Chronologically, Il Trovatore followed Rigoletto, and was itself followed by La Traviata. Il Trovatore was finished in July 1852, and successfully staged at the Teatro Apollo in Rome on 19 January 1853 (negotiations for a first performance at the San Carlo in Naples had fallen through). Less than two months later, on 6 March, La Traviata failed miserably at La Fenice in Venice. Although we can see from the sketches and autographs preserved at Sant'Agata that La Traviata was hurriedly composed – the orchestration was completed in twelve days – it must in some sense have already been in the composer's mind from at least the end of May 1852, when he signed an agreement with the directors of La Fenice for delivery of a new opera.

Even though it is not justifiable to say that Verdi composed Il Trovatore and La Traviata simultaneously, the two operas were certainly both in his mind during the entire second half of 1852 as he waited for them to be performed, even though one was on the point of completion and the other was not. The two operas resemble each other in no important respect, but the presence of two almost identical pieces (‘Ai nostri monti’ and ‘Parigi, o cara’) in an identical concluding situation suggests compositional processes which, in certain substantial areas, ran parallel.