Valse, from La Traviata (string trio – two violins and cello)

Title: Valse, from the opera La Traviata

Composer: Giuseppe Verdi, arr. David Gable

Instrumentation: Violin 1; Violin 2; Cello

Printout: 12 pages

Note: In the ball scene from La Traviata, Verdi employs a novel device: superimposing a recitative on top of a waltz. The conversation between the two main characters, which traditionally would have been written in recitative style, takes place in an antechamber to the ballroom in which this waltz is being played. It is a cheery, light waltz suitable to the occasion (celebration of the female protagonist’s supposed recovery from tuberculosis) yet antithetical to the opera’s conclusion (the female protagonist’s death; it’s opera, after all). This arrangement is suitable for either gig or concert use. The parts have been configured to allow for convenient page turns.