LA BOHEME STUDY GUIDE - Brazoswood High School Choir

Education & Outreach
proudly presents
The Study Guide
Portland Opera Education & Outreach wishes to thank the following organizations for their generous
support:
The Bank of America Foundation

William Randolph Hearst Foundation

Harold and Arlene Schnitzer CARE Foundation

U.S. Bancorp Foundation
Research and writing by Alexis Hamilton
Portland Opera appreciates the continuing support of The Regional Arts and Culture Council, The
Oregon Arts Commission, The National Endowment for the Arts and the Oregon Cultural Trust.
Portland Opera is a member of OPERA AMERICA.
synopsis
They all sit down and order supper. The toy
vendor Parpignol passes by, besieged by
children. Marcello's former girlfriend, Musetta,
enters ostentatiously on the arm of the elderly,
wealthy Alcindoro, arousing the painter's
jealousy. Trying to regain his attention, she sings
a waltz about her popularity ("Quando me'n
vo'"). Complaining that her shoe pinches,
Musetta
sends
Alcindoro to fetch a
new pair, then falls into
Marcello's arms. Joining
a group of marching
soldiers, the Bohemians
leave Alcindoro to face
the bill when he
returns.
ACT I. In their Latin Quarter garret, the artist
Marcello and poet Rodolfo try to keep warm by
burning pages from Rodolfo's latest drama.
They are joined by Colline, a young
philosopher, and Schaunard, a musician who has
landed a job and brings food, fuel and funds.
While they celebrate their unexpected fortune,
the landlord, Benoit,
comes to collect the
rent. Plying the older
man with wine, they
urge him to tell of his
flirtations, then throw
him out in mock
indignation when he
mentions his wife. As
the friends depart for a
ACT III. At dawn on
Christmas
Eve
the snowy outskirts of
celebration at the Café
Paris,
a
Customs
Momus,
Rodolfo
Officer admits farm
promises to join them
women to the city.
soon, staying behind to
Musetta and revelers
write. There is a knock
are heard inside a
at the door: the visitor
tavern. Soon Mimì
is a neighbor, Mimì,
appears, searching for
whose candle has gone
the place where the
out on the drafty stairs.
reunited Marcello and
When Mimì suddenly
Musetta
now
live.
feels faint, Rodolfo
When
the painter
offers her wine, then
emerges, she pours out
relights her candle and
her
distress
over
helps her to the door.
Rodolfo's
jealousy
("O
Mimì realizes she has
buon Marcello, aiuto!").
lost her key, and as the
It is best they part, she
two search for it, both Original poster for La Bohème by Adolpho Hohenstein, an
says. Rodolfo, who has
candles are blown out. Art Nouveau master, dubbed “The Father of the Italian
been asleep in the tavern, is heard, and Mimì
In the moonlight the poetPoster.”
takes the girl's icy
hides; Marcello thinks she has left. The poet
hand, telling her his dreams ("Che gelida
first tells Marcello he wants to separate from
manina"). She then recounts her life alone,
his sweetheart because she is fickle, but when
embroidering flowers and waiting for spring
pressed, he breaks down, confessing his fear
("Mi chiamano Mimì"). Drawn to each other ("O
that her ill health can only worsen in the
soave fanciulla"), Mimì and Rodolfo slowly leave
poverty they share. Overcome, Mimì stumbles
for the café.
forward to bid her lover farewell ("Donde lieta
uscì") as Marcello runs into the tavern to
ACT II. Amid shouts of street hawkers,
investigate Musetta's raucous laughter. While
Rodolfo buys Mimì a bonnet near the Café
Mimì and Rodolfo recall their happiness,
Momus before introducing her to his friends.
Musetta quarrels with Marcello (quartet:
"Addio, dolce
svegliare"). The painter and his mistress part in
fury, but Mimì and Rodolfo decide to stay
together until spring.
ACT IV. Some months later, separated from
their sweethearts, Rodolfo and Marcello lament
their loneliness in the garret (duet: "O Mimì, tu
più non torni"). Colline and Schaunard bring a
meager meal. The four stage a dance, which
turns into a mock fight. The merrymaking is
ended when Musetta bursts in, saying Mimì is
downstairs, too weak to climb up. As Rodolfo
runs to her, Musetta tells how Mimì asked to be
taken to her lover to die. While Mimì is made
comfortable, Marcello goes with Musetta to sell
her earrings for medicine, and Colline leaves to
pawn his cherished overcoat ("Vecchia
zimarra"). Alone, Mimì and Rodolfo wistfully
recall their first days together ("Sono andati?"),
but she is seized with coughing. When the
others return, Musetta gives Mimì a muff to
warm her hands and prays for her life. Mimì dies
quietly, and when Schaunard discovers she is
dead, Rodolfo runs to her side, calling her
name.
© Copyright OPERA NEWS 2009. Reprinted
with permission.
The Bohemians bid Mimi goodbye in Portland Opera’s 50 minute outreach version of La Bohème
meet the composer: Giacomo Puccini
Son of composer
Michele Puccini and
the fifth musician in his
line, Giacomo Puccini
was born in Lucca,
Italy on December 22,
1858.
