La Traviata

Based on his encounter with the tragic courtesan Marie Duplessis, Alexandre Dumas fils writes with such emotion that one almost believes he was in love with her.  Yet it is also another of those novels where the heroine goes down to defeat and Sand ponders why men are so fascinated with the weaknesses of women when they are the frailer sex themselves.  Still, a play -- adapted from the novel of 1848 – went into rehearsals for performances in February 1852 and within a year it would become a towering Verdi opera, La Traviata.

Here too there is a connection to Venice. La Traviata premiered at the Teatro La Fenice ("The Phoenix") opera house in Venice in 1853. Below is a picture of the interior from 1837.