Word: traviatas
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Conceived in 1913 as a Viennese operetta but developed at Puccini's insistence into a more operatic work, La Rondine has never been considered the equal of such tearjerkers as La Bohème or Madama Butterfly. Its resemblances to both Bohème and Verdi's La Traviata are held against it, as are its less serious origins. "It has proved the weakest of Puccini's works, uneasily hovering between opera and operetta and devoid of striking lyrical melody," wrote Puccini Scholar Mosco Carner in a typical critical assessment...
...first the opera does appear to be something of a rewrite. The story certainly recalls La Traviata: Parisian Courtesan Magda meets innocent Country Boy Ruggero, loves him and then, out of concern for his family's honor, leaves him. And as in La Bohème, there is a joyous café scene and a secondary pair of quarrelsome lovers. Yet the feel of La Rondine is very different, for Magda is a more worldly-wise heroine than either Violetta or Mimi. Her affair with Ruggero is a self-deluding attempt to recapture a lost moment from her youth...
...Lisbon Traviata, excessive enjoyment of opera represents an escape from the mediocrity of life into the magnificence of art. The masterful opera singer Maria Callas is the divine artistic ideal, offering deliverance to the unfulfilled characters. Callas provides them with insight into the finer points of existence...
Anyone who has been on the front lines of an emotionally wrenching romantic failure will find themselves reliving the painful reality of it in this play. The tragedy of The Lisbon Traviata is that love, though beautiful, is not always true. Unlike the awe-inspiring evocations of Callas’ voice, relationships will inevitably fall short of the ideal...
...Lisbon Traviata...