Lovers In a Decadent Time

Friday night, I went to the Four Seasons Centre for a performance of La Traviata by The Canadian Opera Company. The story was about the doomed romance between Parisian courtesan Violetta and bourgeois Alfredo, mostly due to the conservative views of his father Giorgio. The opera opened with a spotlighted view of Violetta as she dressed. When the lights came on, we found ourselves in a sumptuous room cavorting with her demi-monde friends: aristocrats and their high-class escorts. They (and her) aim for a life of "pleasure" as opposed to Alfredo who entreated with her that such a life lacks "love".

I'm not a fan of opera because of all the "singing". That is, the music isn't typically compelling between the arias. With this Verdi opera, it was almost the opposite. It was practically too much of a good thing because intriguing melodies followed one after another. Most beautiful were the duets. In contrast, I found the solos almost anti-climatic.

As for the story, I watched it with amused ambivalence. I had recently finished an academic polemic called "Single: Arguments for the Uncoupled". Professor Michael Cobb argued that many of the problems, most especially loneliness, are wrongly ascribed to singles. In fact, it's the couple who's to blame. So as La Traviata progressed to its tragic ending, I couldn't help but think Violetta would have been better off dismissing the moon-eyed attention of Alfredo. She would still die of consumption, but without all that drama.