La bohème is an
opera in four acts by
Giacomo Puccini to an Italian
libretto by
Luigi
Illica and
Giuseppe Giacosa,
based on
Scènes de la vie de
bohème by
Henri Murger.
The world
première performance of La bohème was in Turin
on February
1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio (now the Teatro Regio di
Torino
) and conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. Since then
La
bohème has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory
and is one of the most frequently performed operas internationally.
According to
Opera America, it is the
second most frequently performed opera in the United States, just
behind another Puccini opera,
Madama Butterfly. In 1946, fifty years
after the opera's premiere, Toscanini conducted a performance of it
on radio with the
NBC Symphony
Orchestra. This performance was eventually released on records
and on
Compact Disc. It is the only
recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor (see
Recordings
below).
Origin of the story
According to its title page, the libretto of
La bohème is
based on
Henri Murger's novel,
Scènes de la vie de bohème, but that
novel is a collection of vignettes with no unified plot. Like the
1849 play by Murger and
Théodore Barrière, the opera's
libretto focuses on the relationship between Rodolfo and Mimì,
ending with her death. Also like the play, the libretto combines
two characters from the novel, Mimì and Francine, into a single
Mimì character.
Much of the libretto is original. The main plots of acts two and
three are the librettists' invention, with only a few passing
references to incidents and characters in Murger. Most of acts one
and four follow the novel, piecing together episodes from various
chapters. The final scenes in acts one and four — the scenes with
Rodolfo and Mimì — resemble both the play and the novel. The story
of their meeting closely follows chapter 18 of the novel, in which
the two lovers living in the garret are not Rodolphe and Mimì at
all, but rather Jacques and Francine. The story of Mimì's death in
the opera draws from two different chapters in the novel, one
relating Francine's death and the other relating Mimì's.
The published libretto includes a note from the librettists briefly
discussing their adaptation. Without mentioning the play directly,
they defend their conflation of Francine and Mimì into a single
character: "Chi puo non confondere nel delicato profilo di una sola
donna quelli di Mimì e di Francine?" ("Who cannot detect in the
delicate profile of one woman the personality both of Mimì and of
Francine?") At the time, the novel was in the public domain, Murger
having died without heirs, but rights to the play were still
controlled by Barrière's heirs..
Meaning of the title
Since the 16th century, the French word
bohémien was used
to refer to
gypsies, based on the erroneous
belief that they come from
Bohemia. "Petit
Robert">
Le Nouveau Petit Robert: Dictionnaire de la langue
français, 1993
As gypsies are associated in the common
imagination with a wild and free life separate from rigid society,
the name came to be associated with the counter-culture of young
artists and other rebels in the Latin Quarter
of 19th century Paris. This was a common
colloquial term in Paris, when
Henri
Murger used it in the title of the stories which eventually
became the basis for the opera. The fame of Murger's stories
carried the term to the world beyond Paris and into other
languages, such as English, where "bohemian" has a similar
connotation.
The word
bohème denotes the place where these bohemians
live, and thus translates to "Bohemia". When referring to the
geographic region, the preferred French spelling was (and is)
Bohême, with a
circumflex.
Murger encouraged the alternate spelling of
bohème, with a
grave accent, to specify the conceptual
Bohemia he wrote about. In the preface to
Scènes de la vie de bohème he
wrote, "La Bohème, c'est le stage de la vie artistique; c'est la
préface de l'Académie, de l'Hôtel-Dieu ou de la Morgue."
("Bohemia
is a stage in artistic life; it is the preface to the Academy, the
Hôtel-Dieu
[hospital], or the Morgue.)
Although Puccini's opera is in Italian, it was given a French
title, shortening Murger's title to simply
La bohème. A
literal translation of this would be "Bohemia" but in the poetic
sense of the word, not the geographic. (It has sometimes been
rendered in English as "The Bohemian Girl", possibly under the
influence of
Michael Balfe's
opera of that name, but that is erroneous. "The Bohemian girl" (or
gypsy girl) would be
bohémienne.)
