Verdi wrote twenty-eight operas on subjects ranging from Bible stories to modern manners. Many of his operas had a meaning beyond the surface story.
In Nabucco, the Hebrews held captive in Egypt and the famous chorus of the Hebrew slaves, was seen as an allusion to the Austrian domination
of Italy, while La Traviata, explores morality. Based on Dumas' novel La Dame aux Camelias the opera was, surprisingly, a
failure at its first performance in 1853. The title translates as 'The woman gone astray' and the heroine is a courtesan, (prostitute). This was considered
to be so shocking that when La Traviata was first performed in England in 1856, it was given an historical setting rather than a contemporary
one to avoid offending the sensibilities of the Victorian audience.
Verdi's music was hugely popular in Italy and he said that when he heard delivery boys whistling his arias, he knew he had got it right!
Introduction
