‘Libiamo’ is an aria from ‘La Traviata’ and references a toast. Loosely, it means “Let’s drink to…”

La traviata, an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, takes as its basis the novel La dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas, fils, published in 1848. First performance: Teatro la Fenice, Venice, March 6, 1853. The title means literally The Woman Who Strayed, or perhaps more poetically The Lost One. Immensely popular, according to Opera America, La Traviata is the third most performed opera in North America, behind only Madama Butterfly and La bohème.

The opera is based on the same novel that also forms the basis of various versions of the movie Camille. The films Pretty Woman and Moulin Rouge! also use the story as a base.

In act one of ‘La Traviata’, Brindisi, Alfredo and Violetta rejoice with a drinking song entitled “Libiamo ne' lieti calici” (“Let's drink from the happy goblets”).