I had one more tuberculosis-related opera on my list and just had the opportunity to experience it. Again, the disclaimer — I am not a regular opera consumer but am someone who has an interest in consumption. Verdi’s La Traviata which predates La Boheme, is based on a novel and play that recounts the life and demise of a famous courtesan from tuberculosis. Since it was written several decades before La Boheme it is not surprising that tuberculosis is a fatal disease.
One of the elements of this tuberculosis portrayal is that the main character, VIoletta, is a well-accepted, highly sought-after person of interest despite her sickness. Today, tuberculosis is known as a contagious infectious disease and those with pulmonary tuberculosis (who are smear positive and not on therapy) are not the people who should be interacting all that much with the general public until their disease is under control.
Robert Koch discovered Mycobacterium tuberculosis as the cause of tuberculosis in 1882 — decades after La Traviata — dispelling mistaken notions regarding the cause of tuberculosis, including heredity or a disposition/temperament. In La Traviata, there is a line about how a person lives confers susceptibility (which is not entirely untrue) but in the opera it appears to matter-of-factly be more about continual parties and being a courtesan than any moral judgment.
Perhaps the lack of fear of contagion explains why tuberculosis wasn’t stigmatized at that time and it was only with Koch’s discoveries and the acceptance of the germ theory of disease, that tuberculosis exposure was re-conceptualized as something to be avoided. When tuberculosis modern descendant (in terms of widespread infection, targeted demographic, etc) appeared that type of view of disease