The Puccinis
were a fixture in
provincial
Lucca,
having served as organists and choirmasters in
St. Martin’s Cathedral for 100 years. The post
was a hereditary one, and the eldest Puccini boy
of each generation served the cathedral as a
birth right.
Far from crushed, young Puccini was still
resolved to pursue music, and undaunted by
distance and poverty, he walked the 25 miles to
Pisa to attend a performance of Verdi’s new
masterpiece, Aïda. Aïda hit the aimless youth
like a bolt of lightening. He would compose
operas! Puccini renewed his musical studies
with vigor.
He soon exhausted his
opportunities in Lucca and turned his sights to
the Milan Conservatory. He received a study
grant from Queen Margaret of Savoy and
moved to Milan.
Accepted to the conservatory, Puccini applied
himself to his studies diligently enough to earn
him the respect of his teachers, Antonio Bazzini,
director
of
the
Conservatory,
and
Amilcare Ponchielli,
composition teacher
and successful opera
composer in his own
right.
These two
invited young Puccini
to
their
homes,
introduced him to
Milan’s musical and
literary
illuminati,
and, most of all,
encouraged
and
challenged him to
write music.
At five years old, Giacomo lost his father,
Michele.
His musical
training fell to his uncle,
Fortunato Magi, who did
not find him the most apt
pupil.
Giacomo was
often
distracted;
he
skipped school and didn’t
practice. His uncle found
he had “neither the
ear…nor the calling of a
musician.”
(Tarozzi,
1985, p. 8) But he had a
hereditary role to fill and
began study with Carlo
Angeloni under whom he
made great progress.
Young Puccini between his parents, Michele and Albina
Before
reaching
his
majority, Puccini played organMagi
for the churches
In 1893, at 25, Puccini graduated from the
of Lucca and taught music to the town’s
Conservatory. He had received critical praise
children.
for his final project and decided to enter a
competition requiring a one-act opera.
By this time, the boy determined that he would
Ponchielli put Puccini in touch with Fernando
make his way in music. Before he was 18,
Fontana who had a libretto ready to be set.
Puccini entered a music competition with a
The composer liked the story, a fantastic tale of
hymn he had composed in honor of the late
a faithless young man cursed by a coven of
King Victor Emmanuel II. It was returned to
women who died abandoned by their lovers, set
Puccini with comments from the committee
it to music and submitted his finished opera, Le
chair urging him to study his musical technique.
Villi, to the committee. Unfortunately, when the
contest results were announced, no mention of
Puccini’s piece was
made. All was not
lost,
however.
Puccini’s
one-act
found a champion
in Guilio Ricordi
and premiered in
1884
with
a
favorable response.
Giulio Ricordi
Ricordi had a keen
awareness of talent—even talent as raw as the
inexperienced Puccini’s--and he wanted to
foster the career of this promising youth. He
bought the rights for Le Villi and commissioned
another opera from the fledgling composer.
This was quite an opportunity since Ricordi
owned one of the great publishing companies,
and was, in fact, Verdi’s own publisher.
Ricordi’s interest in Puccini flourished and
bloomed into a life-long association between
the publishing house and composer.
Puccini started work
on his new opera
Edgar, but distractions
tore him from his work
and
slowed
his
composition. He had
met his future wife,
Elvira
Gemignani.
Unfortunately, she was
still married to one of
Puccini’s old classmates
and the lovers created
a
firestorm
of
Puccini and his wife, Elvira
controversy
when
Elvira chose to leave her husband and join
Puccini in Milan.
It took four years for Puccini to compose Edgar.
The libretto didn’t speak to Puccini’s peculiar
genius for “little souls” in extraordinary
situations. The opera received tepid praise, but
Ricordi saw improvement from Le Villi and
pressed on with Puccini, commissioning another
opera, the subject of which he left to the
composer.
Puccini decided upon Manon Lescaut, a risky
topic, as it had already been set by Massenet
with great success. Still, it touched Puccini, and
he opened his version in 1803. Audience
reception was wildly enthusiastic. Never again
was Puccini to garner such accolades. Manon
Lescaut gave him international notoriety and
Ricordi’s faith was well-rewarded.
Next came La Bohème, based upon Mürger’s
novel, Scenes from Bohemian Life. Puccini was
confident and sure of his dramatic sensibility,
causing him to be maddeningly specific with his
librettists, Illica and Giacosa. His specificity paid
off. Bohème was a public triumph. Critics may
have pooh-poohed it, but the public acclaim
quickly swept it from theatre to theatre,
country to country and continent to continent.
It remains today, unequivocally, a masterpiece
of the operatic stage.
Puccini was on top. He ventured into verismo
with Tosca, a vivid, disturbing, slightly sadistic
opera. The public was enthralled. Seven
curtain calls rocked the theatre. Indeed, Tosca
was an unqualified success despite the critics’
harping on the lurid subject matter.
After Tosca was the much anticipated Madama
Butterfly. Every indication pointed to another
victory for the composer, but the premier
garnered laughter during Puccini’s carefully
constructed scenes--boos and jeers so raucous
as to beg credulity. Many feel that Puccini’s
rivals orchestrated the debacle.
