The opera of all operas

As I’m not the first person to have pointed out, the Royal Opera has indulged in a truly phenomenal number of performances of La Traviata this season, in the largely traditional production by Richard Eyre, which opened in 1994 with Angela Gheorghiu making her name. The three main roles have been cast differently for these three runs of performances, of which the last has just begun.

It’s the kind of production that allows plenty of scope for individual interpretations, and in the many revivals I have seen of it the two outstanding pieces of casting have been the Alfredo of Jonas Kaufmann in 2008, which showed how interesting this usually wooden role can be with an interpreter of genius; and the still more remarkable account of Germont by Simon Keenlyside a couple of months ago; while Anna Netrebko, also in 2008, was the best of the Violettas I have seen.