Alfredo is indignant
at Violetta's supposed inconstancy, and insults her publicly at a ball
in Paris. In the last act Violetta dies of consumption after an
affecting reconciliation with her lover. The music of 'La Traviata' is
in strong contrast to Verdi's previous work. The interest of Dumas's
play is mainly psychological, and demands a delicacy of treatment which
would have been thrown away upon the melodramatic subjects which Verdi
had hitherto affected. Much of his music is really graceful and
refined, but his efforts to avoid vulgarity occasionally land him in
the slough of sentimentality. Nevertheless, the pathos which
characterises some of the scenes has kept 'La Traviata' alive, though
the opera is chiefly employed now as a means of allowing a popular prima
donna to display her high notes and her diamonds.
'Les Vepres Siciliennes,' which was produced in Paris in 1855, during
the Universal Exhibition, only achieved a partial success, and 'Simon
Boccanegra' (1857), even in the revised and partly re-written form which
was performed in 1881, has never been popular out of Italy. 'Un Ballo in
Maschera' (1861), on the other hand, was for many years a great
favourite in this country, and has recently been revived with remarkable
success. The scene of the opera is laid in New England. Riccardo, the
governor of Boston, loves Amelia, the wife of his secretary, Renato.
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