Stayed in Prague this weekend on account of feeling like an invalid. Let's just say that I'm lucky to be living in an era where the concept of "survival of the fittest" is no longer relevant.
Thursday night, after excessive begging on my part, my Hungarian friend Tamas let me in on a secret to getting cheap Opera tickets. How cheap? 2 dollars. Although, we almost didn't get them, because (as expected), the Czech ticket lady was being very difficult (indifferent, cold service is ubiquitous in the Czech Republic). After some impressive insistence by Tomas, we found ourselves on the the ground floor, in the 9th row. Quite a change from the last row, second balcony view I'm used to.
La Traviata was amazing. Romance. Lies. Courtesans. Pretty dresses. Read on!
I guess in operas (this was my first one), they actually project the dialogue onto a screen above or below the stage. Luckily, there were both English and Czech subtitles (the actual opera is in Italian, of course). There were occasional, amusing grammatical errors like "hear" instead of "here," but the funniest was this one song where these lines were repeated about a dozen times:
Violetta: I love you!
Alfredo: That makes me so happy! I love you too!
Violetta: I am so happy!
(repeat)
(of course, this sounded beautiful in Italian)
La Traviata, or "the Fallen Woman" was written by Verdi, but based on a story by Alexander Dumas (the Three Musketeers, the Count of Monte Cristo) about star-crossed lovers who can't seem to catch a break. Pretty standard opera material. At the beginning, Alfredo is deeply in love with Violetta, but she's only lukewarm about him. Soon, she gives in and decides to give it a try. They fall madly in love. Only, she has a reputation as a courtesan, and also happens to have TB. Alfredo's dad approaches Violetta in secret, and asks her to leave town. Her reputation is tarnishing Alfredo's family name. So she leaves, but Alfredo doesn't know why, which just sets him down this horrible, alcoholic spiral, which leads to him embarrassing her at this party, but IT'S HORRIBLE BECAUSE SHE ONLY LEFT BECAUSE SHE LOVED HIM SO MUCH.
The last time I teared up was in WALL-E, when Eve thinks WALL-E is dead after being crushed by that machine thingy. Something about the combination of dramatic acting and mournful singing really affected me. The opera was really very well done.
The Set
Afterward, we crossed the street to Cafe Slavia, which comes recommended in every guide book as an old haunt of various famous people. It also houses the famous green fairy painting, representing the hallucinogenic effect of Absinthe. We got a really great spot with a view of the painting, as well as of the Prague Castle out the window. I had a hot chocolate and a shot of Absinthe.
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