SYNOPSIS

The action of La Traviata takes place in and near Paris, sometime in the not-too-distant past.

The courtesan was a phenomenon with which Parisians of the 19th century were very familiar. The old aristocracy had been obliterated by the revolution; the new one was built on wealth rather than birth. That these rich protectors of the courtesans may have condescended or even looked down upon their favorites did not prevent them from spending fortunes to maintain them in the manner customarily demanded. Courtesans were objects of curiosity to the noble ladies whose carriages were splashed by their carriages in the streets of Paris, and they were always unaccompanied in the daytime since no man would make himself conspicuous by being seen in their company. First in their self-esteem, and last in the esteem of those who supported them, these creatures of the night lived gay lives, quickly and inevitably destroyed by the white heat which they fanned. Such a woman was Violetta Valery.

After three ecstatic months together, Violetta and Alfredo have taken a house in the quiet suburb of Bougival in an attempt to leave the gay dissipation of Paris life behind them. Despite Alfredo’s not immodest income and her every effort at frugality, Violetta has been forced to sell her horses and carriage secretly and to pawn her jewels to meet their mounting debts. When Alfredo learns of this, he revolts at the idea of being dependent on her bounty and rushes off to Paris to recover them. During his absence, Giorgio Germont (his father) arrives seeking his son. The elder Germont’s interview with Violetta begins with scorn and contempt, but when she shows him proof that all her belongings have been sold without Alfredo’s knowledge in order to continue their existence, Germont’s mood softens. Nevertheless, he has come to demand that Violetta give up Alfredo to protect Alfredo’s younger sister from a family scandal which would prevent her approaching marriage. Violetta at first refuses, revealing to Germont that she is gravely ill, separation from Alfredo would kill her. But when he points out that after the first flame of their passion has died away, there will be no friends and no life of honor on which to base their future companionship, and that as Violetta’s beauty fades, Alfredo will resent his sacrifice of position and career for her, she consents to abandon Alfredo, asking the elder Germont to tell his son, when she dies, of her sacrifice for his sister’s well-being. She writes to her friend Flora Bervoix accepting an invitation to a party that evening and determines to resume her liaison with Douphol as the only means of convincing Alfredo of her apparent faithlessness. Alfredo receives the cruel news upon his return and, deaf to his father’s comforts and entreaties, determines to revenge himself upon her.

Act IV: Violetta's House