29
Mar
2005
Sacrifice, passion, love, and death took center stage during Opera Verdi Europa’s performance of La Traviata at the Adler Theatre on March 22. Strong vocal performances, a solid pit orchestra, and a grand set contributed to an enjoyable, although somewhat unemotional, evening of music and drama hosted by the City Opera Company of the Quad Cities.
La Traviata, set in Paris in the 1700s, is the story of Violetta, a popular courtesan (or prostitute) who leaves her wild life behind for Alfredo, a gentleman admirer. After Violetta gives up everything for her new love, Alfredo’s father, Germont, visits her without Alfredo’s knowledge and convinces her to sacrifice her newfound happiness and leave Alfredo, which would allow Alfredo’s sister to marry by removing the scandal her relationship with Alfredo is causing.
Violetta pledges her interminable love to the unsuspecting Alfredo in a heart-wrenching aria and leaves. Alfredo follows her to a party in Paris, where Violetta leads him to believe she is in love with someone else to try to sever the relationship. Alfredo shows his hurt and outrage by publicly shaming her. Germont appears and chastises his son for his disrespect, but he doesn’t tell him why Violetta is acting this way. In the final scene, Violetta is on her deathbed, fighting tuberculosis. Germont tells Alfredo the truth and he returns to Violetta, but it is too late and she falls dead at his feet.
The plot is based on a true story first incorporated into a play written by the son of Alexandre Dumas (author of The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo). A few times, the unfolding events caught me off-guard. At the end of the first act, as Alfredo is professing his love, we see Violetta deciding whether to follow her heart or continue a life of pleasure. She ends the scene by singing, “Sempre libera” (or “always free”), indicating she would rather return to her carousing than to make the mistake of following her heart. Yet when the next scene opens, she has moved with Alfredo to an elaborate estate in the country.
Then she gives up her love and her happiness for the well-being of a woman she has not even met – a woman whose lover is shallow enough to let her brother’s relationship determine whether he will love her or not. The ultimate contradiction comes during the final moments of the performance, when she sings, “I have never felt more alive” and she drops dead. The unexpected and sometimes hard-to-fathom plot twists kept it lively and, at times, a bit confusing.
The vocal performances, not the acting, were the highlight of my evening. I was impressed with Violetta’s ability to sing with amazing force, even when lying down, negotiating hoop skirts, and flitting around with a champagne glass in her hand. Alfredo’s tenor voice matched Violetta’s soprano, but I felt the characters fell short of exuding much emotion individually or as a couple. As Violetta died at the end, I didn’t feel much remorse. And during the most emotional duet of the evening, the two performers struggled to sing simultaneously, detracting from the otherwise poignant moment.
Other characters supported the two adequately. Germont, Alfredo’s father, delivered his appropriately sinister and sometimes sage passages with stoicism; however, his facial expressions were heavily muted by the quantity of makeup he wore. The rest of the cast sang well, although there wasn’t much movement during the so-called wild parties. The cast members stood by as they watched events unfold.
Overall, La Traviata was a welcome out-of-the-ordinary diversion for the eyes and ears, if not for the heart.
La Traviata, set in Paris in the 1700s, is the story of Violetta, a popular courtesan (or prostitute) who leaves her wild life behind for Alfredo, a gentleman admirer. After Violetta gives up everything for her new love, Alfredo’s father, Germont, visits her without Alfredo’s knowledge and convinces her to sacrifice her newfound happiness and leave Alfredo, which would allow Alfredo’s sister to marry by removing the scandal her relationship with Alfredo is causing.
Violetta pledges her interminable love to the unsuspecting Alfredo in a heart-wrenching aria and leaves. Alfredo follows her to a party in Paris, where Violetta leads him to believe she is in love with someone else to try to sever the relationship. Alfredo shows his hurt and outrage by publicly shaming her. Germont appears and chastises his son for his disrespect, but he doesn’t tell him why Violetta is acting this way. In the final scene, Violetta is on her deathbed, fighting tuberculosis. Germont tells Alfredo the truth and he returns to Violetta, but it is too late and she falls dead at his feet.
The plot is based on a true story first incorporated into a play written by the son of Alexandre Dumas (author of The Man in the Iron Mask and The Count of Monte Cristo). A few times, the unfolding events caught me off-guard. At the end of the first act, as Alfredo is professing his love, we see Violetta deciding whether to follow her heart or continue a life of pleasure. She ends the scene by singing, “Sempre libera” (or “always free”), indicating she would rather return to her carousing than to make the mistake of following her heart. Yet when the next scene opens, she has moved with Alfredo to an elaborate estate in the country.
Then she gives up her love and her happiness for the well-being of a woman she has not even met – a woman whose lover is shallow enough to let her brother’s relationship determine whether he will love her or not. The ultimate contradiction comes during the final moments of the performance, when she sings, “I have never felt more alive” and she drops dead. The unexpected and sometimes hard-to-fathom plot twists kept it lively and, at times, a bit confusing.
The vocal performances, not the acting, were the highlight of my evening. I was impressed with Violetta’s ability to sing with amazing force, even when lying down, negotiating hoop skirts, and flitting around with a champagne glass in her hand. Alfredo’s tenor voice matched Violetta’s soprano, but I felt the characters fell short of exuding much emotion individually or as a couple. As Violetta died at the end, I didn’t feel much remorse. And during the most emotional duet of the evening, the two performers struggled to sing simultaneously, detracting from the otherwise poignant moment.
Other characters supported the two adequately. Germont, Alfredo’s father, delivered his appropriately sinister and sometimes sage passages with stoicism; however, his facial expressions were heavily muted by the quantity of makeup he wore. The rest of the cast sang well, although there wasn’t much movement during the so-called wild parties. The cast members stood by as they watched events unfold.
Overall, La Traviata was a welcome out-of-the-ordinary diversion for the eyes and ears, if not for the heart.
