La Traviata Is March 11, 2017, Met Opera Saturday Matinee Broadcast

Summary: The March 11, 2017, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is La Traviata, a four-act tragic opera by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi.

Verdi's La Traviata airs as the March 11, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: Sonya Yoncheva @sonyayoncheva via Twitter Feb. 21, 2017

La Traviata, a tragic opera about a beloved, short-lived courtesan by Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi (Oct. 10, 1813-Jan. 27, 1901), is the March 11, 2017, Met Opera Saturday matinee broadcast.

Italian opera librettist Francesco Maria Piave (May 18, 1810-March 5, 1876) wrote the Italian libretto. The libretto’s literary source is La Dame aux Camélias, a stage adaptation, premiering Feb. 2, 1852, by Alexandre Dumas, fils (July 27, 1824-Nov. 27, 1895), of his semi-autobiographical, same-named novel, first published in 1848.

The Italian-language world premiere of La Traviata took place March 6, 1853. The venue was Teatro La Fenice (“Phoenix Theatre”) in Venice, Veneto, northeastern Italy. The second restoration of La Fenice, rebuilt after a fire in December 1836, reopened Dec. 26, 1837. Verdi’s first premiere at La Fenice, Ernani, a “dramma lirico” based upon Hernani, a play of courtly intrigues and romance by Victor Marie Hugo (Feb. 26, 1820-May 22, 1885), happened March 9, 1844. La Traviata marked the fourth premiere of a Verdi opera at La Fenice.

La Traviata’s composer and librettist set the opera in present day Paris, in the 1850s. “For Venice I’m doing La Dame aux Camélias, which will probably be called La Traviata (‘The Fallen Woman’),” Giuseppe Verdi explained in a letter, dated Jan. 1, 1853, to his friend Cesare de Sanctis: “A subject for our own age. Another composer wouldn’t have done it because of the costumes, the period, and a thousand other silly scruples. But I’m writing it with the greatest of pleasure.”

La Fenice’s management, however, required a setting in the past. So Verdi and Piave backdated the timeline to the early 1700s. Dramaturg Cori Ellison shares in the 2016-2017 Metropolitan Opera Program Notes that the rubric “Paris and its environs, circa 1700” appeared on all printed scores of La Traviata until 1914.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 production of La Traviata honors Verdi’s and Piave’s desire for a modern setting. Production Director Willy Decker fast forwards the timeline to an unspecified setting in the 21st century.

The Saturday matinee broadcast of La Traviata begins at 1 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (6 p.m. Coordinated Universal Time). The estimated run time for the performance is about 2 hours 33 minutes.

The opera, sung in the original Italian, comprises three acts and one intermission. Act I is timed for 30 minutes. A 27-minute intermission succeeds Act I.

Acts II and III are timed for 96 minutes. The opera ends with Act III’s final notes.

Nicola Luisotti conducts all of the Metropolitan Opera’s performances of La Traviata. His birthplace is Viareggio, northern Toscana (Tuscany), north central Italy. The Italian conductor debuted in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2006 production of Tosca by Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini (Dec. 22, 1858-Nov. 29, 1924).

Sonya Yoncheva appears as Violetta Valéry. She was born in Plovdiv, south central Bulgaria. The Bulgarian operatic soprano debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2013 as Gilda in Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi.

Sonya Yoncheva shares the role of Violetta with Italian operatic soprano Carmen Giannattasio this season. Carmen was born in Avellino, southwestern Italy. She debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2012 as Leonora in Verdi's Il Trovator.

Olga Peretyatko appeared as Violetta for the April 11 performance due to Carmen Giannattasio's illness. She was born in St. Petersburg, northwestern Russia. Olga Peretyatko debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2014 as Elvira Walton in I Puritani. This season the Russian operatic soprano also appears in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor by Domenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti (Nov. 29, 1797-April 8, 1848).

Michael Fabiano appears as Alfredo Germont, Violetta’s last love. His birthplace is Montclair, Essex County, northern New Jersey. The American operatic tenor debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010 as Raffaele in Stiffelio by Giuseppe Verdi. This season he shares the role of Alfredo with Brazilian operatic tenor Atalla Ayan. Michael Fabiano also appears during the 2016-2017 season as Rodolfo in La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini.

