Chapter 9

Familiarity with music and its effects--An experience of the author's--Prelude to Verdi's last act--Expressiveness of some melodies--Verdi, the dramatist--Von Bülow and Mascagni--How "Traviata" came to be written--Piave, the librettist--Composed simultaneously with "Il Trovatore,"--Failure of "La Traviata," --The causes--The style of the music--Dr. Basevi's view--Changes in costuming--The opera succeeds--First performance in New York, --A criticism by W. H. Fry--Story of the opera--Dumas's story and harles Dickens--Controversy as a help to popular success.