La traviata and work with the composer. One subject was chosen, Piave set to work, and then Verdi threw in another idea, which may have been "La traviata". However, within a short time, a synopsis was dispatched to Venice under the title of "Amore e morte" ("Love and Death"). However, as Budden reveals, Verdi writes to his friend De Sanctis telling him that "for Venice I'm doing "La Dame aux camélias" which will probably be called "La traviata". A subject for our own age." Although still bogged down at Sant'Agata, Piave was sanguine: "Everything will turn out fine, and we'll have a
Teatro Lirico Giuseppe Verdi to solve the problem, which was accomplished by incorporating elements of Milan's La Scala opera house. The "Nuovo" became a mixture of La Fenice on the inside and La Scala on the exterior. Several name changes have occurred during the theatre's lifetime, the first in 1821 when it became the "Teatro Grande" and it was under this name that the theatre was the site of two Verdi opera premieres: "Il corsaro" in 1848 (featuring the soprano Giuseppina Strepponi, who Verdi married in 1859, in the leading role) and "Stiffelio", a production which Verdi supervised - not without controversy - in