La Traviata

About

• Run time: 3hrs 00min, 2 intermissions
• Sung in: Italian
• Subtitles: English, Italian and other languages
• Opera house: Vienna State Opera

La Traviata’s beautiful melodies and poignant depiction of the fragility of love have made the work a favorite of generations of opera-goers. Lisette Oropesa is is Violetta, the “fallen woman” of the opera’s title, who knows that the tuberculosis she suffers from will take her life. But then she meets the young and idealistic Alfredo (Juan Diego Flórez), who offers her true love—with tragic consequences. Ludovic Tézier is Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s stern father, and Antonello Manacorda leads the Vienna State Opera orchestra and chorus.

Ticket information

• Select a date an book
• E-Ticket (Print@home)

Vienna State Opera

Address:

Opernring 2, 1010 Vienna, Google Maps

How to get there:

Subway: U1, U2, U4 to Karlsplatz
Trams: 1, 2, D, 62, 71 to Opernring

Music and Libretto

Verdi's popularity has been matched by no other opera composer. He is considered the most successful and widely performed composer in opera history. In the course of his remarkable career he composed 28 operas, many of which - La Traviata, Aida, Rigoletto, Nabucco, Falstaff, Otello, Simon Boccanegra, I Vespri Siciliani - are at the core of today’s repertoire. Through the sheer number of immortal works he created, Verdi made opera what it is today. No opera season in the world in complete without the inclusion of at least two of his major pieces.

Librettist Francesco Maria Piave (1810–1876) worked with Verdi between 1844 and 1862. Piave wrote 10 librettos for Verdi, the most well-known being those for La traviata and Rigoletto. The source for La Traviata’s libretto is La Dame aux camélias (1852), a play adapted from the semi-autobiographical novel of the same name by Alexandre Dumas fils (1824–1895).