Performance history
Initial success in the 1890s
The world
première performance of La bohème was in Turin on February
1, 1896 at the Teatro Regio (now the Teatro Regio di
Torino
) and was conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini. The opera quickly
became popular throughout Italy and productions were soon mounted
at the Teatro di San
Carlo
(14 March 1896, with Elisa
Petri as Musetta and Antonio
Magini-Coletti as Marcello), the Teatro Comunale di Bologna (4
November 1896, with Amelia
Sedelmayer as Musetta and Umberto
Beduschi as Rodolfo), the Teatro
Costanzi (17 November 1896, with Maria Stuarda Savelli as Mimì,
Enrico Giannini-Grifoni as
Rodolfo, and Maurizio Bensaude as
Marcello), La
Scala
(15 March 1897, with Angelica Pandolfini as Mimì, Camilla Pasini as Musetta, Fernando De Lucia as Rodolfo, and Edoardo Camera as Marcello), La Fenice
(26 December 1897, with Emilia Merolla as Mimì, Maria Martelli as Musetta, Giovanni Apostolu/Franco Mannucci as Rodolfo, and Ferruccio Corradetti as Marcello), the
Teatro Regio di
Parma
(29 January 1898, with Salomea Krusceniski as Mimì, Lina Cassandro as Musetta, Pietro Ferrari as Rodolfo, and Pietro Giacomello as Marcello), and the
Teatro Donizetti di
Bergamo (21 August 1898, with Emilia
Corsi as Mimì, Annita Barone as
Musetta, Giovanni Apostolu as
Rodolfo, and Giovanni Roussel as
Marcello).
The first
performance of La bohème outside Italy was at the Teatro
Colón
in Buenos
Aires
, Argentina on 16 June 1896. The opera was given in
Alexandria
, Lisbon, and Moscow in early 1897.
The United
Kingdom premiere took place at the Theatre Royal in Manchester
, on 22 April 1897, in a presentation by the
Carl Rosa Opera Company
supervised by Puccini. The performance was given in English
and starred
Alice Esty as Mimì,
Bessie McDonald as Musetta, Robert
Cunningham as Rodolfo, and William Paull as Marcello.
On 2 October 1897 the
same company gave the opera's first staging at the Royal Opera
House
in London and on 14 October 1897 in Los Angeles
for the opera's United States premiere.
The opera
reached New York
City
on 16 May 1898 when it was performed at Palmo's Opera House with Giuseppe Agostini as Rodolfo. The
first production of the opera actually staged specifically for the
Royal Opera House occured on 1 July 1899 with
Nellie Melba as Mimì,
Zélie de Lussan as Musetta, Fernando De
Lucia as Rodolfo,
Enrico Caruso as
Parpignol, and
Mario Ancona as
Marcello.
The
German premiere of La bohème took place at the Kroll Opera
House
in Berlin
on 22 June
1897. The French premiere of the opera was
presented by the Opéra-Comique
on 13 June 1898 at the Théâtre des
Nations
. The production used a French translation by
Paul Ferrier and starred
Julia Guiraudon as Mimì,
Jeanne Tiphaine as Musetta,
Adolphe Maréchal as Rodolfo, and
Lucien Fugère as Marcello.
The
Théâtre de la Renaissance
presented the opera in 10 October 1989 with
Cécilie Thévenet as
Musetta, Julien Lepestre as
Marcello, and Gabriel Soulacroix
as Rodolfo.
20th century
La bohème continued to gain international popularity
throughout the early 20th century and the Opéra-Comique alone had
already presented the opera one hundred times by 1903.
The Belgian premiere
took place at La
Monnaie
on 25 October 1900 using Ferrier's French
translation with Marie Thiérry as
Mimì, Léon David as Rodolfo,
Eugène-Charles Badiali
as Marcello, and Philippe Flon
conducting. The
Metropolitan
Opera staged the work for the first time on 26 December 1900
with Nellie Melba as Mimì,
Annita Occhiolini-Rizzini as
Musetta,
Albert Saléza as
Rodolfo,
Giuseppe Campanari as
Marcello, and
Luigi Mancinelli
conducting.
The opera
was first presented in Brazil
at the
Teatro Amazonas in Manaus
on 2 July
1901 with Elvira Miotti as Mimì,
Mabel Nelma as Musetta, Michele Sigaldi as Rodolfo,and Enrico De Franceschi as
Marcello. Other premieres soon followed:
- Monaco
: 1 February
1902, Opéra de Monte-Carlo
in Monte
Carlo
with Melba as Mimì, Caruso as Rodolfo, Alexis Boyer as Marcello, and Léon Jehin conducting.
- Prato
: 25 December
1902, Regio Teatro
Metastasio with Ulderica
Persichini as Mimì,Norma Sella as
Musetta, Ariodante Quarti as
Rodolfo, and Amleto Pollastri as
Marcello.
- Catania
: 9 July 1903, Politeama
Pacini with Isabella Costa
Orbellini as Mimì, Lina Gismondi
as Musetta, Elvino Ventura as
Rodolfo, and Alfredo Costa as
Marcello.
