La Traviata

This one has all those clichés of opera – the fallen woman forced into moral redemption and a lingering consumptive death. It also has the most beautiful melodies and few moments of opera tedium.

Elijah Moshinsky’s almost 20 year old production looks fresh and sumptuous and is equally artful in the huge choreographed society scenes as in the intense personal ones around Violetta.  Here soprano Emma Matthews is astounding, whether leaping coloratura through the opposing benefits of hedonism or love, or later in lyric and then dramatic mode as her options close in. 

Her death is mesmorising as she drifts away abandoned in the now crumbling stately room which hosted her fabulous party in the first act; ably supported, literally, by her prodigal lover, Alfredo (the powerful tenor Arnold Rutkowski).   Even Alfredo’s father (Jose Carbo) is chastened and regrets his fateful plea to Violetta to leave his son and preserve the family honour.  Indeed, the scenes between father and fallen woman are a sublimely sung balance of paternal tenderness and moral absolutism.

Verdi’s opera is based on a Dumas novel which captured the contemporary fascination in high society courtesans. So it’s hard to imagine that Verdi’s rather sanitorised view of Violetta could have caused such distress at the time: he was forced for the first decades to distance La Traviata by setting it around 1700.  Luckily, for costume and set designers, Peter J Hall and Michael Yeargan, it’s back in Paris circa 1877.  

Despite – not because of – some irritating party pieces of gypsy dancing and matador carry on – this is a hugely entertaining and moving production.  No wonder Opera Australia chose La Traviata to launch its harbour side outdoor productions this summer, again with Emma Matthews as Violetta. These leads are elite singers masterfully conducted by Patrick Lange.

Martin Portus

Images: Arnold Rutkowski as Alfredo Germont & Emma Matthews as Violetta Valéry and Emma Matthews as Violetta Valéry, Dominica Matthews as Flora Bervoix, Michael Honeyman as Marquis d'Obigny, José Carbó as Giorgio Germont & the Opera Australia Chorus. Photographer: Branco Gaica.