La traviata: Atto I. Recitativo "È strano! è strano!" (Violetta)

This is a solo scene for soprano, taken from the end of act I of La traviata, in which the courtesan Violetta is left alone after a party and questions what she has just felt.

It opens with a recitative, sung in a flexible, speech-like style, as Violetta wonders aloud whether she could actually be falling in love, repeating "è strano, è strano" ("how strange, how strange").

This leads into "Ah, fors'è lui," a slow, tender aria in which she recalls the young man, Alfredo, who has just declared his feelings, and lets herself imagine what it might mean to love someone honestly. The vocal line rises and lingers, then a solo instrument, often an oboe or clarinet, echoes the melody Alfredo sang to her earlier.

Violetta catches herself and pulls back from the fantasy, and the mood suddenly brightens and quickens into "Sempre libera," a fast, brilliant cabaletta in which she insists she must remain free, moving from pleasure to pleasure, never tied to one man. The vocal line is full of rapid runs and high notes, ending on a sustained top note that is the moment listeners wait for. Offstage, Alfredo's voice is heard calling to her, briefly interrupting her resolve before she rushes back into the fast music.

La traviata premiered in Venice in 1853, based on Alexandre Dumas fils' novel and play about a Parisian courtesan. This scene closes the opera's first act. Violetta, a woman who has built her life around pleasure and independence, has just met Alfredo, a young man who confesses he has loved her from afar. Left alone, she allows herself, briefly, to imagine a different kind of life, before deciding that freedom suits her better. Verdi gives the swing between these two impulses to the voice itself, moving from a searching, unsettled recitative to a lyrical aria and finally to a bravura cabaletta bristling with fast passagework and a high note at its close. The scene is one of the most demanding in the soprano repertoire and is frequently excerpted on its own in orchestral concerts and vocal recitals outside the full opera.