La Traviata at La Palais Garnier

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Claudette loves the Arts; from seedy Jazz Clubs to the Opera and anywhere you can get a good gin martini. The last time she was in Paris, she sat in the Bar Les Ambassadeurs at the Hotel de Crillon sipping an excellent martini and looking through a list of nearby art galleries when she ran into a past lover with tickets to the opera, La Traviata …. Of course, she said yes…

The opportunity to revisit Palais Garnier, the magnificent Paris opera house, was an added bonus. It was built for the Paris Opera at the behest of Emperor Napoleon III. The name “the Palais Garnier” was an acknowledgment of its extraordinary opulence. The theatre has been a historical monument of France since 1923. It has been described as "unquestionably a masterpiece of the first rank."

Claudette sees herself as a strong person who is also a romantic. The main character in the Opera La Traviata, Violetta Valéry, gives up the man she loves to save his family’s reputation. La Traviata tells the story of the tragic love between the courtesan Violetta and the romantic Alfredo Germont. When Alfredo’s father directly appeals to Violetta to relinquish her one chance of happiness, Violetta submits. Alfredo comes to her side as she dies in his arms. The term “la traviata” means “the fallen woman,” which Claudette found amusing….