The real Traviata : the song of Marie Duplessis / Rene Weis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Weis, René, 1953- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Duplessis, Marie, 1824-1847.

Duplessis, Marie.

Dumas, Alexandre, 1824-1895. Dame aux camelias.

Dumas, Alexandre.

Courtesans--France--Paris--Biography.

Courtesans.

Paris (France)--Social life and customs--19th century.

Paris (France).

France--Paris.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xv, 400 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 24 cm

Other Title:

Song of Marie Duplessis

Place of Publication:

Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2015.

Summary:

This is the rags-to-riches story of a tragic young woman whose life inspired one of the most famous operas of all time, Verdi's masterpiece, La traviata, as well as one of the most scandalous and successful French novels of the nineteenth century, La Dame aux Camelias, by Alexandre Dumas fils. The woman at the centre of the story, Marie Duplessis, escaped from her life as an abused teenage girl in provincial Normandy, rising in an amazingly short space of time to the apex of fashionable life in nineteenth century Paris, where she was considered the queen of the Parisian courtesans. Her life was painfully short, but by sheer willpower, intelligence, talent, and stunning looks she attained such prominence in the French capital that ministers of the government and even members of the French royal family fell under her spell. In the 1840s she commanded the kind of 'paparazzi' attention that today we associate only with major royalty or the biggest Hollywood stars. Aside from the younger Dumas, her conquests included a host of writers and artists, including the greatest pianist of the century, Franz Liszt, with whom she once hoped to elope. When she died Theophile Gautier, one of the most important Parisian writers of the day, penned an obituary fit for a princess. Indeed, he boldly claimed that she had been a princess, notwithstanding her peasant origin and her distinctly demi-monde existence.

Contents:

1 Prologue: A weekend in the country 1

2 A mother and daughter: 1824-1837 13

3 L'affaire Plantier: Exmes 1837 36

4 Working girls in Paris: 1839-1841 45

5 A fair lady meets Pygmalion: 1840-1841 58

6 The baby of a traviata: Versailles, May 1841 64

7 Stallions and flaneurs on the boulevard des Italiens: 1841-1842 75

8 An old count in Baden-Baden: July 1842 91

9 Partying in Paris and London with Antinous: 1842-1843 105

10 A summer idyll on a bend in the river: 1843 121

11 Sin and luxury at 11 boulevard de la Madeleine: 1844-1847 148

12 Alexandre Dumas fils, Lola Montez, and Olympe Aguado: 1844-1845 164

13 The pianist, the baroness, and the actress: October 1845-February 1846 183

14 A registry wedding in London: 21 February 1846 200

15 A summer sunset in the spas of Europe: 1846 208

16 Agony and death of a maiden: October 1846-3 February 1847 215

17 Two winter funerals in Montmartre: February 1847 232

18 Auction at 11 boulevard de la Madeleine: February 1847 242

19 La Dame aux Camelias, by Alexandre Dumas fils: 1848 249

20 La Dame aux Camélias at the Vaudeville: February 1852 267

21 Verdi and the Barezzis-The genesis of La traviata: 1823-1852 284

22 La traviata 1853-4: The apotheosis of Marie Duplessis 304

23 Epilogue: Memory and myth 338.

Notes:

Includes bibliographic references and index.

ISBN:

9780198708544

0198708548

OCLC:

921048755