- Austria
: 25 November 1903, Vienna State Opera
in Vienna
with
Selma Kurz as Mimì, Marie Gutheil-Schoder as Musetta,
Fritz Schrödter as Rodolfo,
Gerhard Stehmann as Marcello, and
Gustav Mahler conducting.
- Sweden
: 19 May
1905, Royal
Dramatic Theatre
in Stockholm
, presented by the Royal Swedish Opera with Maria Labia as Mimì.
Roles
Act 2 costume design for "la
rappezzatrice" (the clothes mender) for the world premiere
performance.
Prop designs for act 2 of
La
bohème for the world premiere performance.
| Role |
Voice type |
Premiere cast, 1 February 1896
(Conductor: Arturo Toscanini) |
| Rodolfo, a poet |
tenor |
Evan Gorga |
| Mimì, a seamstress |
soprano |
Cesira Ferrani |
| Marcello, a painter |
baritone |
Tieste Wilmant |
| Schaunard, a musician |
baritone |
Antonio Pini-Corsi |
| Colline, a philosopher |
bass |
Michele Mazzara |
| Musetta, a singer |
soprano |
Camilla Pasini |
| Benoît, their landlord |
bass |
Alessandro Polonini |
| Alcindoro, a state councillor |
bass |
Alessandro Polonini |
| Parpignol, a toy vendor |
tenor |
Dante Zucchi |
| A customs Sergeant |
bass |
Felice Fogli |
| Students, working girls, townsfolk,
shopkeepers, street-vendors, soldiers, waiters, children |
Synopsis
The story is set in Paris in the period around 1830.
Rodolfo's garret — set design for act
1 of
La bohème for the world premiere performance.
It essentially focuses on the love between the seamstress called
Mimì and the poet Rodolfo. They almost immediately fall in love
with each other, but Rodolfo later wants to leave Mimì because of
her flirtatious behavior. However, Mimì also happens to be mortally
ill, and Rodolfo also feels guilt, since their life together likely
had worsened her health even further. They reunite for a brief
moment at the end before Mimì dies.
Act 1
In the four bohemians' garret
Marcello is painting while Rodolfo gazes out of the window. In
order to keep warm, they burn the manuscript of Rodolfo's drama.
Colline, the philosopher, enters shivering and disgruntled at not
having been able to
pawn some books.
Schaunard, the musician of the group, arrives with food, firewood,
wine, cigars, and money, and he explains the source of his riches,
a job with an eccentric English
gentleman.
The others hardly listen to his tale as they fall ravenously upon
the food. Schaunard interrupts them by whisking the meal away and
declaring that they will all celebrate his good fortune by dining
at Cafe Momus instead.
While they drink, Benoît, the landlord, arrives to collect the
rent. They flatter him and ply him with wine. In his drunkenness,
he recites his amorous adventures, but when he also declares he is
married, they thrust him from the room — without the rent payment —
in comic moral indignation.
The rent money is divided for their carousal
in the Quartier
Latin.
The other Bohemians go out, but Rodolfo remains alone for a moment
in order to finish an article he is writing, promising to join his
friends soon. There is a knock at the door, and Mimì, a seamstress
who lives in another room in the building, enters. Her candle has
blown out, and she has no matches; she asks Rodolfo to light it.
She thanks him, but returns a few seconds later, saying she has
lost her key. Both candles are extinguished; the pair stumble in
the dark. Rodolfo, eager to spend time with Mimì, finds the key and
pockets it, feigning innocence. In two arias (Rodolfo's
Che
gelida manina – "What a cold little hand" and Mimì's
Sì,
mi chiamano Mimì – "Yes, they call me Mimì"), they tell each
other about their different backgrounds. Impatiently, the waiting
friends call Rodolfo, but, while he suggests remaining at home with
Mimì, she decides to accompany him. As they leave, they sing of
their newfound love (duet, Rodolfo and Mimì:
O soave
fanciulla – "Oh gentle maiden").
Act 2
Quartier Latin
Prop designs for act 2 of
La
bohème for the world premiere performance.
A great crowd has gathered with street sellers announcing their
wares (chorus:
Aranci, datteri! Caldi i marroni!
– "Oranges, dates! Hot chestnuts!"). The friends appear, flushed
with gaiety; Rodolfo buys Mimì a bonnet from a vendor. Parisians
gossip with friends and bargain with the vendors; the children of
the streets clamor to see the wares of Parpignol, the toy seller.
The friends enter the Cafe Momus.
