Real Traviata: The Song of Marie Duplessis

The Real Traviata is the rags-to-riches story of Marie Duplessis, a tragic young woman whose life inspired Verdi's La traviata and Dumas's La Dame aux Camélias. She escaped from her life as an abused teenage girl in Normandy and became the queen of the Parisian courtesans, commanding the kind of paparazzi attention that today we associate only with major royalty or Hollywood stars. Her conquests included writers and artists, and when she died, Théophile Gautier penned an obituary fit for a princess. Her legend grew in stature, with her immortalization in Verdi's opera.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 416 pages
Publication date: 21 January 2019
Publisher: Oxford University Press

The Real Traviata is a captivating tale of a tragic young woman whose life inspired one of the most renowned operas of all time, Verdi's masterpiece La traviata, as well as one of the most scandalous and successful French novels of the nineteenth century, La Dame aux Camélias, by Alexandre Dumas fils. The woman at the center of the story, Marie Duplessis, escaped from her tumultuous life as an abused teenage girl in provincial Normandy, rising rapidly to the pinnacle of fashionable life in nineteenth-century Paris, where she was revered as the queen of the Parisian courtesans. Her life was tragically cut short, yet her remarkable resilience, intelligence, talent, and striking beauty propelled her to attain immense prominence in the French capital. In the 1840s, she garnered the kind of paparazzi attention that today is reserved for major royalty or the biggest Hollywood stars. Aside from the younger Dumas, her conquests included a host of writers and artists, including the greatest pianist of the century, Franz Liszt, with whom she once harbored an illicit desire to elope. When she passed away, Théophile Gautier, one of the most prominent Parisian writers of the day, penned an obituary fit for a princess. Indeed, he boldly asserted that she had been a princess, despite her humble origins and her demi-monde existence. And although now largely forgotten, in the years following her death, Marie's legend, if anything, grew in stature, with her immortalization in Verdi's La traviata, an opera in which the great Romantic composer sought to capture her essence in some of the most heart-wrenching and lyrical music ever composed.

The Real Traviata is a captivating tale of a tragic young woman whose life inspired one of the most renowned operas of all time, Verdi's masterpiece La traviata, as well as one of the most scandalous and successful French novels of the nineteenth century, La Dame aux Camélias, by Alexandre Dumas fils. The woman at the center of the story, Marie Duplessis, escaped from her tumultuous life as an abused teenage girl in provincial Normandy, rising rapidly to the pinnacle of fashionable life in nineteenth-century Paris, where she was revered as the queen of the Parisian courtesans. Her life was tragically cut short, yet her remarkable resilience, intelligence, talent, and striking beauty propelled her to attain immense prominence in the French capital. In the 1840s, she garnered the kind of paparazzi attention that today is reserved for major royalty or the biggest Hollywood stars. Aside from the younger Dumas, her conquests included a host of writers and artists, including the greatest pianist of the century, Franz Liszt, with whom she once harbored an illicit desire to elope. When she passed away, Théophile Gautier, one of the most prominent Parisian writers of the day, penned an obituary fit for a princess. Indeed, he boldly asserted that she had been a princess, despite her humble origins and her demi-monde existence. And although now largely forgotten, in the years following her death, Marie's legend, if anything, grew in stature, with her immortalization in Verdi's La traviata, an opera in which the great Romantic composer sought to capture her essence in some of the most heart-wrenching and lyrical music ever composed.

Weight: 514g
Dimension: 139 x 214 x 23 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780198828297