La Traviata at Theater an der Wien

In his novel La dame aux camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), published in 1848, Alexandre Dumas, fils made his former lover, the courtesan Marie Duplessis who had died a year before of tuberculosis, the title character. Shortly afterwards, the story, adapted as a stage drama at the Theatre Vaudeville in Paris, became the highlight of the season. Verdi, looking for suitable material for a new opera, was enthralled by the tragic fate of this lady of the Parisian demi-monde and the exposure of middle-class hypocrisy. He turned it into a masterpiece that remains topical and moving today.