Operatic Heroines
Violetta. Alexandre Dumas was most famous as the son of a literary father when he published his best-selling novel La Dame aux Camellias, about a noted Parisian courtesan called
Marguerite Gautier. Verdi's opera La Traviata or The Fallen Woman was based on Dumas's novel and the popular play which was presented in 1848. The play and novel were based on the real-life love affair between Dumas and Marie
Duplessis, a famous courtesan whose life was a rags-to-riches story and who lived life to the full but paid for it by dying of consumption. In Verdi's opera La Traviata,
Violetta's story is no less tragic.
She finally discovers true love with a man who she then selflessly gives up - only to win him back as she lies on her deathbed.