La Traviata

La Traviata is an opera in three acts by composer, Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901), and set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave.

The original text

Originally titled Violetta after the opera’s main character, La Traviata was based on Alexandre Dumas’s play, La Dame aux Camélias (1852), which he adapted from his own novel of the same name (1848).

La Traviata is a tragic tale about Parisian courtesan, Violetta, who attempts to leave the life she knows behind to try and finally find true love. When she meets romantic, Alfredo, the hypocrisy of upper-class society threatens their love – and someone must pay the ultimate price.

Translations and adaptations

Performance history in South Africa

20th century

1945: Presented by African Consolidated Theatres, conducted by William Pickerill.

1956: Presented in Italian by the EOAN Group at the Cape Town City Hall as part of their 1956 Arts Festival, produced by Alessandro Rota, with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra conducted by Joseph Manca. The cast included, amongst others, May Abrahamse and Ruth Goodwin, sharing the role of Violetta, Robert Trussell as Dottore, Ron Thebus as Alfredo, and Lionel Fourie. The Eoan Group Chorus as well as the Eoan Group Ballet took part in the production.

1958: Presented in English by the South African Opera Federation.

1960: Presented by the EOAN Group in Cape Town and on tour to Port Elizabeth, Durban and Johannesburg, produced by Gregorio Fiasconaro.

1961: Presented by the South African Opera Federation.

1962: Presented by the EOAN Group.

1965: Presented by the EOAN Group in Cape Town and on tour to Johannesburg, Durban, East London and Port Elizabeth from June to August 1965, with soprano Winifred du Plessis as Violetta alongside Gerald Samaai as Alfredo.

1966: Presented by the EOAN Group.

1967: Presented by NAPAC Opera.

1967: Presented by the EOAN Group in the Cape Town City Hall, with the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra and Vera Gow as Violetta.

1968: Presented by PACT Opera.

1969: Presented by PACT Opera; presented by NAPAC Opera; presented by the EOAN Group in the Cape Town City Hall.

1971: Presented in English by PACT Opera in the Aula, Pretoria, and in Johannesburg, with Nellie du Toit as Violetta, Gé Korsten as Alfredo, Bob Borowsky as Germont. Produced by Neels Hansen, PACT Orchestra conducted by Franco Ferraris.

1971: Presented by the EOAN Group at the Alhambra Theatre in separate performances for whites and coloureds.

1973: Presented by PACT Opera; presented by CAPAB Opera.

1974: Presented by CAPAB Opera.

1975: presented by the EOAN Group in the Green and Sea Point Civic Centre.

1976: Presented by CAPAB Opera.

1977: Presented in the original Italian by CAPAB Opera at the Nico Malan Opera, with Nellie du Toit as Violetta, John Steward as Alfredo Germont, Bernhard de Clerk as Georgio Germont. Produced by Gregorio Fiasconaro, CAPAB Orchestra conducted by David Tidboald.

1979: Presented by NAPAC Opera, with Nellie du Toit as Violetta, Luigi Bianco as Alfredo and Dawie Couzyn as Germont. Produced by James Conrad, PACT Symphony Orchestra conducted by Franco Ferraris.

1979: Presented by CAPAB Opera.

1981: Presented by PACT Opera.

1985: Presented by CAPAB Opera (6 April – 1 May)

1989: Presented by CAPAB Opera (4–29 September)

1994: Presented by CAPAB Opera (19 May – 3 June)

1997: Presented by CAPAB Opera (16–27 August)

21st century

2000: Presented by Cape Town Opera (13–24 April)

2003: Presented by Cape Town Opera (19–28 February)

2004: Presented by Cape Town Opera (22–30 April, 11–18 September)

2004: Presented by Opera Africa, directed by Themi Venturas, conducted by Jeremy Silver. With Stéfan Louw.

2010: Presented by Opera Africa, with Kelebogile Boikanyo.

2011: Presented by Cape Town Opera (11–22 October)

2015: Presented by Cape Town Opera (30 April – 9 May)

Sources

'Discover: La traviata'. ENO. https://www.eno.org/operas/la-traviata/

Wayne Muller. 2018. A reception history of opera in Cape Town: Tracing the development of a distinctly South African operatic aesthetic (1985–2015). Unpublished PhD thesis.

Sjoerd Alkema. 2012. "Conductors of the Cape Town Municipal Orchestra, 1914-1965: a historical perspective". University of Cape Town. Unpublished PhD thesis.

Alexandra Xenia Sabina Mossolow. 2003. The career of South African soprano Nellie du Toit, born 1929. Unpublished Masters thesis. University of Stellenbosch.

Hilde Roos. 2010. 'Opera Production in the Western Cape: Strategies in Search of Indigenisation'. Unpublished PhD thesis. Stellenbosch University.

Hilde Roos. 2012. 'Indigenisation and history: how opera in South Africa became South African opera'. Acta Academica Supplementum. 2012(1).