Sunday Classics: In Verdi's "La Traviata," Violetta faces her second life-transforming event

Anna Moffo and Gino Bechi perform the first half of the Violetta-Germont scene from Act II, Scene 1 of La Traviata, up to the point where our audio clip in the click-through kicks in, tracks [1] through [4] of our breakdown, in this lip-synched 1967-ish film (online sources list Bechi as having retired in 1965 or maybe 1961!), with Giuseppe Patané conducting. We've got English translations of the whole scene in the click-through.

by Ken

I'm arguing that in each of the three acts of La Traviata the heroine, Violetta, undergoes a life-transforming experience, and in Friday night's and last night's previews we considered the first, a happy and most unexpected one: She meets a secret admirer, Alfredo Germont, and falls gloriously and -- by the start of Act II -- blissfully in love. What happens next is just as unexpected, but alas a whole lot less happily so.

It's worth pointing out that these life-transforming events tend to transform not just our immediate subject, in this case Violetta, but the people around her, in this case Alfredo obviously, but -- it turns out -- the rest of his family as well. The scene we're about to plunge into is one of the supreme confrontations, not just in opera, but in the whole of the theatrical literature. One thing to remember in approaching it as that two people go through the wringer here. I don't want to exonerate Germont père for what he does here, which strikes me as fairly monstrous, but just to underscore how desperately important it is to him.

First we need to back up a bit. Last night, as we heard Violetta bring Act I to a breathtaking close after the lavish party in her Paris home with her aria "Sempre libera," it seemed as if her final decision about the tantalizing life change suggested by the entry of the worshipful Alfredo into her life was "no way." As Act II opens, however, we discover that the couple has taken up residence in Violetta's country house, and they're living an idyllic life of delirious passion. And then, just as unexpectedly as her life-transforming event in Act I, in walks Alfredo's father, Giorgio Germont. The happiness that exceeds anything she dared to dream of is over.

It has driven him to make the long, arduous journey from his happy home in the south of France to Paris. As far as he's concerned, the stakes are life-or-death for his cherished daughter, and he's far from unconcerned about his son as well -- but then, society allows sons more leeway than daughter, and his future isn't in such immediate peril. One thing to listen for her is how much of Germont's "presentation" to Violetta is, in effect prescripted, formulated and reformulated on that long journey. Of course not much in life happens the way we plan, and almost immediately Germont is thrown off his game plan. Which is the next thing to listen for: how much of his "presentation" is reformulated on the fly, tailored to the unexpected circumstances -- that Violetta bears no resemblance to the wanton trollop of his imaginings. Unfortunately, in so far as his mission is concerned, this changes nothing at all, except to make the whole ordeal that much harder for both of them.

This is a scene we could spend weeks looking at, so we're just going to be skimming the surface here. But one thing to listen for on Violetta's side is, despite the ferocious fight she puts up, how easily and thoroughly her spirit is broken. What we find underneath all the outward confidence and bravado who doesn't expect real happiness, who expects it all to come apart. "I was too happy" is how she puts it in our selection [3]. This culminates in one of the most beautiful moments in all of music [5], her plea to Germont to tell his daughter ("so beautiful and pure") of the sacrifice she's made for her. Then Verdi if anything tops this, when she asks him for instructions and then implores him [6}, "Like a daughter, like a daughter embrace me. Then I'll be strong." And then there's their parting exhortation of "Be happy!": "Siate felice! Felice siate!" (Italian syntax allows the words to be put in either order.) Whew!

Here, first, is the scene first in English. The track changes will break the scene down rather clumsily, but that's not entirely a bad thing. It's a scene that warrants some breaking down for closer inspection.

La Traviata: Act II, Scene 1, Violetta-Germont scene (in English)

[1] Violetta, "Alfredo" . . . Annina, "He has just set out for Paris" . . .
[2] Germont, "I have a daughter sent from Heav'n" . . .
[3] Violetta, "Do you realize I adore him" . . .
[4] Germont, "A day will come when making love" . . .
[5] Violetta, "Ah! Comfort your daughter, so pure and lovely" . . .
[6] Violetta, "Then command me!" . . .
[7] Violetta, "I'll die! But you must promise me" . . .

Valerie Masterson (s), Violetta Valéry; Shelagh Squries (ms), Flora Bervoix; Edward Byles (t), Joseph; Christian du Plessis (b), Giorgio Germont; English National Opera Orchestra, Sir Charles Mackerras, cond. EMI/Chandos, recorded Aug.-Oct. 1980


TO CONTINUE WITH OUR TRAVERSAL OF THE
VIOLETTA-GERMONT SCENE, CLICK HERE.

#