi, Milan, 1959, ii. 229.Google Scholar

10 Copialettere, Pl. XI (facing p. 422).Google Scholar

11 Letter to ‘Finola’ Demaldé, May 1844; A. Luzio, Carteggi Verdiani, Rome, 1935–47, iv. 79.Google Scholar

12 For Verdi's correspondence with Marzari, Presidente degli Spettacoli, between February and July 1852, see Verdi e La Fenice, pp. 46–47.Google Scholar

13 Venice, archives of the Teatro La Fenice, Busta Spettacoli II n.125–7.Google Scholar

14 30 January 1853; Verdi e la Fenice, p. 48.Google Scholar

15 Letter from Piave (in Verdi's name) to Marzari, 4 February 1853; ibid., pp. 47–48.Google Scholar

16 The archives of La Fenice contain a curious memo from Lasina, the impresario, to the board of directors, in which he quotes Verdi as having insisted on a contemporary setting as otherwise the party music would recall that of Rigoletto.Google Scholar

17 It is said that Gemma Bellincioni was the first soprano to sing Violetta in a crinoline in a production given during the 1880s.Google Scholar

18 See Nuova Antologia, 16 December 1932, and Schlitzer, Mondo teatrale dell' ottocento, pp. 147–8.Google Scholar

19 Letter to Vigna, 1 December 1853; Bongiovanni, Dal carteggio Verdi-Vigna, pp. 26–27.Google Scholar

20 Ibid., pp. 32–33. Verdi rather oddly reverses the two terms ‘spartito’ and ‘partitura’ in respect of modern usage.Google Scholar

21 Letters from Tito Ricordi to Verdi, 5 and 13 April 1854; Copialettere, p. 536.Google Scholar

22 26 May 1854; Carteggi Verdiani, i. 30.Google Scholar

23 Gatti, Verdi, i. 390–91.Google Scholar

24 See Bongiovanni, op. cit. p. 33, n.; Abbiati, Verdi, ii. 269.Google Scholar

25 Partiture MS no. 58. Printed vocal scores of this edition also remained in circulation for some time, as we know from a letter of Verdi to Tito Ricordi of 24 October 1855 (Copialettere, pp. 166–9). So far as I know, none of these has so far come to light. On the other hand a few copies survive of an edition issued in 1854 by the Stabilimento Musicale Partenopeo, Naples, which contains some, but not all, of the later revisions. Where possible I have used this as a basis for the musical examples.Google Scholar

26 This and subsequent indications refer to the full score published by Ricordi, Milan, 1914 (reprinted Broude Bros., New York, n.d.).Google Scholar

27 That is, alteration of the singer's line without alteration of the harmonies,Google Scholar

28 This change will also explain why in the printed score the key-signature changes to four sharps at the beginning of the E minor-G major Allegro—just at the point where E major has been left. The explanation is that in the original the key signature had remained that of E major for convenience right up to the beginning of the cabaletta ‘Morrò, la mia memoria’. The Allegro in E minor-G was the point where Verdi returned to bis original score.Google Scholar

29 A further change, affecting the orchestra only, occurs earlier in this finale on p. 301 (bars 2 ff.), during the tense dialogue between Violetta and Alfredo, The semiquaver figuration for violins and violas is quite new; originally they doubled the cellos at the octave above.Google Scholar