The Woman Who Strayed

Wed 10 March 2010

The Woman Who Strayed

Filed under: #satscene —— Sylvia @ 21:07

On the 6th of March 1853, the first performance of La Traviata failed to delight the opera fans in Venice.

The first performance of the opera, on 6 March 1853 in Venice’s La Fenice, was an utter failure. The day after, Verdi wrote to his friend Muzio in what has now become perhaps his most famous letter: “La Traviata last night a failure. My fault or the singers’? Time will tell.” This letter not only implies what Verdi already knew — that the singers, particularly the obese soprano who could never convincingly play a dying consumptive, had failed to “understand his music.”. But more importantly, this letter captures Verdi’s faith that the public ultimately knows what is and is not good art and will pronounce its judgment in good time.

Verdi was correct – and you can see for yourself that the opera had a better reception at one of our regular Saturday Scene locations, Zurich! This live performance was put on by Schweizer Fernsehen and took place at the central train station: YouTube – La Traviata im Hauptbahnhof Zürich

On the 6th of March 2010, amazingly, every single photograph submitted to Saturday Scenes was a delight! Clearly, we are a more enlightened public.

Take a look for yourself: