La Traviata at the Gaiety: romance and romping gives two sides to Verdi
Director Olivia Fuchs doesn’t try to update the opera and delivers a heartfelt drama with musical richness and emotional clarity.
Amanda Woodbury (Violetta) and Mario Chang (Alfredo) in La Traviata. Photo: Ros Kavanagh
There are two separate operas contained in this dynamic Irish National Opera production of Giuseppe Verdi’s ever-popular La Traviata. Firstly there is an intimate story of a heartfelt romance, with moving duets; then there is a bawdy bacchanal, full of romping dancing girls and masked party-goers, pumped up with choral energy. The two sides create a fascinating dissonance between the private and the public.
La Traviata (the fallen woman) is about a high-class courtesan, Violetta, who gives up her shallow public life for true love with Alfredo, only to have it snatched away when his father Giorgio asks her to end the relationship; the disgrace of the union is destroying his younger daughter’s marriage prospects. Violetta, who has finer feelings than all the other characters, agrees to the paternal injunction and abandons her love. Violetta is suffering from tuberculosis and the heartbreak exacerbates her illness.
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