Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-24
Verd1s La 7roviuto' Sad
Buxom Primo Donna Won't Do
For Role of FruiI VioIettu

consenting to its being set in the
period of Louis XIV in order to
satisfy the public taste for lavish
ness in scenery and costumes.
When the opera was next given,
1t proved a success. Soon Paris.
London and st. Petersburg were
giving 1t welcome and in December
1856, it was heard in New York at
the Academy of Music Since then
no operate season in any country
is complete without La Traviata.'
All the great sopranos, tenors and
baritones have had their try at its
Interpretation and many have had
their fame linked almost exclusively
with their performance of this work
The composer found a new path
in which to express the sentiment
aroused by the play. The delicacy
with which he has sketched the
characters in melody is unlike his
usual technique, but then he was
dealing with human passions and
human frailty and Verdi was a very
human man.
Love Dignified by Sacrifice.
He penetrated beneath the i'm
morality, which was all the Partisan
censors could see in Dumas story,
and brought out the finer qualities
Of the characters. Violettas love
for Alfredo Germont is one of the
great loves of history, since it was
dignified by supreme sacrifice. 1t
casts about the heroine an aura of
sanity when, in the dissolute sur
roundings in which her life passed,
she needed the plea of Alfredo S
father and broke her union with
him in the only way to make 1t
inevitable. Then, with death the
only prospect of the future, she
kept to her resolution.
The characters of Alfredo and of
his father are also given a strong
musical portrayal. Alfredo. in des-
pair at the sacrifices Violetta has
made for him, both financially and
socially, yet jealous and suspicious
in turn, finally realizes that in the
courtesan he has found a faithful
and simple mate. The father, too. is
won by the generosity and strength
of character of the frail and suffer-
ing woman and tries to undo the
harm he has done. But it is all toe
late. Worn out by her illness and
her anxiety, Violetta dies.
Verdi ennobles each of these roles
with music of ineffable appeal.
Confirmed verdi's Position.
The opera confirmed the position
of Verdi in the musical world which
the creation of "Rigoletto" and I'll
Trovatore" began. He was now the
most popular composer of Europe,
rich and honored The way had
been long since those far off days
when the boy Verdi left home to
study and was helped by the un-
swerving belief in his talent and the
financial help of the grocer, Antonio
Barezzi. He had known much sor-
row beginning with the terrifying
time when the Austrian troops
searched his native town of LIE Rom
cole for French sympathizers and
his mother saved him from the SUBJ
sequent massacre by hiding in the
tower of the church. The, rosy pros
poets which seemed to open to him
after his marriage to Barezzi's
daughter Margherita, soon took on
tragic aspect when his wife and
two children died within the short
space of few months of each other
Illness and dismay held him for
time and his composing was a
matter of necessity rather than
choice. When luck finally turned in
his favor, it was not long until his
true destiny began to reveal itself.
Through hardship and success,
Verdi remained the simple peasant
he was born. He acquired lovely
home, married happily a second
time, Travelled extensively, was made
senator and was honored by high
and low alike. Yet what he loved
most was to mingle with the workers
on his farm, to watch over his spe-
cially selected livestock. to play with
his dogs. From these absorbing in
terests he turned from time to time
to the writing of yet another great
opera until the list is one Of the
most imposing to any mans credit
He died at the age of SO, leaving as a
last note from his pen the musical
setting Of prayer written by Queen
Marguerite after the passing Of
King HumbeSt.