Detailed information
Composer
Giuseppe Verdi
Duration
2 h 45 min (including two intervals)
Premiere at Baltic Opera Gdansk
Creatives
Karolina Sofulak
Hanna Wójcikowska-Szymczak
Roman Komassa
Piotr Miszkiewicz
Marek Zygmunt
Liana Krasyun-Korunna
Dorota Artykiewicz-Skrla
Description
“It’s strange that the heroines of the three most important opera masterpieces forming the foundation of this genre are women, who on the one hand can be a model of character, perseverance, loyalty to their feelings, and on the other their social status does not differ from ordinary prostitutes. This blunt term can cause outrage no less than that surrounding the scandalous premieres of these songs. The stage birth of these works was accompanied by outrage over showing the fate of a »fallen woman« to an elegant opera audience.
We want to focus on the fascinating paradox of merging Traviata, Madame Butterfly and Carmen with a low level of sexual purity in one personality. They all benefited in varying degrees from material benefits by satisfying male lust. Each of them faced the choice between continuing to have commercial sex and remaining faithful to their unexpected feelings. Each of them chose a noble solution and each of them paid for it with their lives. The tragic finale of these three operas touches countless spectators, the more that in the first scenes we met our heroines in situations that did not arouse mercy.
On the contrary. We are initially inclined to slightly disdain them. Amused Violetta in the first act is masterfully portrayed by the composer as a nonchalant, corrupt woman busy with tinsel and flirtations. It is only in the aria that he reveals his true face and extremely dramatic sound. By gradually revealing to us the advantages of her character, the composer allows us, in the second act, together with Father Alfred, to be surprised by the nobility of the person we met as a woman of light morals. Her heroic decision to renounce personal happiness in the name of honor and the good of the family of a beloved man amazes us, just like Germont, and the same feeling of empathy arises in us. In the finale, we love Violetta, and her past when she traded in the body does not matter to us.”
Marek Weiss
We want to focus on the fascinating paradox of merging Traviata, Madame Butterfly and Carmen with a low level of sexual purity in one personality. They all benefited in varying degrees from material benefits by satisfying male lust. Each of them faced the choice between continuing to have commercial sex and remaining faithful to their unexpected feelings. Each of them chose a noble solution and each of them paid for it with their lives. The tragic finale of these three operas touches countless spectators, the more that in the first scenes we met our heroines in situations that did not arouse mercy.
On the contrary. We are initially inclined to slightly disdain them. Amused Violetta in the first act is masterfully portrayed by the composer as a nonchalant, corrupt woman busy with tinsel and flirtations. It is only in the aria that he reveals his true face and extremely dramatic sound. By gradually revealing to us the advantages of her character, the composer allows us, in the second act, together with Father Alfred, to be surprised by the nobility of the person we met as a woman of light morals. Her heroic decision to renounce personal happiness in the name of honor and the good of the family of a beloved man amazes us, just like Germont, and the same feeling of empathy arises in us. In the finale, we love Violetta, and her past when she traded in the body does not matter to us.”
Marek Weiss
4 Photos
