La Dame aux Camélias La Dame aux Camélias La Dame aux Camélias (literally The Lady with the Camellias, commonly known in English as Camille) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas "fils", first published in 1848 and subsequently adapted by Dumas for the stage. "La Dame aux Camélias" premiered at the Théâtre du Vaudeville in Paris, France on February 2, 1852. The play was an instant success, and Giuseppe Verdi immediately set about putting the story to music. His work became the 1853 opera "La traviata", with the female protagonist, Marguerite Gautier, renamed Violetta Valéry. In the English-speaking world, "La Dame aux Camélias" became known
Giuseppe Verdi the death of his mother in June 1851. The fact that this is "the one opera of Verdi's which focuses on a mother rather than a father" is perhaps related to her death. In the winter of 1851–52 Verdi decided to go to Paris with Strepponi, where he concluded an agreement with the Opéra to write what became "Les vêpres siciliennes", his first original work in the style of grand opera. In February 1852, the couple attended a performance of Alexander Dumas "fils"'s play, "The Lady of the Camellias"; Verdi immediately began to compose music for what would later become