Humbled,
Puccini re-worked his Butterfly; the opera he felt
to be his masterpiece. Its second opening faired
better than
the
first.
Audiences
roared
their
approval,
giving
Puccini
twelve
curtain
calls.
Butterfly
was
Doria Manfredi
vindicated.
His professional life a triumph, Puccini’s
personal life kept descending into painful chaos.
His wife, Elvira continued to have violently
jealous outbursts and she accused a maid in
their home of seducing her husband. While
Puccini had had myriad infidelities, their maid,
Doria Manfredi, was not one of them. Elvira
was adamant, however, and her outspoken
accusations and denunciations led to the suicide
of the persecuted Doria. Doria’s family sued
Elvira and won; Elvira was fined and sentenced
to prison time, but her husband settled with the
family and avoided that humiliation. He did so,
however, at great personal cost; he fell into a
deep despair and his emotional state was such
that he could no longer write.
century. He produced Il Trittico, a series of
three one-act operas. The public accepted and
liked it, but the critics were unnerved by the
maestro’s new vocabulary and remained cool.
The press felt Puccini, couldn’t, at 61, write
better than Bohème and Butterfly. Puccini knew
better and restlessly cast about for a plot which
would allow him to explore his brave new ideas
more fully.
He had absorbed Stravinsky,
Webern, Berg, Schoenberg, and Debussy.
Finally Turandot presented itself to him and he
feverishly began work on what was to become
his swansong.
By now, though, Puccini was ill, complaining of
throat pain and constant coughing. Eventually,
he was diagnosed with
throat cancer.
He was
very sick and feverishly
working on Turandot’s final
duet when he passed away
after
a
debilitating
treatment regimen. The
world mourned his passing.
La
Scala
cancelled
performances and a funeral
procession in his honor
was
attended
by
thousands.
To flee his depression and
his harpy wife, Puccini
sailed for New York. Here
he saw The Girl of the
Golden West, a play by
David
Belasco,
whose
earlier work had inspired
Madama Butterfly. Excited
by
the
theatrical
possibilities of the Wild
West; Puccini approached
Ricordi
and
got
an
agreement. The result, La
Fanciulla del West, was Puccini and conductor Arturo Toscanini, who
Puccini’s legacy is the
another
phenomenal conducted the premier of Turandot.
interweaving of music with
success.
Following this,
drama so seamlessly that
Puccini wrote La Rodine, which was also praised,
even as his most elegantly crafted music is
but Puccini felt at odds with himself and the
played, the drama of the moment supersedes all
piece. He felt old. His friend and mentor,
else. He is a sublime communicator, reaching
Ricordi had died, and he had a less cordial
audiences across the years, and continuing to
relationship with Ricordi’s son. La Rodine felt as
arrest our hearts with a dramatic perfection
if he were repeating himself; World War I had
wholly accessible and eternal.
engulfed the planet, and Puccini needed to
change.
He devoured other composer’s scores, kept
abreast of the new musical language of the 20th
Puccini at the piano (it's a Steinway)
origins
“Bohemia is a stage of artistic life; it is the preface to the Academy, the Hôtel Dieu, or the Morgue.”
Henri Murger in his preface to
Scènes de la Vie de Bohême.
Puccini’s relationship to La Bohème is intimate
and complex. His opera is drawn directly from
Murger’s 1849 novel, Scènes de la Vie de Bohême,
but includes vivid vignettes of his own invention,
insisted upon in his many and varied letters to
his harried librettists, Illica and Giacosa, both of
whom threatened to quit at least once during
the turbulent composition of La Bohème.
In 1892, Puccini had completed work on what
would become the turning point of his career,
Manon Lescaut. He was in need of something
new. Composers of the late 19th century were
interested in greater realism in their operas—
dramas about ordinary people in ordinary
situations. “Little souls” Puccini called them. He
had plumbed prose for Manon Lescaut in search
of realistic situations, and other composers of
the new verismo style had turned to midnineteenth century French literature to
tremendous success (think Carmen and La
Traviata). Murger’s Scènes de la Vie de Bohême
proved a very popular consideration among
composers. Massenet’s publisher had toyed
with offering it to his composer, and
Leoncavallo had allegedly mentioned it to
Puccini. When Puccini expressed little interest
(he was deeply involved the composition of The
She-Wolf, which was never completed),
Leoncavallo happily set about making Murger’s
work his own.
Imagine Leoncavallo’s dismay when Puccini
revealed several months later in casual
conversation his work with Illica and Giacosa on
none other than La Bohème! The composer of
Pagliacci wasn’t about to take this lying down,
and fired off a letter to Il secolo, informing the
public of his precedence with the material. As
Murger’s novel was in public domain, Puccini’s
publisher, Ricordi, was unable to obtain
exclusive rights to the work for his composer.
Therefore, with a confident
flourish, Puccini returned
fire in a rival publication:
“…what does this
matter to him? Let
him compose, and I
will compose.
The public will
judge.”
Ruggero Leoncavallo
And with that, Puccini returned to his work.
