I do like Traviata, but I find the plot a difficult one to swallow. It must have been that to be believeable Dumas and Verdi were living in quite different mores. What father would NOW claim his daughter's marriage prospects were ruined because her brother took up with a loose woman...indeed how many brothers these days would give a damn?
Most of the other plots....to the extent they are coherent, (Trovatore) stand up reasonably well. Perhaps my difficulty is that he makes the emotional content so telling that the ruination of lives is just a headscratcher.
Mike
Mike,
If we are to criticise the plots of certain works of art because their moral stance does not apply today, then we would have to discount a large proportion of the works of Shakespeare, Dickens, Hardy and many other great writers. It is the emotions they provoke which are universal. Incidentally
La Traviata, based on Alexandre Dumas,fils's novel and play
La Dame aux Camelias is actually based on a true story and Violetta on the real life courtesan Marie Duplessis, who died of tubeculosis at the age of 23. Even today, I wouldn't find it hard to believe that the family of an aristocrat might try to end a son's liason with a prostitute, because of it bringing shame on the family. And if that prostitute were HIV positive, well think of the repercusions then. We haven't moved that far socially since Verdi's time. I actually find the plot of
La Traviata far more believable and realistic than many of Verdi's other operas, not that that prevents my enjoyment of them. The plot of
Il Trovatore , for instance, is pretty ridiculous, but it matters not one jot, when character and emotion are portrayed so wonderfully. And of course, let us not forget that
La Traviata failed at its first performance because the events represented were too modern, and audiences would not accept characters in modern dress. I have actually always found it the most moving of all Verdi's operas, though
Otello runs it pretty close, though many of the events in that opera are pretty hard to take. However we accept them with a willing suspension of disbelief because of the beauty of the poetry in the play and the music in the opera and the truth of the emotions they provoke.