As the men and Mimì dine at the cafe, Musetta, formerly Marcello's
sweetheart, arrives with her rich (and aging) government minister
admirer, Alcindoro, to whom she speaks as she might to a lapdog. It
is clear she has tired of him. To the delight of the Parisians and
the embarrassment of her patron, she sings a risqué song (Musetta's
waltz:
Quando me
n’vò – "When I go along"), hoping to reclaim Marcello's
attention. Soon Marcello is burning with jealousy. To be rid of
Alcindoro for a bit, Musetta pretends to be suffering from a tight
shoe and sends him with it to the shoemaker to be fixed. During the
melee that follows, Musetta and Marcello fall into each other's
arms and reconcile.
The friends are presented with the bill and to their consternation
find that Schaunard's money is not enough to pay it. The sly
Musetta has the entire bill charged to Alcindoro. The sound of
approaching soldiers is heard, and, picking up Musetta, Marcello
and Colline carry her out on their shoulders amid the applause of
the spectators. When all have gone, Alcindoro arrives with the
repaired shoe seeking Musetta. The waiter hands him the bill, and,
horror-stricken at the charge, Alcindoro sinks into a chair.
Act 3
At the toll gate
Peddlers pass through the barriers and enter the city. Amongst them
is Mimì, coughing violently. She tries to find Marcello, who lives
in a little tavern nearby where he paints signs for the innkeeper.
She tells him of her hard life with Rodolfo, who has abandoned her
that night (
O buon Marcello, aiuto! – "Oh, good Marcello,
help me!"). Marcello tells her that Rodolfo is asleep inside, but
he wakes up and comes out looking for Marcello. Mimì hides and
overhears Rodolfo first telling Marcello that he left Mimì because
of her coquettishness, but finally confessing that he fears she is
slowly being consumed by a deadly illness (most likely
tuberculosis, known by the catchall name
"consumption" in the nineteenth century). Rodolfo, in his poverty,
can do little to help Mimì and hopes that his pretended unkindness
will inspire her to seek another, wealthier suitor (
Marcello,
finalmente – "Marcello, finally"). Out of kindness towards
Mimì, Marcello tries to silence him, but she has already heard all.
Her coughing reveals her presence, and Rodolfo and Mimì sing of
their lost love. They make plans to separate amicably (Mimì:
Donde lieta uscì – "From here she happily left"), but
their love for one another is too strong. As a compromise, they
agree to remain together until the spring, when the world is coming
to life again and no one feels truly alone. Meanwhile, Marcello has
joined Musetta, and the couple quarrel fiercely: an antithetical
counterpoint to the other pair's reconciliation (quartet: Mimì,
Rodolfo, Musetta, Marcello:
Addio dolce svegliare alla
mattina! – "Goodbye, sweet awakening in the morning!").
Act 4
Back in the garret
Marcello and Rodolfo are seemingly at work, though they are
primarily bemoaning the loss of their respective loves (duet:
O
Mimì, tu più non torni – "O Mimì, will you not return?").
Schaunard and Colline arrive with a very frugal dinner and all
parody eating a plentiful banquet, dance
together, and sing. Musetta arrives with news: Mimì, who took up
with a wealthy viscount after leaving Rodolfo in the spring, has
left her patron. Musetta has found her wandering the streets,
severely weakened by her illness, and has brought her back to the
garret. Mimì, haggard and pale, is assisted into a chair. Musetta
and Marcello leave to sell Musetta's earrings in order to buy
medicine, and Colline leaves to pawn his overcoat (
Vecchia
zimarra – "Old coat"). Schaunard, urged by Colline, quietly
departs to give Mimì and Rodolfo time together. Left alone, they
recall their past happiness (duet, Mimì and Rodolfo:
Sono
andati? – "Have they gone?"). They relive their first meeting
— the candles, the lost key — and, to Mimì's delight, Rodolfo
presents her with the pink bonnet he bought her, which he has kept
as a souvenir of their love. The others return, with a gift of a
muff to warm Mimì's hands and some medicine, and tell Rodolfo that
a doctor has been summoned, but it is too late to help their
friend, who lapses into unconsciousness. As Musetta prays, Mimì
dies. Schaunard discovers Mimì lifeless. Rodolfo cries out Mimì's
name in anguish, and weeps helplessly.
Instrumentation
La bohème is scored for:
Recordings
- Main article: La
bohème discography
The discography of
La bohème is a long one with many
distinguished recordings, including the 1973 RCA Victor conducted
by
Sir Georg Solti with
Montserrat Caballé as Mimì and
Plácido Domingo as Rodolfo
which won the 1974
Grammy Award for
Best Opera Recording. The earliest commercially released
full-length recording was probably that recorded in February 1917
and released on the Italian label
La
Voce del Padrone.