Thomas Hampson appears as Giorgio Germont, Alfredo’s change-of-heart father. He was born in Elkhart, Elkhart County, northern Indiana. The American lyric baritone debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1990 as Guglielmo in Così Fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

During the 2016-2017 season, Thomas Hampson shares the role of Giorgio with Plácido Domingo and George Petean. Romanian operatic baritone George Petean debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 2010 as Marcello in Puccini’s La Bohème.

Globally acclaimed Spanish operatic tenor Plácido Domingo debuted at the Metropolitan Opera in 1968 as Maurizio in Adriana Lecouvreur by Francesco Cilea (July 23, 1866-Nov. 20, 1950). During the 2016-2017 season, he also appears in the title role in Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi.

Operabase, an online database, finds that in the five seasons from 2011-2012 to 2015-2016, Giuseppe Verdi was the most popular composer, with 16,265 performances. Also, La Traviata rates as the most popular opera overall, with 4,190 performances.

The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016 Repertory Report gives performance statistics through Oct. 31. La Traviata holds fourth place, with 996 performances, for the period from first Met performance, Nov. 5, 1883, to last performance, Jan. 24, 2015. The Metropolitan Opera’s 2016-2017 season falls outside the report’s parameters.

The takeaway for La Traviata as the March 11, 2017, Metropolitan Opera Saturday matinee broadcast is the enduring appeal of true love in Piave’s libretto and Verdi’s score.

Violetta's (Sonya Yoncheva) short life tragically ends the true love she shares with Alfredo (Michael Fabiano) in the 2016-2017 Met Opera season's production of Verdi's La Traviata: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOper via Facebook March 1, 2017

Acknowledgment

My special thanks to talented artists and photographers/concerned organizations who make their fine images available on the internet.

Image credits:

Verdi's La Traviata airs as the March 11, 2017, Saturday matinee broadcast during the 2016-2017 Met Opera season: Sonya Yoncheva @sonyayoncheva via Twitter Feb. 20, 2017, @ https://twitter.com/sonyayoncheva/status/833897638009397248

Violetta's (Sonya Yoncheva) short life tragically ends the true love she shares with Alfredo (Michael Fabiano) in the 2016-2017 Met Opera season's production of Verdi's La Traviata: The Metropolitan Opera @MetOper via Facebook March 1, 2017, @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10158425112215533.1073741929.20807115532/10158425112425533/

For further information:

"Composers: Composers Ranked by the Number of Performances of Their Operas Over the Five Seasons 2011/2012 to 2015/16." Operabase > Opera Statistics.
Available @ http://operabase.com/top.cgi?lang=en

Ellison, Cori. “Program Notes.” Metropolitan Opera > La Traviata. Dec. 30, 2014.
Available @ https://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/live_in_hd/2014-15/Summer/la_traviata/Dec%2030%20La%20Traviata.pdf

“Giuseppe Verdi La Traviata.” The Metropolitan Opera > 2016-2017 Season > In Focus.
Available @ https://www.metopera.org/metoperafiles/season/2016-17/operas/la_traviata/programs/022417%20Traviata.pdf

Meet Me At The Opera @MMATOpera. “’Best Traviata in the World at Present’ ‘Finest Violetta Since Maria Callas’ Season 2017.” Twitter. Feb. 15, 2017. Available @ https://twitter.com/MMATOpera/status/831775064345427968

Metropolitan Opera. “La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera.” YouTube. Feb. 14, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T2XDs_dSb6M

Metropolitan Opera. "Sonya Yoncheva on La Traviata." YouTube. Feb. 27, 2017.
Available @ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYLg9BffGU

The Metropolitan Opera @MetOpera. "SONYA YONCHEVA is Verdi’s beloved heroine, opposite tenor Michael Fabiano as her lover. On stage through April 14." Facebook. March 1, 2017.
Available @ https://www.facebook.com/MetOpera/photos/a.10158425112215533.1073741929.20807115532/10158425112425533/

“Performances Statistics Through October 31, 2016.” MetOpera Database > The Metropolitan Opera Archives > Repertory Report.
Available @ http://archives.metoperafamily.org/archives/Database%20Opera%20Statistics.xml

Sonya Yoncheva @sonyayoncheva. “Violetta You Are So Special to Me! Our Traviata Opens Next Friday @MetOpera.” Twitter. Feb. 20, 2017.
Available @ https://twitter.com/sonyayoncheva/status/833897638009397248