In Verdi’s opera La Traviata, the lead character Violetta knows that she will die soon, and is exhausted from her life as a courtesan. She loves unselfishly and freely, but has never experienced true love. However she is touched when her long-time admirer Alfredo expresses concern for her illness and confesses his love. Alfredo believes that he is being toyed with when Violetta cannot reciprocate — however, she later begins to truly fall in love with him. In the final act, they reunite and reconcile just moments before Violetta dies. It is a tragic story of unfulfilled love, where the lovers are like two hands of a clock that do not meet until the final bell.
Let us be joyful, for love
is a fleeting and short-lived joy.
A flower which blossoms and fades,
whose beauty is soon lost forever.
– Violetta
