La Traviata

Essential Traviata

La Traviata

by Giuseppe Verdi, libretto by Francesco Maria Piave (translation by Martin Fitzpatrick)

English National Opera at the London Coliseum until 12^th November

Review by Patrick Shorrock

This is very much La Traviata stripped down.  Stripped of a producer’s particular take on prostitution.  Stripped of possibly the worst music Verdi ever wrote (Flora’s guests pretending to be Gypsies in Act 2) but also of the cabaletta that follows Di Provenza (which I was rather less happy about).  Stripped of furniture, apart from a single chair.  Stripped of any kind of set, other than several rows of deep red curtains (designer Johannes Leiacker).  Stripped of intervals, which makes for a bladder-testing two hours right through. 

But this stripping down works brilliantly, because it throws the essentials of this great opera into greater relief.  It’s all about the characters and how they are revealed through their music, with no decorative distractions, and nowhere for the performers to hide.  The audience is almost too caught up in the drama to applaud the arias – at the end they gave it a standing ovation – and is utterly drawn in.  Alfredo sings his offstage counterpoint to Sempre Libera from the stalls, which is also where he, his father, Anina, and Doctor Grenvil are placed for the finale, leaving Violetta utterly isolated on stage. 

Ruth Knight ably revives Peter Konwitshny’s 2013 production, which is a more impressive achievement than it sounds, as its impact is entirely dependent on the particular performers and how they have been rehearsed.  Vaguely contemporary, it is utterly caught up in its characters and doesn’t try and moralise.  If it is hard in some ways to see why a Violetta today would feel it necessary to give up Alfredo, putting Alfredo’s sister on stage with Germont – almost the only gloss in this production – helps us to see why she might feel shame in the presence of a ‘good girl’, who comes with patriarchy’s seal of approval, quite apart from any (well founded) doubts she might have about Alfredo’s emotional maturity.  It is really effective at the climax of Flora’s disastrous party when the curtains gradually come down leaving Violetta on an empty stage for her death scene. 

When Verdi conducting is done right, it looks so easy and inevitable – like chairing a meeting well – but all too often conductors make a mess or a meal out of it, and either lack momentum or drive the music too hard.   Richard Farnes’s conducting is ideal, and the orchestra play like angels for him.  Their eloquence and immaculate playing in the face of adversity – more Arts Council enforced cuts to the number of regular players  and the resignation of their music director Martyn Brabbins – are heart-breaking. 

Nicole Chevalier is more than equal to the considerable vocal challenges of Violetta, although you can hear more beautifully sung accounts on record.  Verdi wrote some of his finest and most eloquent music for Violetta and she delivers it with an intensity and conviction that are utterly compelling.  While she might not entirely convince as sickly and feverish – the absence of a bed in Act Three doesn’t help-  she enables the audience to identify completely with what Violetta is going through, which is what matters. 

Jose Simerilla Romero is an astonishingly good Alfredo.  He is young enough to make this part convincing  and rather more sympathetic than usual, clearly a provincial fish out of water at a sophisticated metropolitan party in his cardigan,  and much more at home in the countryside with nothing but Violetta and a pile of books.  He has a lovely lyrical voice and is beautifully free from the usual narcissistic tenor mannerisms, with musical phrasing and no overdoing of the top notes.  His English diction is excellent, and he is a joy to listen to.  Roland Wood as his father is perfectly adequate, although his can voice lose bloom and become dry under pressure.

This performance made the strongest possible case for why London needs ENO and why ENO needs to be properly funded.

Patrick Shorrock, October 2023

Photography by Belinda Jiao