Carlo Sabajno conducted the La Scala Orchestra and Chorus with Gemma Bosini and Remo
Andreini as Mimì and Rodolfo. One of the most recent is the
2008
Deutsche Grammophon release
conducted by
Bertrand de Billy
with
Anna Netrebko and
Rolando Villazón as Mimì and
Rodolfo.
There are several recordings with conductors closely associated
with Puccini. In the 1946 RCA Victor release,
Arturo Toscanini, who conducted the world
premiere of the opera, conducts the NBC Symphony Orchestra with
Jan Peerce as Rodolfo and
Licia Albanese as Mimì. It is the only
recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor.
Thomas Beecham, who worked closely with
Puccini when preparing a 1920 production of
La bohème in
London, conducted a performance of the opera in English released by
Columbia Records in 1936 with
Lisa
Perli as Mimì and
Heddle Nash as
Rodolfo. Beecham also conducts on the 1956 RCA Victor recording
with
Victoria de los
Ángeles and
Jussi Björling
as Mimi and as Rodolfo.
Although the vast majority of recordings are in the original
Italian, the opera has been recorded in several other languages.
These
include: Wilfrid Pelletier
conducting the Metropolitan Opera
Orchestra and Chorus with Eleanor
Steber and Armand Tokatyan as
Mimì and Rodolfo (French, 1940);
Richard Kraus conducting the Deutsche Oper Berlin
Orchestra and Chorus with Trude Eipperle and Fritz Wunderlich as Mimì and Rodolfo
(German, 1956); and the 1998 release
on the Chandos Opera in English
label with David Parry conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra and Cynthia Haymon and Dennis O'Neill as Mimì and
Rodolfo.
Enrico Caruso, who was closely
associated with the role of Rodolfo and sang in the UK premiere of
La bohème, never recorded a full version of the opera but
recorded several extracts on
cylinder beginning in 1906, which still
appear on many compilations. Rodolfo's famous aria "Che gelida
manina" was recorded not only by Caruso but by nearly 500 other
tenors in at least seven different languages between 1900 and 1980.
In 1981 the A.N.N.A. Record Company released a six
LP set with 101 tenors singing the aria.
The missing act
In 1957 Illica’s widow died and his papers were given to the Parma
Museum. Among them was the full libretto to
La bohème. It
was discovered that the librettists had prepared an act which
Puccini decided not to use in his composition. It is noteworthy for
explaining Rodolfo’s jealous remarks to Marcello in act 3.
The "missing act" is located in the timeline between the Café Momus
scene and act 3 and describes an open-air party at Musetta’s
dwelling. Her protector has refused to pay further rent out of
jealous feelings, and Musetta’s furniture is moved into the
courtyard to be auctioned off the following morning. The four
Bohemians find in this an excuse for a party and arrange for wine
and an orchestra. Musetta gives Mimì a beautiful gown to wear and
introduces her to a Vicount. The pair dances a quadrille in the
courtyard, which moves Rodolfo to jealousy. This explains his act 3
reference to the "moscardino di Viscontino" (young fop of a
Viscount). As dawn approaches, furniture dealers gradually remove
pieces for the morning auction.
Derivative works
In 1959 "Musetta's Waltz" was adapted by songwriter
Bobby Worth for the 1959 pop song "
Don't You Know?", a hit for
Della Reese. The opera was also adapted into a
1983
short story form by the novelist
V. S.
Pritchett for publication by the
Metropolitan Opera
Association.
La bohème was the basis for
Jonathan Larson's 1996
Tony Award and
Pulitzer
Prize-winning Broadway musical
Rent.
La Bohème. Una piccola storia sull'immortalità
dell'amore e dell'amicizia by Carollina Fabinger is an
illustrated version in Italian for young readers published by
Nuages, Milano 2009, ISBN 9788886178891.
Modernizations
Baz Luhrmann produced the opera for
Opera Australia in 1990 with
modernized supertitle translations, and a budget of only
AU$60,000. A DVD was issued of the stage
show. This version was set in 1957, rather than the original period
of 1830. The reason for updating
La bohème to this period,
according to Baz Luhrmann, was that "... [they] discovered that
1957 was a very, very accurate match for the social and economic
realities of Paris in the 1840s."
In 2002, Luhrmann restaged his version on
Broadway
and won a Tony
Award. To play the eight performances per week on
Broadway, three casts of Mimìs and Rodolfos, and two Musettas and
Marcellos, were used in rotation.
References
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