To be fair, it may have been that Puccini had
had no intention of scooping Leoncavallo. After
the success of Manon Lescaut, Puccini returned,
as he often did, to his friends in Torre del Lago,
an ancient Italian village located on a beautiful
lake. Here he had retreated after his failure
with Edgar; here he had written much of Manon
Lescaut; and here he had gathered to himself his
own gang of Bohemians, and his own Café
Momus, which he and his friends had dubbed
“The Bohemian Club.”
Puccini’s own Bohemians consisted of the
painter, Ferruccio Pagni (who, upon his return
to Torre del Lago after Manon Lescaut told him,
“You don’t need to go all over Italy in search of
stories and plots. Write about us! We are the
real life; we are la Bohème!”) Stinchio di Merlo,
owner of The Bohemian; and impressionists
Francesco Fanelli and Adolfo Tommasi. Pagni’s
off-the-cuff suggestion of bohemians as the
subject for an opera may have jostled Puccini’s
memory of Murger’s book and he contrived to
borrow a copy, which he quickly devoured.
Then, Puccini thoughtfully re-imagined several
of Murger’s female characters into his
composite portrait of the beautiful, delicate
Mimi, a fragile heroine worthy of his particular
talents. He wrote Illica, who was engaged to
write the scenario, “Behold my heroine. I want
scenes from Murger, but leave room for my
own additions.”
Puccini’s perfectionism and craftsmanship are
on full display in Bohème. The score took two
long years to complete, and did not receive
nearly the critical acclaim that Manon Lescaut
had enjoyed.
The beautifully balanced La
Bohème, with its chiaroscuro laughter and tears,
was accused of triviality. Critics reviled him for
“errors” in the score:
Puccini’s additions turn out to be the salt that
brings out the flavors in Murger’s bohemian
stew. The composer drew on his own
experiences with the miseries of bohemian life,
and the joy in his own relationships in Torre del
Lago. The deathly cold Parisian garret finds its
parallel in Milan where, bereft of money and
unwilling to burn their meager furniture, Puccini
“There is much in the score that is empty and
and his friend Mascagni sacrifice their music
downright infantile. The composer should
manuscripts to the fire. Like Colline, Puccini
realize that originality can be obtained perfectly
often pawned his overcoat in the pursuit of
well with the old established means without
funds—in one
recourse to
case, to
consecutive
entertain an
fifths and a
attractive
disregard of
ballerina. The
good
cheerful banter
harmonic
and whistling to
rules.”
the gallows
(Carlo
attitude of the
Bersezio,
opera’s
1896, La
bohemians
Stampa)
draws
verisimilitude
Bohème was
from not only
revolutionary,
Murger’s life,
and it wasn’t
but from
long before
Puccini’s
the
public
evenings at The Puccini (center) and two of his “Bohemians”, Fanelli (left) and Pagni (right)
recognized it.
Bohemian in Torre del Lago.
Puccini’s highly descriptive score—cinematic in
its tautness and timing—helped the opera to
With such strong images in his head, it is little
find its way into opera houses all over the
wonder that Puccini’s vision exhausted and
world, and has kept it there for the last 112
infuriated his long suffering librettists. In a fit of
years and for the foreseeable future.
pique, Giacosa, the versifier, scribbled to
Ricordi:
And what of Leoncavallo’s La Bohème? He
completed his opera of which he was both
“I confess to you that of all this
composer and librettist, slightly after Puccini
incessant rewriting, retouching, adding,
had opened his version. There are many
correcting, taking away and sticking on
similarities between the two, but Leoncavallo’s
again, puffing it out on the right side to
is more strictly tied to the darker aspects of
thin it down on the left, I am sick to
Murger’s novel. The gritty, dirty truth of the
death. Curse the libretto!”
ugly side of bohemian life are on full display in
the second half, and the death of Mimi paints a
Ricordi talked temperance to Giacosa, who had
brilliant, frightening vision of the reality of
tried to quit numerous times, and the poet
poverty. In Leoncavallo’s La Bohème, Murger
shrugged off his frustration and remained with
would have found his own Paris and bohemians.
the project.
For a time Leoncavallo’s opera was better
known and more successful, and the two operas
coexisted for about 10 years before Puccini’s
masterpiece eclipsed his rival’s. The confident
Puccini had been proven correct. The public
had judged and Puccini was triumphant.
Torre del Lago
Puccini's villa in Torre del Lago
Bohemians: an explanation
“Claret! Who’s to pay for it?”
“Probably not I,” said Schaunard…
~~Henri Murger, Scenes from a
Bohemian Life~~
In La Bohème we meet vivid young people:
view—a purely subjective state—and an antiRodolfo the writer, Marcello the painter,
rational aesthetic: why be bothered with
Colline the philosopher, Schaunard the
facts or the banal when one can feel. The
musician, Mimi the seamstress and Musetta
Romantics had philosophical pretensions.
the courtesan. Why did they call themselves
The Romantic railed against society
“Bohemians?”
(particularly
Compton’s
bourgeois
Interactive
society) and fate.
