#traviata

Erté

1982

La Traviata

Original serigraph on paper with embossing

OTD in Music History: Legendary Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1813 – 1901) gets married, for the second and final time, to opera singer Giuseppina Strepponi (1815 – 1897), in 1859. Fiercely devoted to one another, their happy union lasted for almost 40 years and ended only with her death in 1897. Although Verdi had known Strepponi since 1839, he was happily married when they first met, and there is no indication that their relationship was initially anything other than platonic and professional. Then, in quick succession, Verdi’s first wife and two children all died – and perhaps not surprisingly, the *comic* opera that he was working on during that period completely flopped. Throwing himself back into his work in order to sublimate his immense grief, Verdi composed his first great hit the next year: “Nabucco” (1841). He reconnected with Strepponi in Parma, when the Teatro Regio di Parmi was producing “Nabucco” in early 1843. Verdi remained in Parma for several weeks beyond his scheduled departure date, and rumors swirled that Strepponi was the cause. This was a scandal, since Strepponi was “notorious” for unapologetically maintaining an alleged string of lovers as an unmarried woman and having given birth to three children out of wedlock. Verdi didn’t care; they were inseparable. When the couple moved back to Verdi's rural hometown of Busseto in 1849, the local townsfolk were scandalized to see a “theater couple” living together in an unmarried state in their midst. Strepponi was completely shunned both in the town and at church (which Verdi, a staunch atheist, refused to enter), and it is likely that Verdi’s intense scorn for this behavior actually caused him to dig in his heels and *put off* marriage by a full decade... just to make a point... PICTURED: A beautiful "Imperial"-sized cabinet photo showing Verdi in his old age, which he signed in 1899 (two years after Strepponi's death and two years before his own).

Opera Soprano Angel Blue Pulls Out Of Aida Performance Over La Traviata At Verona Arena Blackface Performance – Deadline

Angel Blue, an African American soprano, has stepped down from her role in Aida at the La Traviata Verona theater in Verona, Italy.  The reason is because another production of Verdi’s opera performed earlier in the year had White Russian soprano singer Anna Netrebko as Aida in Blackface. In her Instagram post Blue states, “’Dear Friends, Family, and Opera Lovers, I have come to the unfortunate…