Tuberculosis in human culture the disease, which allegedly helped them to see life more clearly and to act decisively. In 1680 John Bunyan referred to it as "the captain of all these men of death". Several major operas have exploited the theme of heroines dying tragically of tuberculosis, including Mimì in Puccini's opera "La bohème". Giuseppe Verdi's "La Traviata" features the consumptive Violetta Valéry, based on Marguerite Gautier in Alexandre Dumas, "fils"'s 1848 novel "La Dame aux Camélias". In Jacques Offenbach's opera "The Tales of Hoffmann", Antonia has tuberculosis and is under the control of a Svengali-like quack doctor who forces her to sing
Giuseppe Verdi except in the matter of sunrise, which he likes to see up and dressed, and I from my bed." Nonetheless on 15 May, Verdi signed a contract with La Fenice for an opera for the following spring. This was to be "Simon Boccanegra". The couple stayed in Paris until January 1857 to deal with these proposals, and also the offer to stage the translated version of "Il trovatore" as a grand opera. Verdi and Strepponi travelled to Venice in March for the premiere of "Simon Boccanegra", which turned out to be "a fiasco" (as Verdi reported, although on the second