Verdi's opera "La Traviata" has garnered great success since it premiered at Teatro la Fenice in Venice in 1853. A century and a half later, a Chinese opera house will revive the opera for audiences.
After near three year's preparation, China's Central Opera House will premiere a Chinese variation of "La Traviata" Du Shiniang at the Century Theatre starting tonight and running till Monday.
Librettist Ju Qihong wrote the four-act opera based on the tragic story of the legendary Ming Dynasty courtesan Du Shiniang.
Du, played by soprano Yao Hong, sacrifices everything in order to be with her lover, Li Jia (tenor Yang Yang). But Li gets word that his father is furious at his consorting with such a well-known courtesan. In the mean time, salt merchant Sun Fu (baritone Sun Li) wants Du for himself. Exploiting Li's troubled state of mind, the merchant eggs him on until Li is finally persuaded to sell Du to Sun.
But Du refuses to submit to the will of the men and takes control of her own destiny.
Collected by Feng Menglong (1574-1645), a Chinese writer and poet of the late Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD), into his popular "Stories Old and New," Du's legend is a familiar story to Chinese. It has been adapted into Chinese local operas and a well-known movie starring Pan Hong as Du in 1981.
Turning such a household Chinese story into a Western opera has been a challenge to librettist Ju and composers Liu Yuan and Xi Qiming.
"This story is a Chinese variation on a theme used by romantic authors for centuries the self-sacrificing love of a woman for a man whose family and position from which she must be excluded," said the 63-year-old Ju, who had studied at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music.
"While emphasizing Du's self-respect and desire for true love and contempt of bigwigs, we try not to make Li a totally negative role. He is kind and warmhearted and in love when he meets Du. But he is cowardly and is forced to betray love by hypocritical social convention," Ju said.
Music is the most important element for an opera. Composer Liu said he tried to find a way to integrate Western opera with Chinese local opera.
He gives Du a sympathetic leitmotiv, borrowing tunes from the traditional Chinese music, "Spring, River, Flower, Moon, Night."
The general structure of the score for the four acts sounds like four movements of a symphony. The music for Act 1, a rondeau sonata, supports the scene when Du wins a contest among all the courtesans at a temple fair. Li is captivated by her beauty and falls in love at first sight.
In Act 2, Li empties his purse, including a very precious jade hand down from his grandfather, to buy Du's freedom. The composer uses scherzo-styled melodies.
Act 3 and 4 take a sudden unfavourable turn and features dramatic music to match the mood. Sun plays tricks to force Li to sell Du to him. Du is grievous and indignant when she learns of Li's betrayal. Du, Li and Sun all have impressive long arias. Du's last aria gives priority to lyricism and depth of emotion.
"Du's long arias in the last act to express her depression, sadness and indignation are very challenging. The composer uses some modern composition techniques, which I seldom sing in the classical operas. But generally speaking, the melody is beautiful and touching," said soprano Yao Hong, who performs in the title role.
Yao's husband, the setting designer Gao Guangjian, creates a revolving stage to revive the prosperous temple fair, Du's quite and comfort chamber and the beautiful scenes along the banks of the river.
Despite the theatre's effort, it is hard to tell if "Du Shiniang" in 2006 will conquer audience members' hearts, as Verdi's "La Traviata" has done.
Based on Alexandre Dumas Fils Dumas' play "La Dame aux Camellias," Verdi's "La Traviata" is a quintessential romantic attack on conventional bourgeois morality in Europe in the 19th Century.
It argues that a good heart is more important than propriety, that the social distinction that splits the "beau monde" (high society) from the "demimonde" (the world of illicit sex) are cruel and hypocritical, and that true love must triumph over all.
It is "a subject of the times," Verdi wrote to his friend Cesare de Sanctis in 1853. Verdi, not one to shy away from a strong, if controversial, plot continues, "Others would not have done it because of the conventions, the epoch and for a thousand other stupid scruples."
"La dame aux Camellias" gave the composer the ideal vehicle to ridicule the double standard set up by those in the higher echelons of society, who, like the members of the Jockey Club in Paris, would have affairs behind closed doors but at the same time chastise their victims.
That's the very reason why "La Traviata" has had such great impact since it was born.
However, 153 years on, the world has changed a great deal. Will the audiences still be drawn to a story similar to "La Traviata?"
Director Cao Qijing said she wants to display how women in a feudal society suffer persecution. Du is a victim of feudal convention. Her death is not just a result of Li's personal betrayal.
Soprano Yao admits she was not sure how the audience would react when she first read the script.
"I was not sure how to portray Du. The story happens 400 years ago," she said.
But she said it was not until she heard the music that she felt a sympathetic chord in her heart.
"Maybe the story could tell today's audience that wealth and power are not the only things you should pursue. Many people hunt for fame and wealth but lose their consciences and become indifferent to true love or sincerity," Yao said.
(China Daily May 26, 2006)
