La Traviata

Thoughts on La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi
Story based on the novel La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils



La Traviata - The one who has lost the right way

Characterizing words:

Violetta:

Della traviata...sorridi...al desio,
a lei, deh perdona, tu accoglila o Dio…
Smile at the erring of the one who lost her way,
forgive her, oh God, you take her to you…

Alfredo, Alfredo, di questo core
non puoi comprendere tutto l'amore;
tu non conosci che fino a prezzo
del tuo disprezzo provato io l'ho.
Alfreo, Alfredo, of this heart
you cannot understand all the love;
I have proved it even at the prize
of you disdain.

Alfredo:

Un dì felice, eterea,
mi balenaste innante,
e da quel dì, tremante,
vissi d'ignoto amor.
Di quell'amor ch'è palpito
dell' universo intero,
misterioso, altero,
croce e delizia al cor.
One joyous day
you flashed lightly into my life;
and from that day on,
have I lived trembling from a love
not known before.
From that love, that is the pulse
of the whole world,
mysterious, unattainable,
cross and delight to the heart.

Violetta and Alfredo:

Sospiro e luce tu mi sarai...
Breath of live and light you will be for me...

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Violetta's story shows us,
that we ought to forgive, like we have been forgiven ourselves.
From Alfredo we learn that love has nothing do with someone's
past, but only looks for the future. By never accusing her of
her past life (i.e. forgiving her), Alfredo gives Violetta a
future, he gives her his unconditional love. So does Violetta
love him unconditionally, with all her being, so much, that she
gives up her own happiness to provide for his and the one of a
girl she has never known in her life.