La Tra­viata

For a moment, it seems as though Violetta has one more chance at happiness: She has found in Alfredo a partner who loves her with all his heart. Yet the ghosts of the past are catching up with the couple, with society deciding who has "gone astray" and can no longer be included amongst them.

With La traviata ("the fallen woman"), Verdi held a mirror up to his contemporaries, with their double standards and dubious values. This was too controversial for theatre management of the time, who pushed Verdi to move the setting back 150 years. The opera is no less contentious today, which by no means harms its continued popularity.

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