La Traviata - N5 Scena ed aria

Description

Left alone once the guests have gone, Violetta sings this scene and aria at the end of Act I of Verdi's La Traviata; it is No. 5 in this series. It opens with her musing recitative, È strano, moves to Ah, fors'è lui, in which she is touched by Alfredo's declaration, and then to Sempre libera, where she shakes off that feeling and vows to live freely. It is known as the soprano's great showpiece that closes Act I.

The Sempre libera section is in A-flat major, with fine ornaments running through a fast tempo. In the earlier Ah, fors'è lui, the love melody Alfredo sang in the duet returns, showing how Violetta's heart is wavering. The piano version has 3,748 notes, with a range from B-flat 1 to A6, which does not fit on a 61-key keyboard.

An advanced piece, it asks you to convey the contrast between the broadly sung first half and the virtuosic second half. Work on the fast figures of the second half a little at a time with a lowered playback speed and the A-B loop. Use the hand colours to see which hand has the melody, keep the accompaniment restrained in the first half, and aim for even fingerwork in the second, so the course of the scene comes through.

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