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.