La traviata

“No opera of Verdi, non even iIl Trovatore/i, has been cut and stylistically re-designed to a comparable extent as iLa Traviata/i has been. In the current edition, as this record also shows, two passages (the cabaletta “O mio rimorso” of Alfred and that of his father, “No, non udrai rimproveri”) have been completely removed; may others have undergone a “slimming” process by means of micro-cuts, which is made particularly noticeable in Violetta and Alfredo’s great final duet, of which a bit less than half is generally listened to. The reason for this radical pruning, for which Toscanini was responsible in many cases, is very simple: iLa Traviata/i hade to be at all costs the first example of realistic opera performed. And all the passages and the repetitions which did not correspond to this idea had to be eliminated. If – as it was held – that Verdi in setting to music the tragedy of a woman who had died only six years earlier had taken a decisive step towards “dramatic truth”, this truth required the elimination of “unlikely” passages such as the cabaletta and the da capo, or the musical phrases with which, to different music, the same words were repeated.” Sic booklet page 8—9