Encyclopedia says,
The
artistic
“The
French
revolution was
mistakenly called
won by 1830. In
the
bands
of
the
artistic
Gypsies
who
revolution of the
appeared
in
1830s, an artistic
Central Europe in
class of society
the 15th century
could
survive
‘Bohemians’.”
through
their
The definition of
own
creative
“bohemian”
in
ventures.
Webster’s
Rodolfo is trying
Dictionary says “A The Bohemians of Portland Opera To Go's production of La Bohème
to sell his novel,
person with artistic or literary interests who
Marcello is working on his masterpiece “The
disregards
conventional
standards
of
Red Sea,” and Schaunard returns from a gig,
behavior.” The characters in the opera are
money and food in hand. Women in this
based on characters in Scenes in the Life of a
society had few opportunities to provide for
Bohemian, a novel and play by Henri Murger.
themselves—their choices in the middle class
Murger lived in Paris during an exciting time
were marriage or prostitution.
There
in history. He was a Bohemian and historians
were few respectable opportunities for
speculate that many of his characters
respectable women to support themselves.
resembled his friends.
Mimi takes in embroidery work and Musetta
entertains wealthy, older men.
The setting for the novel is Paris in 1830, the
height of Romanticism in literature and music,
The Bohemians in the opera are hurtling
and the beginning of the race toward
toward the Industrial Revolution and within
industrialization. Romanticism was technically
then years of their drama, they would not be
a revolt against the rules and structure of the
able to make a living as artists. They would
Classical period and Enlightenment thought
most likely become temporary clerks…the
about “empiricism.”
Romanticism was
first in a long line of artists with “day jobs.”
essentially based on the individual’s point of
Point to Ponder!!
Is there any group living a “Bohemian” lifestyle today? What
does that mean today? What sorts of challenges does the 21st century pose to people trying
to live this way? Are they different than those they faced in the 19th century? How?
Henri Murger: the original Bohemian
“I have watered my creditors, and they have sprouted afresh!”
~~Henri Murger~~
Henri Murger is
remembered today
primarily because of
Puccini’s opera, La Bohème.
While charming and funny,
his novel, Scènes de la Vie de
Bohême is largely forgotten,
but during his life Murger
was famous. His novel
popularized the concept of
the Bohemian lifestyle—the
hand to mouth existence of the young artist
rebelling against society, and pursuing art for
art’s sake. That Murger is responsible for
creating this cliché is ironic, because he himself
never felt that being a
Bohemian was idyllic,
but rather a
necessary evil on the
way to the middle
class. His
descriptions of his life
and friends are
affectionate, but
honest—no
romanticizing the
hard-scrabble lives
lived making art! The
closest parallel to
Rodolfo and Mimi by Luigi Morgari
Murger’s cultural
contribution is Jack Kerouac, who also wrote
vividly about his friends, but was oversimplified
to a glorification of the Beat Generation. Sadly,
Murger himself never possessed the magnetism
of Kerouac—he was neither handsome enough
nor genius enough to command a cult of
personality.
In fact, Murger was a novelist for whom writing
was hard. He was a detail-oriented author—
often constructing 10 paragraphs for the same
Point to Ponder:
idea and then choosing which worked best.
Much of his artistry was industry. In youth he
worked briefly and distractedly for a lawyer, but
truly wanted to be an artist. At first he tried
painting, until a friend explained that he wasn’t
very good at it. He then tried to be a poet and
was good enough to be hired as a secretary, but
he was paid little. The meager salary helped
him to keep him afloat when his poetry did not.
Soon his prose began to earn him more than his
poetry, and he made the switch.
Murger wrote for literary journals which paid
very little, and he suffered real poverty and near
starvation. His health was never good, and he
suffered with a condition
called “purpura,” which
is caused by blood
vessels breaking and
causing purple blotches
on the skin.
Scenes from the Bohemian
Life was first published in
installments in a literary
journal, where it
attracted a lot of positive
attention from other
writers, but was virtually
unknown by the general
public. It was not until a playwright, Barrière,
approached him to adapt the book into a play
that Murger gained fame and enough money to
leave the Latin Quarter.
Unfortunately, Murger would never again create
something as popular as Scenes from the
Bohemian Life. His health continued to
deteriorate until his untimely death in 1861 at
the age of 38.
What makes great art enduring? Why do people still watch and adapt Shakespeare’s plays
th
st
or listen to the great operas? What art of the 20 and 21 centuries do you think will endure? The Beatles? Nirvana? Stephen
King novels? Why or why not?
Mimi’s last breath
During the 1830’s, when La Bohème is set,
tuberculosis was a common contagious disease.
Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by
It was often called consumption. Consumption
the bacteria Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The
was so common its symptoms were often
disease is highly contagious and is contracted by
romanticized. The phrase “femme fatale”
breathing in infected sputum or drinking
means, literally, fatal women or women
infected milk (this is very uncommon).
destined to die. The term was coined during
this time and came to also mean dangerous
Tuberculosis primarily affects the lungs,
women. These fragile flowers with delicate
although as the condition advances, it can affect
health brought out the protector in men of the
other organs, the brain and the spine being
time. Women had few choices in life and often
most common.. An infected person may not
if they were unmarried, those choices were rife
evidence symptoms because the immune system
with illness, poverty, and death. Often they
encases the bacteria in scar tissue and prevents
needed a male protector. Mimi appeals to
them from spreading. Should old age or other
Rodolfo because of her
factors (like illness, hunger
illness and her
or exposure) weaken the
vulnerability. Mimi is a
immune system, symptoms
composite character based
of the disease present
on the characters Mimi
themselves. Symptoms
and Francine from
include night sweats, fever,
Murger's novel. In the
fatigue, and weight loss.
novel, Mimi is a flirt and
Eventually, the infected
courtesan who falls in love
individual infected will cough
with Rodolfo and leaves
up blood-flecked sputum
him for a wealthier man.
caused by the eroding blood
Francine is a demure
vessels of the lung. At the
young woman dying from
final stages of the disease,
tuberculosis. She lives
these blood vessels rupture
Mycobacterium tuberculosis
upstairs from the
and the patient dies in
Bohemians. In the opera, the librettists Giacosa
extreme pain.
and Illica take the best of both characters and
create Mimi the consumptive seamstress. Mimi
Tuberculosis is credited with killing a billion
is described as beautiful with "pale cheeks red
people in the last 200 years and is responsible
with their flush, pale skin, her consumptive
for the largest number of deaths in history. In
cough, and her wasted frame.” All of these
1945, streptomycin, a new antibiotic, was
characteristics were evidence of her condition.
discovered and TB all but disappeared in the
The first time Rodolfo and Mimi meet he knows
West. Incidences are on the rise again
she is ill and he fears her illness, both because
throughout the world, however, and more
of the risk of his poverty to her health and of
frighteningly, new strains which are resistant to
contracting the disease from her. His fears, of
regular course antibiotics are becoming more
course, were not unfounded, but what is
common.
tuberculosis?
TB in opera and literature
Theories that diseases are caused by mental states and can be cured by will power are always an index of
how much is not understood about a disease.”
~~Susan Sontag, Illness as Metaphor~~
Louisville, KY Tuberculosis Sanatorium 1926
When one considers some of the greatest
romantic operas ever written, it is interesting to
note that three of them (La Traviata, La Bohème,
and Les Contes d’Hoffman) focus on women dying of
tuberculosis, the true symptoms of which are
anything but romantic. Frightening coughing
spasms, blood-stained sputum, burning fever and an
agonizing death all characterize the final stages of
tuberculosis. Within the context of these operas
and much Romantic literature, however, the
symptoms emphasized are the “positive” ones: pale
skin with high color of the cheeks and lips, slender,
ethereal beauty, feverishly shining eyes and bursts
of preternatural energy and creativity. In addition,
the consumptive beauty was thought to possess
unusual sexual appetites and powers of seduction.
Her appearance became fashionable because of this
sexualization.
At the time Traviata, Hoffman and Murger’s novel
were written, the causes of TB were unknown.
Forty percent of the population carried the
contagion and more people died of consumption
than from any other cause. The only thing that we
can compare it to in our own time is AIDS.
Because so many suffered the disease and so little
could be done to either cure or alleviate its
symptoms, society romanticized it, applied positive
Activity Alert!!!
attributes to it and shrouded it in gothic mystery.
Susan Sontag, in her study Illness as Metaphor
pointed out that TB was “both a way of describing
sensuality and promoting claims of passion, and a
way of describing repression…and a suffusion of
higher feeling.” TB became a double-edged sword,
granting a heightened state of spirituality, but
caused either by (on a positive note) a. excess
sensitivity of feeling or b. immoral behavior,
debauchery, sexuality, etc. As the illness
progressed, it was thought that the sufferer’s soul
grew more sweet and spiritual.
If romanticizing and demonizing disease seems odd,
it is not. Humans have attributed characteristics to
various maladies for time immemorial, from
justifying the shameful treatment of those suffering
from leprosy to tuberculosis to our current
scourge, AIDS.
What is frightening
is when a physical
ailment is attributed
to a moral cause
and the patient’s
status as a “good”
or “bad” person is
based upon their
affliction.
Tuberculosis was
no sexier than AIDS
is a plague from
God, and it would
be well for society
to refrain from
Tuberculosis was a dreaded problem,
personifying
as this French poster indicates
contagion. Such
behavior only clouds the already murky waters of
our limited understanding.
Research attitudes towards the causes of TB, cancer and AIDS, particularly those
attitudes about how the sick “caused” or “deserved” the disease. How are these attitudes similar and how do they
differ? How do you think society’s values influence these attitudes? Do you think they are fair? Why or why
not? What happens when societal values are at odds with science?
The Industrial Revolution
Industrial Revolution is the term used for the gradual transition from a primarily farming based economy to a
machine manufacturing economy.
The Industrial
Revolution had yet
to really hit Paris
in the 1830s, but it
was about to.
“Industrial
Revolution” can be
a confusing term,
because
“revolution”
implies that this change was abrupt, while in reality,
a hundred years of history aligned to make it
possible, and conditions throughout Europe had to
be “just right” before it could begin.
