Editing La traviata (section)

===Verdi sees ''The Lady of the Camellias'' play===

Verdi and [[Giuseppina Strepponi]] visited Paris from late 1851 and into March 1852. In February the couple attended a performance of [[Alexandre Dumas fils|Alexander Dumas]] ''fils''{{'}}s ''[[The Lady of the Camellias]]''. As a result of this, Verdi's biographer [[Mary Jane Phillips-Matz]] reports, the composer immediately began to compose music for what would later become ''La traviata''.{{sfn|Phillips-Matz|1993|p=303}} However, [[Julian Budden]] notes that Verdi had probably read the Dumas novel some time before, and, after seeing the play and returning to Italy, "he was already setting up an ideal operatic cast for it in his mind",{{sfn|Budden|1992|p=115}} shown by his dealings with La Fenice.