temporada - IOCO

LA TRAVIATA OR THE NASTY HABIT OF YOUR IN-LAWS OF ALWAYS INTERFERING
I am delighted at the invitation to participate in this evening’s booklet –surely a memorable
evening indeed lies ahead which the Teatre Principal de Palma professionals have brought us on
this XXV Opera Season. Today it is La traviata’s turn. “ton pare és mort” (Your father is dead!);
these were the words my grandmother would utter when she wanted to say something extremely
important. This would be such an occasion. Therefore, please sit back and enjoy the show.
But just before, allow me to give you my opinion concerning this opera, even if it is only to make
the time until the curtain is raised more pleasant.
I like opera. I am dazzled by it. But I must warn you that I am no expert on the subject and
therefore you should not expect a practical or technical or any other kind of lesson as to what
you are about to witness tonight. I am no good at convincing anyone about the excellences of an
opera of this dimension, or of any other for that matter. If you wish to enjoy yourselves listening
to opera you must tune into Històries de l’òpera al Liceu (Opera Stories at the Liceu) on Wednesdays
at 11 p.m. on Catalunya Música. It is a captivating and entertaining programme hosted by
Marcel Gorgori and Roger Alier. These two men certainly know a great deal about opera. If your
excuse is that 11p.m. is far too late because the next day you have an early start, I must warn
you that you can now access their archives on the internet (www.catmusica.cat) and listen to or
download the “podcasts” of previous programmes to your mp3 players or iPods or to whatever
gadget with earphones you may use. I simply wanted to say that I like opera. I adore La traviata.
At this point in life and history you all probably know by now that the opera is inspired in the
novel by Alexandre Dumas fils, The lady of the Camellias, published in 1848. Up till then, Italian
opera had usually turned to mythology or Classical history for inspiration –apart from a foray
now and then into the Medieval or Renaissance eras- in order to find the ideal plots. It was not
until the mid 19th century that it began to change direction due to the emergence of Realism
in European literature and art. In fact, the first to try his luck in the world of opera was precisely
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) with La traviata, based on a novel that told the story of a real event
which happened at that time. Even if the plot is quite similar, Verdi does change the names of the
main characters and one or two facts. In both cases, the main character has the same profession.
She is a courtesan, a prostitute to make it plain, and she dies of the same illness. Nevertheless, I
believe Marguerite Gautier may have died of consumption, what nowadays is called tuberculosis
or TB. Violetta Valéry dies of syphilis, which is different but easier to believe. In any case, this is
my personal opinion and you may disagree with it.
I suppose that I will be revealing nothing new if I tell you that the piece was first shown on 6th
March 1853 at La Fenice opera house in Venice and that it was a terrible failure; partly due to
the bad choice of actors which the theatre itself had put forward, but especially because Italian
audiences were unaccustomed to seeing a courtesan moving about in such easily recognizable
places and scenarios… By the way, have you ever been to Venice? Charming. Romantic. Also tragic.
What a pity mass tourism dirties and spoils everything. We know a fair deal about that here
ourselves. But what can be done…? Have you ever heard of Donna Leon? She is a North American
hard-boiled detective novel –noir fiction- writer (they were simply called “lladres i serenos” cops
and robbers’ novels not so long ago) who has done everything except worship her own country
and live in it. She has been living in Venetto’s capital for quite some time now and it is here that
she has written a well composed series whose main character is Commissario Guido Brunetti. One
of his first investigations had La Fenice opera house as the scene of a crime. A famous orchestra
conductor is murdered during an opera. Can you make an educated guess?
La traviata. It is a delightful, romantic opera. A tragic one too. Just like Venice. But the plot
takes place in Paris just prior to the establishment of the Second Republic. What a coincidence…
Now comes the moment when I tell you that I owe my initiation into opera partly to the seduction
and rejection caused by the cruel, vengeful and secretive world of the mafia –the Sicilian
mafia if possible, although any of its variations will do. Whether we acknowledge it or not mafia
and opera go together just like boxing and low punches, horse races and betting, tradition and
solemnity, religion and sumptuousness, good and evil. Why don’t you watch again any of the
three parts of The Godfather; all of its memorable moments are accompanied by a heartbreaking
aria, bringing tears to the eyes of even the toughest. Personally, I would go for the end in the
third part when the whole family is outside the theatre in Palermo where the eldest son has just
debuted in an opera which is hardly ever put on stage and is called Cavalleria Rusticana by Pietro
Mascagni. The assassin decides to act just as they are going down the façade’s staircase and
shoots at Michael Corleone, but the bullet kills his daughter Mary instead. The father’s piercing
scream at the sight of his dead daughter is one of those magnificent moments in the history of
movies. The same happens to Al Capone in The Untouchables. He is deeply moved and weeps
while listening to Ruggero Leoncavallo’s I pagliacci; in the meantime one of his men is reporting
back that they have just murdered a cop. No wonder Al Pacino and Robert de Niro are the ones
playing both these parts. “ton pare és mort” (Your father is dead).
But we have not come here to see a film this evening. We have come to watch an opera. And one
of the very best indeed. All I simply wanted to do was to explain how my insertion into the world
of to opera had come about through hard-boiled crime fiction and film noir.
By the way, have you noticed how many young people are in the theatre? There are quite a
number and they are casually dressed. Opera is certainly not what it used to be. Maybe one of
the great achievements of the Three Tenors has been to put opera in the streets of our towns –
besides singing as very few singers in history could have done- . They have invited those who like
myself knew very little about opera, to treasure and to love it… Anyway, the same faces as usual
are here too; in their best outfits and fur coats and arriving late in the belief that the curtain
won’t go up until they have sat down. Maybe they believe the Opera Season has been organized
so that they can walk in late and be seen by everybody else.
We mustn’t kid ourselves: they are part of the atrezzo or theatre props and accessories.
Anyway, this happens to be a personal opinion and need not be shared by anybody else.
Miquel Vicens Escandell, writer.
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