The Industrial Revolution began in England in the
late 18th century. In France, the beginning of the
Industrial Revolution was delayed by the French
Revolution and the ensuing Napoleonic Wars.
These wars destabilized all of Europe and put off
the start of the Industrial Revolution for
approximately 50 years.
Several factors paved the way for the Industrial
Revolution in England and Europe. The first was
unprecedented population growth. After the
decimation of the population in the Middle Ages,
the 18th century population of Western Europe
increased by 50 to 100 percent, depending on
location. Food was more readily available
(potatoes in particular were a stable and plentiful
crop) and the diseases which had killed off
hundreds of thousands were in temporary
remission.
Population pressures pushed landless peasants to
find other ways to earn a living, including removing
their source of income from its close tie to the
land. This in turn created a more mobile
population and a rapidly growing merchant class.
This merchant class would become vitally
important for the development of factories, which
required large amounts of capital up front to build.
Several inventions also enabled the transition to a
more mechanized economy. Most important of
these was the steam engine, which enabled many
useful machines to run. England made such
phenomenal progress ahead of continental Europe
in this arena that they forbade anyone who’d
worked in a British factory to leave England, lest
the new technology fall into other countries’ hands.
While some lives were greatly improved by the
Industrial Revolution, many others were lives of
excruciating poverty and misery. Conditions in
early factories were unimaginably horrifying, dark,
hot, cramped and dangerous. Wages were
shamefully low for the disempowered populations
of women and children who largely manned the
sweatshops of the Industrial Revolution, and
children as young as six were more often than not
to be found in factories working 12 to 14 hour
shifts. Workers were often injured and killed in
factories, with no compensation to them or their
families. Conditions in the coal mines were even
more horrendous and terrifying.
The abuses and miseries of the Industrial
Revolution would be dramatized by writers like
Charles
Dickens in
novels like
Oliver Twist,
The Old
Curiosity Shop,
and Hard
Times, which
vividly
describe the
ills of the
working class.
In the United
States, Mark Twain exposed and lampooned the
corruption of the newly fabulously wealthy
industrialists and their Senators in The Gilded Age.
Labor unions were formed, and in England, the
Factory Acts were enacted by Parliament through
the efforts of countless workers who died for their
cause, muckraking journalists, and crusading
novelists and churches. These acts helped to
alleviate the worst conditions during the Industrial
Revolution and improved opportunities for these
workers to enjoy some of the fruits of their labor.
Activity Alert!!!
Choose one of the photos in this article.
After doing a little research about labor
conditions in factories during early 19th
century, write a “diary entry” from the
point of view of the person in the photo
you chose. What are their days like?
How do they live? Are they happy? What
do they do for fun?
Many economic theories and the politics of class
developed during this time of tremendous change
and economic fluctuation. Much of the economic
philosophies of today--capitalism, free markets,
socialism, and communism—are most clearly
understood starting at this time. The Industrial
Revolution and what later became the Gilded Age
in the United States are useful periods of history to
study to understand what is happening around us
now.
around the world in…
1896, when La Bohème was written







Utah becomes a state
Harriet Beecher Stow dies
The Nobel Prize is established
Andrea Chenier by Giordani
The Grand Duke - the last G & S collaboration
1st modern Olympics
Klondike Gold Rush
1830, the setting of La Bohème






Joseph Smith founded the Mormons
I Capuleti i Montecchi - Bellini
Anna Bolena - Donizetti
Skirts got shorter, sleeves became enormous
La Sonnambula - Bellini
Belve Lockwood - 1st woman nominated for president
did you know…
 The music of La Bohème is used extensively throughout the movie Moonstruck?
 The blockbuster musical (and subsequent movie), Rent, is based on Puccini’s La Bohème?
 Puccin’s La Bohème has not always been the most popular opera based on Murger’s
novel? Leoncavallo’s version, which premiered a little later was considered superior for
about 10 years.
 Pavarotti made his operatic debut at the Reggio Emilia Theater as Rodolfo in Giacomo
Puccini's La Bohème.
 La Bohème is the most performed opera at the Metropolitan Opera at 1208
performances since 1900?
 When news of his death in Belgium reached Rome, La Bohème was being performed.
The opera was stopped during the performance when the news reached the theater,
and the Maestro conducted Chopin’s Funeral March in honor of Puccini.
to learn more…
A selected bibliography…
BUDDEN, JULIAN. "La Bohème", Grove Dictionary of Music." Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference
LTD, 1997.
CARNER, MOSCO. "Puccini's Early Operas." Music & Letters 19.3 (1938).
GOLDOVSKY, BORIS. "More Accents on La Bohème." Opera News March 10 1952.
KESTNER, JOSEPH. "Woe to the Vanquished." Opera News March 19 1977.
KLEIN, JOHN W. "The Other \"Bohème\"." The Musical Times 111.1527 (1970).
KOZMA, TIBOR. "The String Orchestra in La Bohème." Opera News March 10 1952.
MAEHDER, JURGEN. "La Bohème, Grove Dictionary of Music." Vol. 1. New York: Macmillan Reference
LTD, 1997.
MERKLING, FRANK. "A Short Guide to Bohemia." Opera News March 20 1950.
