# Best La Traviata on Youtube



## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

Hey everyone, I'm looking for a La Traviata to watch on youtube and was wondering what everyone's preference was. I don't speak Italian, so subtitles are a must, and I'd obviously prefer decent sound quality; even more importantly, the singing should be decent. I watched this excellent production, with Anna Moffo in the titular role (she's no Callas, but still quite good), but the sound quality was not so great.






Thanks for the ideas in advanced!


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

If you don't need subtitles, this one is awesome. It is semi-staged but that does not detract and Marina Rebeka makes a great Violetta.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

BachIsBest said:


> Hey everyone, I'm looking for a La Traviata to watch on youtube and was wondering what everyone's preference was. I don't speak Italian, so subtitles are a must, and I'd obviously prefer decent sound quality; even more importantly, the singing should be decent. I watched this excellent production, with Anna Moffo in the titular role (she's no Callas, but still quite good), but the sound quality was not so great.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


In my opinion this _is_ the best _Traviata_ on YT. I can't stand the Zeffirelli version (which I think used to be on YT but I don't see it anymore), and I think the Moffo and Bonisolli (with an old but still very strong Gino Bechi as Germont) is much better sung and more tastefully done.


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## nina foresti (Mar 11, 2014)

My very favorite La Traviata
https://www.operaonvideo.com/la-traviata-london-1995-gheorghiu-lopardo-nucci-solti/


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## Tsaraslondon (Nov 7, 2013)

vivalagentenuova said:


> In my opinion this _is_ the best _Traviata_ on YT. I can't stand the Zeffirelli version (which I think used to be on YT but I don't see it anymore), and I think the Moffo and Bonisolli (with an old but still very strong Gino Bechi as Germont) is much better sung and more tastefully done.


I don't know what other Traviatas are on Youtube, but I've always found the Moffo a bit of a disappointment. Sure, she looks lovely and sings well, but it always seems to me that she just skims the surface of the work's deeper emotions and the performance as a whole leaves me completely unmoved. In the Zeffirelli film, Stratas doesn't sing half so well, but she tears my heart out and I've always considered this one of the most successful examples of filmed opera.

I can't find it complete on YT, but another favourite of mine was the La Scala performance under Muti with Tiziana Fabbricini as Violetta. She isn't perfect vocally either, but she makes the role work for her and the production is fabulous. Gheorghiu is superb in the Covent Garden taping of her debut in the role, but the other elements (Lopardo, Nucci and Solti) leave less to be desired.

I did find a 1998 Glyndebourne performance with Marie McLaughlin as Violetta. It's a long time since I've seen it, but I remember it being rather good.


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## Parley (May 29, 2021)

Hi

I realise this production will infuriate many but I find the chemistry between the young Netrebko and Villain irresistible. Pity the quality of reproduction is not that good.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

> I don't know what other Traviatas are on Youtube, but I've always found the Moffo a bit of a disappointment. Sure, she looks lovely and sings well, but it always seems to me that she just skims the surface of the work's deeper emotions and the performance as a whole leaves me completely unmoved. In the Zeffirelli film, Stratas doesn't sing half so well, but she tears my heart out and I've always considered this one of the most successful examples of filmed opera.


Different strokes, I guess. I find Moffo's physical acting to be quite good, and I felt she portrayed Violetta's emptiness, mania, nobility, and fear very well. By contrast, I find Stratas totally uninvolving. She looks strangely distant, and her singing captures none of the nuance of the role, which is an absolute deal breaker for me. Compare her part in "Un di felice" with Moffo's: Moffo perfectly conveys the mocking laughter and in-spite-of-herself romantic longings that Verdi suggests in the music, while Stratas just sounds like she's struggling to get the sound out. Moffo's duet with Bechi is phenomenal, and I've rarely heard two singers impart the shifting and complex emotions, and most importantly, the developing relationship between the two of them, through the music so well (the only other recording of that scene I think is as good is De Luca and Galli-Curci). As for the other singers, I prefer Moffo's cast mates without exception. Domingo is a better physical actor than Bonisolli, but Bonisolli's bronze tone is much better than Domingo's strangely thick sound.

Aesthetically I also find the RAI film far more to my taste. I don't like Zeffirelli's aesthetic, whereas the pink-gold glow of the RAI film is warm and ingratiating and helps give the film a humanity that I think the Zeffirelli lacks.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

vivalagentenuova said:


> Different strokes, I guess. I find Moffo's physical acting to be quite good, and I felt she portrayed Violetta's emptiness, mania, nobility, and fear very well. By contrast, I find Stratas totally uninvolving. She looks strangely distant, and her singing captures none of the nuance of the role, which is an absolute deal breaker for me. Compare her part in "Un di felice" with Moffo's: Moffo perfectly conveys the mocking laughter and in-spite-of-herself romantic longings that Verdi suggests in the music, while Stratas just sounds like she's struggling to get the sound out. Moffo's duet with Bechi is phenomenal, and I've rarely heard two singers impart the shifting and complex emotions, and most importantly, the developing relationship between the two of them, through the music so well (the only other recording of that scene I think is as good is De Luca and Galli-Curci). As for the other singers, I prefer Moffo's cast mates without exception. Domingo is a better physical actor than Bonisolli, but Bonisolli's bronze tone is much better than Domingo's strangely thick sound.
> 
> Aesthetically I also find the RAI film far more to my taste. I don't like Zeffirelli's aesthetic, whereas the pink-gold glow of the RAI film is warm and ingratiating and helps give the film a humanity that I think the Zeffirelli lacks.


Is the sound better on the DVD? I really quite agree that the rendition is excellent both visually and vocally (although for pure listening it is hard to argue against Calls/Di Stefano), but the sound on the youtube version is rather flat and fuzzy.


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## vivalagentenuova (Jun 11, 2019)

BachIsBest said:


> Is the sound better on the DVD? I really quite agree that the rendition is excellent both visually and vocally (although for pure listening it is hard to argue against Calls/Di Stefano), but the sound on the youtube version is rather flat and fuzzy.


I think it's a bit better, though there is still a little bit of noise. The YT clip is also zoomed and cropped to be widescreen, so the DVD has clearer picture and the correct aspect ratio, which very much improves the compositions of many shots. There is still some damage to the print that VAI did not repair (would that Criterion or BFI or some other place with the means to do proper restorations took an interest in opera films! -- Stroyeva's magnificent _Boris_ could use some help too). Overall though it's good and an upgrade from the YT posting.

Totally aside, but while I was watching this this afternoon I was thinking they should have done _La rondine_ at the same time. They could have reused the same sets, costumes, and singers. If only I had been a media exec back in the day... ha! RIP whatever company that would have been.


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## BachIsBest (Feb 17, 2018)

vivalagentenuova said:


> I think it's a bit better, though there is still a little bit of noise. The YT clip is also zoomed and cropped to be widescreen, so the DVD has clearer picture and the correct aspect ratio, which very much improves the compositions of many shots. There is still some damage to the print that VAI did not repair (would that Criterion or BFI or some other place with the means to do proper restorations took an interest in opera films! -- Stroyeva's magnificent _Boris_ could use some help too). Overall though it's good and an upgrade from the YT posting.
> 
> Totally aside, but while I was watching this this afternoon I was thinking they should have done _La rondine_ at the same time. They could have reused the same sets, costumes, and singers. If only I had been a media exec back in the day... ha! RIP whatever company that would have been.


My number one priority as a media exec back in the day might have been forcing Furtwangler to use Melchior in his _Tristan_. But a good video _La rondine_ would be nice. Its too bad old time media execs weren't dominated by TC members (or maybe not).


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