“La Traviata,” the title of Giuseppe Verdi’s immortal 1853 opera, means, roughly, “a fallen women.”
But, as often happens in opera and tragedy in general, its heroine, Violetta, winds up the most sympathetic, even the most noble, character in the end.
Soprano Nadine Sierra stars as the self-sacrificing courtesan in the Metropolitan Opera’s “Live in HD” presentation of the tale of love in the face of injustice, brought by the Grand Teton Music Festival to the Center Theater at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The nonprofit festival has presented the New York City institution’s popular series for well over a decade. It was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, but it’s back again as a three-opera series that starts this weekend.
The premiere of “La Traviata” was a famous failure. In a letter to a friend the day after, Verdi admitted as much: “La Traviata last night was a failure. Was the fault mine or the singers? Time will tell.”
Indeed it has; OperaBase.com, an online database of opera performances around the globe, lists it among the most-produced works years after year.
Taking place in bedrooms and parlors, “La Traviata” was much more intimate and familiar than Verdi’s more epic “Rigoletto” and “Il Travatore.” And the heartbreaking tale inspired what many consider to be some of the composer’s most moving music.
