'La traviata', Verdi's Most Intimate Opera, Closes the Teatro Real Season

American soprano Nadine Sierra (1988) and San Sebastian tenor Xabier Anduaga (1995), two of the most renowned stars in contemporary opera, headline 'La traviata' at the Teatro Real, Verdi's great classic. The theatre concludes its season with this production, featuring Willy Decker's celebrated staging, which was initially scheduled for 2020 but postponed due to the lockdown, replaced by a semi-staged version. 'La traviata' returns to the Real with this version from the Dutch National Opera, which triumphed 20 years ago at the Salzburg Festival. For Decker, 'La traviata' is Verdi's most intimate and personal opera, a work where life and death intertwine inextricably. The production premieres on Tuesday, with the Real offering 18 performances of this acclaimed piece from Verdi's repertoire.

The musical direction is led by Henrik Nánási. The cast also features voices such as Adela Zaharia, Iván Ayón Rivas, Juan Diego Flórez, Luca Salsi, Artur Ruciński, and Gëzim Myshketa. Willy Decker's version, presented in theatres like New York's Metropolitan and the Paris Opera, is noted for its starkness and a sober yet highly praised staging. Two decades on, the production has not aged. Wolfgang Gussmann's set design, where a large clock marks the countdown throughout the opera, symbolizes Violetta Valéry's truncated life, aware she has only a few days left.

Like Violetta, Nadine Sierra also experiences the fleeting nature of youth. "I feel my youth slipping away. I'm not sure men understand what that means, as I'm speaking from a woman's perspective. This production highlights the misunderstandings between sexes, those misconceptions about what is valued in life and what is just rubbish," said the soprano, defending her ideas with passion and tears.

To compose this work, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) drew inspiration from Alexandre Dumas fils' novel 'La Dame aux Camélias', which recounted the licentious life of Marie Duplessis, a famous and beautiful courtesan, lover of artists and bohemians in 19th-century Paris. Dumas was shocked by Duplessis' death at 23 from tuberculosis. The writer, like Franz Liszt and many other intellectuals, nobles, and artists of the time, was captivated by the young woman's charms. "Love and death are always connected. Knowing she is dying, that her time is ending, gives Violetta the strength to live her days with Alfredo passionately," stated Willy Decker.

Aware her days are numbered, Violetta leads a dissipated life: dancing, drinking, and embracing Paris' nocturnal bohemia. She passionately lives her love with Alfredo, but his family forbids the affair, prompting her to leave her lover and return to prostitution, where she meets her end. "In the end, bourgeois morality seems to prevail, but it truly shows that Violetta offers her love for nothing, against the materialism of others," Decker added.

In 'La traviata', there are jealousy, abuse, and money as elements that corrupt love. "Operas are very melodramatic, but if you look closely, they convey feelings common to everyone," argued the singer, who gives equal importance to singing and acting.

Hungarian Henrik Nánási conducts his first opera at the Teatro Real. A great connoisseur of Verdi, he asserts that to approach the Italian composer, one must tackle the score as if it were unknown. "It's crucial to understand who Verdi was at that moment in his life. He had already lost his wife and children long before composing 'La traviata'. That personal tragedy was a source of inspiration. In a way, he projected the image of his deceased wife onto Violetta," noted Nánási, who stated that his view of the composition has undergone a profound transformation in recent years.