Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, to the libretto based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel La Dame aux camélias, about Marie Duplessis, the famous courtesan and idol of Parisian society in the 1840s, is actually the very first major opera treating a contemporary social theme. The work’s premiere in 1863 in Venice was a flop: the audience was appalled that the lead role had been assigned to a courtesan who, what’s more, was portrayed in a positive light. Yet Verdi’s opera soon started garnering plaudits and is now one of the most popular repertoire titles the world over.

La traviata

State Opera

We have all encountered Carmen. It is the name of that force that sweeps away perfectly ordered plans, rules, and habits; that force which embodies eros in its irresistible and absolute freedom. “Free was I born, and free shall I die,” says the woman who embodies it in this opera. What happens when fate places her before a brigadier who seems her exact opposite, the ideal type of the “good boy”? Under the Spanish sky, a universal story unfolds: a blinding conflict between passions that we witness taking shape every day—and sometimes tragically—before our eyes. Giving voice to them is the music of Georges Bizet, charged with energy like a coiled spring ready to strike.

Alessandro Camera

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 29, 2026 - Jan 24, 2027

La traviata · Národní divadlo

15 - 29 May, 2027

Carmen · Teatro Regio Torino

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