Wayward love

By JOHN FLEMING, Times Performing Arts Critic

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 5, 2000

The opera La Traviata has a title that doesn't translate neatly but tells a poignant story of sacrifice.

The Italian title of Verdi's opera about a courtesan in Paris in the 1850s is essentially untranslatable, but that doesn't stop people from coming up with English approximations for La Traviata.

"The literal translation is "used woman, the one who has been worked over,' " said Anton Coppola, who is conducting the opera this weekend at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center.

"Basically, she's a high-class whore, a kept woman," Coppola added.

Theresa D'Aiuto Andrasy, assistant professor of voice and opera at the University of South Florida, goes with the standard translation, "Wayward One," but is quite precise about describing the opera's heroine, Violetta.

Verdi drew Traviata from the French play La Dame aux Camelias by Alexandre Dumas, who based Violetta on a real-life courtesan with whom he had an affair.

"She occupied a very significant place in this echelon of society called the demi monde in Paris," Andrasy said.

"A courtesan was something quite different than just a high-class hooker. These were ladies who gave their favors to men who set them up in apartments or houses. They could have very extravagant lifestyles. They surrounded themselves with artists. They were found at the spas in Baden-Baden, Vichy, Avignon.

"It was called the demi monde, which means "half world,' because they were not in high society, they were not in low society, they were somewhere in the middle. They had some respectability. Sometimes they married after a successful career as a courtesan. Sometimes they died lonely, and sometimes they died young."

Frances Ginsberg, the soprano singing Violetta, has performed the role in at least a half-dozen productions, with wildly varying interpretations called for from directors. In one production, Violetta was an equestrienne.

"For the entire Act 2, I was in a horse-riding outfit," she said. "It was adorable. I came in with jodhpurs, a riding hat, a little vest and a whip for the horse."

In an infamous production directed by Nicholas Muni for Tulsa Opera in 1990, Ginsberg's Violetta died not of consumption but of AIDS.

"That was a very unique production," she said. "In the final act I was in a hospital bed with intravenous tubing. Violetta literally coughed up blood."

During rehearsal, Muni sought to cultivate modern-day realism for La Traviata by taking the cast to a Tulsa strip joint.

"I will never forget this as long as I live," Ginsberg said. "It actually turned out to be helpful in building the character. There was an emotionless, shut-off coldness in these women in the strip bar that you could see in their faces -- they were young girls, really, very beautiful. It was a kind of automatic detachment that Violetta should have. She shouldn't be too sentimental."

The TBPAC production, directed by James Lucas, will be a traditional one.

Violetta is one of the great roles, and many a prima donna has put her stamp on it, from Maria Callas to Dorothy Kirsten, Anna Moffo to Angela Gheorghiu. Vocally, it is freakishly wide-ranging.

"The part almost requires two sopranos," Coppola said. "She's got to have the coloratura of the first act, and then the voice has got to get more dramatic as the opera proceeds. Finally, at the end when she sings Addio, del passato, that's a very heavy part."

Ginsberg thinks everyone can relate to Violetta's sacrifice of the love of her life.

"Everyone is touched by it because everyone at some point in their life experiences sacrifice at some level, whether it's letting go of a child, letting go of a parent, letting go of a lover," she said. "Everyone has to let go of love sometime in their life."

Music preview

Verdi's La Traviata has performances at 8 tonight and Saturday night and 2 p.m. Sunday at Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. Tickets are $24.50 to $55.50. Call (813) 229-7827 or (800) 955-1045.