QUOTE OF THE DAY - MARCH 6, 2017: GIUSEPPE VERDI'S OVERWHELMING EMOTIONS & THE OVERFLOWING BOSOM OF LA TRAVIATA'S DAMSEL IN DISTRESS feat. Did You Know?

Today's Quote of the Day comes to us from 19th century Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi in honor of the 164th anniversary of the premiere of La Traviata, which held its debut at La Fenice opera house in Venice this 6th day of March, in 1853:

"I adore art... when I am alone with my notes, my heart pounds and the tears stream from my eyes, and my emotion and my joys are too much to bear."

Listen below to the heart-wrenching "Ah! Dite alla giovine" (Oh tell your daughter) from the second act of La Traviata. Renata Scotto and Renato Bruson perform:



Did You Know?

The figure of a woman: Fanny
Salvini-Donatelli wasn't quite
convincing as a damsel in distress,
much less a sexpot to 19th century
operagoers.

The premiere of La Traviata created a minor tempest in the Venetian teapot when, during the opera's first act, it's star soprano fell victim to a jeering audience who felt the chanteuse "too fat" for the role of one dying from consumption, and "too old" to illicit any form of empathy for her woefully maligned character, Violetta, who is later accused of being a whore. Apparently, at a full-figured 38, soprano Fanny Salvini-Donatelli wasn't quite convincing as a damsel in distress-cum-lady of the evening.

The opera's second act fared little better following the inept vocal stylings of baritone Felice Varesi and tenor Lodovico Graziani, which sent the audience into yet another vitriolic tizzy - prompting a frustrated Verdi to pen his infamous letter of doubt to confidante (and fellow composer) Emanuele Muzio, in which the composer poses the question:

"La traviata last night a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers'? Time will tell."

Maria Spezia-Aldighieri

The fault, it seems, did indeed lay in the casting for the premiere of La Traviata. Verdi undoubtedly would have breathed a hefty sigh of relief at a subsequent staging of the opera on the 6th May 1854 at Venice's Teatro San Benedetto with Italian soprano Maria Spezia-Aldighieri in the role of Violetta (who, oddly, wasn't much lighter in frame than her predecessor) which proved to be such a rousing success, Verdi himself referred to the overwhelming praise received for the opera as "a furore!..." and referenced the poor reception at Teatro La Fenice the previous year as a write-off - the work a victim of an uncultured audience - proclaiming with gusto "draw your own conclusions!"

La Traviata exists today as one of the most performed operas at theaters across the globe, with many of it's many catchy arias (such as the ever-popular Brindisi (drinking song) Libiamo ne` lieti calici) infiltrating pop culture. The success of the opera itself can arguably be considered as the catalyst for making "Verdi" a household name.

-Rose.

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