Literary adaptations today follow the book-to-film route, or much less often stage-to-film. Prior to the invention of moving pictures, the standard route was book-to-stage-to-opera, with opera being the mass entertainment of the age. That was the route followed by La Dame aux Camélias (The Lady of the Camellias), a tragic story about a French courtesan and her lover, written by Alexander Dumas. His novel was adapted into a stage play, and thereafter one of the most successful operas in history.

On this day, March 6, in 1853, the opera La Traviata (loosely translated, meaning The Fallen Woman) premiered at the Le Fenice opera house in Venice, Italy. Critics almost unanimously panned it, noting the lead singer, portraying a young woman suffering from consumption, was too old and too fat to be convincing.

Verdi was not sure whether the criticism derived from his music or the singer performing to it. He got his answer and the second premier of a slightly revised La Traviata. This time, a much younger woman singing the lead character earned a much better critical review, and the opera spread throughout Europe.