La Traviata - N18 Scena finale

Description

This final scene closes La Traviata. Germont, having told his son the truth, hurries in and asks Violetta's forgiveness. Violetta gives Alfredo her portrait and asks that it be given one day to the woman he marries. At the very end she speaks of a surge of strength, as though the pain had left her, and in that moment she dies.

The music passes through the bustle of Germont's arrival, Violetta's quiet song as she hands over the portrait, and an ensemble that gathers the mourners' grief, before rushing from a brief surge to the end. Much of it is slow, written so that the sound of each chord carries the weight of the scene. It lasts about eight minutes with 2,430 notes, and its range from A-flat 1 to B-flat 6 does not fit a 61-key keyboard.

It is rated advanced and tests fine control of tone and dynamics at a slow tempo. Because the final surge is brief, its effect depends on how well the stillness before it is held. Check the balance within each chord at a reduced playback speed, and loop the closing passage with A-B repeat to get the timing of the abrupt ending into your hands.

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