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GELFAND’S WORLD - La Traviata is one of the more famous operas and one of peoples' favorite Verdi operas. It has a rousing show tune and numerous arias where the lovers speak of their desire for each other and bemoan the travails life has made for them. But most of all, the plot is hung around a 19th century notion of family honor being sullied by one member's sexual behavior. To be blunt, the character Alfredo falls for a courtesan named Violetta (the Traviata of the title) and this causes friction with his family. In a moment that could not have been written in this, the 21st century, Alfredo's father visits Violetta and begs her to break up with Alfredo because their relationship is messing things up for his other offspring, a daughter who is engaged to be married. We are told that the daughter's suiter will break it off with said daughter unless Alfredo ceases smearing the family name with his slutty behavior. That's the situation in French society of the 1800s, at least according to the stories that Verdi and other opera composers had available. You can imagine how Dear Abby would have handled it ("MYOB") but it's what Verdi had to go on back then, and his audience members obviously understood it implicitly.
Perhaps Verdi could have found a less dated plot line to write to, but in 21st century opera, we take what there is, and La Traviata has enough by way of music and artistry to make it one of those operas now referred to as warhorses. They keep going because people want to hear them. Think of it this way: You take a score with magnificent arias written by Giuseppe Verdi for Soprano, Tenor, and Baritone, throw in a sympathetic Mezzo-Soprano part, and you've a work for the ages.
It's also a tearjerker, because Violetta has tuberculosis -- consumption in the old wording -- and like Mimi in Puccini's La Boheme, she is destined to end the performance with her death.
All the major performers had robust voices. Rachel Willis-Sorensen as Violetta was particularly affecting in her quieter parts, but could shake the rafters when she wanted. Kihun Yoon as Germont also had a big voice which took the audience by surprise in his second act entrance. Liparit Avetisyan as Alfredo was less boomy but equally affecting.
In the old days, prestigious American opera houses populated their rosters with singers from the old country -- Italy mostly, along with Spain, Russia, France, and a few other places. German operas were likewise presented using singers from Germany and the Scandinavian countries.
The Los Angeles Opera company seems to be on a different path since the Covid era. We are more and more seeing mainly north American casts, with a few Asian singers. In this Traviata, Violetta comes from Tri-Cities, Washington. Alfredo was the exception, coming from Armenia, while Germont is from South Korea. Of the other 6 cast members featured by name, there were four from the U.S. (Grass Valley, CA, San Bernardino CA, New York City, NY, and Arlington Heights, Ill) with one other from South korea and the last from Alberta, Canada.
This doesn't seem to have hurt the quality of performance, as this week's opera showed.
Something has been going on this past decade, which obviously included the enrollment of substantial numbers of talented young Americans in voice programs right here in the United States. Whatever else is going on, the developing trend shows courage on the part of the Los Angeles Opera in going to a base of American voices to present its latest season.
In thinking back, I realize that I last saw this opera performed by a second level traveling company at a college auditorium, perhaps a quarter of a century ago. The LA Opera showed just how musical and emotional the piece can be when left in the right hands. We should of course mention the excellent playing by the orchestra, as led by James Conlon.
The other performance at USC
While I was driving to the Music Center, the LAPD were completing their job of arresting protestors on the campus of USC. It's not obvious that it was necessary to clear the campus, but under the laws of the land, USC clearly had a legal right to ask people to leave. It's been a week of mixed feelings for those who remember the October 7 atrocities, yet cringe at the image of children being blown to death. There was a great deal of news coverage -- particularly on local television stations -- about the USC demonstrations, but the one thing that was missing was any in-depth questioning of the demonstrators as to their immediate and long term goals. Did they have any feelings about the October 7 attack? I've heard at least one other demonstrator refer to the October 7 attackers as "freedom fighters," so the question is legitimate. Some particularly pushy reporter might have asked the demonstrators, "Where were you on October 8?" Or alternatively, there could have been questions about the continuing hostage crisis, if any hostages happen to be alive.
Instead, the news coverage concentrated on the marching cadence of the LAPD and the methodology involved in each arrest. It was made clear -- without the news media speaking about it directly -- that the LAPD were determined to avoid violence, but rather understood their role to be that of bit players in political theater.
And yet another performance on the East Coast
It is a day in which Donald Trump's criminal trial continues, and also a day in which the US Supreme Court took up the question as to whether presidents can do anything they like, no matter how criminal. You can read a summary of the discussions here.
There is one comment/question which really has to be answered. What is to prevent each new president from throwing his predecessor in jail, just because Donald Trump has been indicted for acts he allegedly did? The question presumes that new presidents will be of the same ethical and moral fiber as Donald Trump, that is to say, with no ethics or morality at all. The fear that a new president would act out of mere spite and malice is to project onto new presidents the morals of Trump himself. The answer is therefore that we've gone through 46 presidents without devolving into banana republic level behavior, but just because a crook like Donald Trump managed to become president does not mean that we should avoid prosecuting those who are clearly guilty.
(Bob Gelfand writes on science, culture, and politics for CityWatch. He can be reached at [email protected].)
