Prelude to 'La Traviata'

La Traviata – The Fallen Woman (“she who has gone astray”) – is an opera in three acts set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave by Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901). Piave and Verdi based their story on La dame aux Camélias (“The Lady of the Camellia,” 1852), a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, Jr. It opened on 6 ^th March 1853 at the La Fenice opera house in Venice.

The Prelude is variously melancholy, exuberant and optimistic. It is an example of tender and intimate writing by Verdi, a composer who is often remembered for his bombast. The motifs in the prelude are presented in reverse order compared to their appearance in the opera; Verdi takes us musically from what we’ll hear later at Violetta’s deathbed to our first encounter with her.

This arrangement for tuba quartet (two E flat and two BB flat) was created and first ‘performed’ during the 2020 Coronavirus pandemic with all four members of the Foden’s tuba section recording their individual parts separately and subsequently joining them together using video and audio editing technology. The piece was premiered through Foden’s social media channels on 16 ^th July 2020.

Instrumentation:
Tuba Quartet (2 x Eb & 2 x BBb)