PHILLIPS, JANE. "Puccini's Own Vie De Bohème." Opera News March 20 1950.
What do you call THAT?!!!
Some basic opera vocabulary
Aria
(ah-ree-ah) a solo song. In opera, arias are often used to tell the audience what the character is
thinking or feeling—like a monologue in plays
Recitative
(reh-chih-tah-teev) literally, “to recite.” Lines that are sung rather than spoken, and forward the
action of the story. They are often followed by arias or ensembles which tell how the characters feel
about the situation.
Ensemble
Group singing, or the group itself. An ensemble can be a chorus of 50 or a duet—it just has to have
more than one singer singing at the same time.
Duet
Two people singing together
Trio
Three people singing together
Quartet
Four people singing together
Opera
The plural form of the Latin word, opus, which literally translated means “work”. A play that is sung,
usually with orchestral accompaniment
Soprano
The highest female voice
Mezzo soprano
The middle female voice—in a choir, a second soprano or first alto
Contralto
The lowest female voice
Tenor
The highest male voice
Baritone
The middle male voice
Bass
The lowest male voice
Trouser or
pants role
In some operas, a mezzo soprano plays a young man or a boy whose voice hasn’t changed yet. This
is a very old operatic convention.
Set
Short for “setting”. The scenery the singers/actors work on.
Conductor
The leader of the orchestra and singers. Just like on a train, the conductor keeps everything on track.
Props
Short for “properties.” Anything onstage that is not part of the set or the costumes.
curricular connections—for the teacher
Within the body of the Study Guide, several activities and/or discussion prompts are printed.
Here are a few more.
aesthetics & art criticism
♪
After preparing with the Study Guide and attending the Portland Opera To Go production of
La Bohème, have students write a review of the opera, noting how the music directly affects the
emotional interpretation of the listener.
♪
Puccini’s opera, La Bohème, is based upon a novel by Henri Murger, Scenes of Bohemian Life.
The novel is out of print, but exists in several electronic formats online. Have students read
selections from the novel, particularly, Chapter 1, “How the Bohemian Club was Formed,”
which introduces the major characters; Chapter VI, “Mademoiselle Musette,” from which much
of Marcello’s and Musetta’s relationship is drawn; Chapter X, “The Cape of Storms” in which
we meet Mimi and Rodolfo and Mimi begin living together; Chapter XI, “A Bohemian Café,”
which introduces the Café Momus; Chapter XIV, “Mademoiselle Mimi”; Chapter XVIII,
“Francine’s Muff,” from which the final scenes of the opera are derived; and finally Chapter
XXII, “Epilogue to the Loves of Rodolphe and Mademoiselle Mimi.” Each chapter is really a
self-enclosed short story. Have the students compare the opera libretto (available in
translation online) and the selections from the novel. Have them think about what changes
needed to be made to the novel and why.
♪
There are two operas based on Murger’s novel that were written at the same time—the
famous one written by Puccini and one by Ruggiero Leoncavallo, which was performed for
several years virtually side by side with Puccini’s, but has since disappeared from the standard
opera houses. Amazon.com has a recording of Leoncavallo’s version, which has musical
samples. Have the students listen to both Puccini’s version and Leoncavallo’s. Which do they
like better? Why or why not? Discuss what makes an enduring piece of art and what doesn’t.
What forces outside of the control of an artist affect the endurance his/her work?
english, reading & writing
♪
After seeing Portland Opera To Go’s production of La Bohème, have students write a journal
entry or review of the show as a reflection.
♪
Write a sequel to La Bohème about what happens to the characters 5 years after the action of
the opera.
♪
Using persuasive writing styles, create a new ending the opera utilizing known character
information to produce absolute change within one or more of the characters.
♪
Most operas are not original stories, but are based on plays or novels. Have students chose a
favorite story and write an opera libretto. Remind them that they may have to streamline
and/or simplify their story—it takes a lot longer to sing something than to say it. Also remind
them that their libretto will consist almost exclusively of dialogue. After they have written
their libretto, have them reflect on what they had to do to take a written story and make it
work as a dramatic or musical one. They can use poetry or not, as they wish.
social science
♪
In the cities, tuberculosis was considered a disease of the lower classes transmitted through
physical contact, germinated in squalid conditions. Have the students examine how TB affected
the upper classes of Europe. What was their response to the cure? How does who is sick
affect how aggressively a cure is sought—in the past and today?
♪
Sometimes society confuses a disease with a punishment for some sort of moral deficiency. TB
was so prevalent and so many people suffered from it that society created a whole series of
myths around it that were reinforced in literature and in art. What other diseases or
conditions have been treated this way? Have the kids think about disease throughout history
(leprosy, TB, typhoid, cancer, mental illness, AIDS). How does society’s understanding of the
disease affect how the ill are perceived? What happens to that perception after the causes are
understood? After there is treatment or a cure? What happens to the status of the afflicted in
society? Where do individual rights and those of the common good begin and end?
science
♪
People die in operas in astounding ways—stabbings, poisonings, tuberculosis, insanity—and as
they are dying, they are usually singing! Pick an operatic death. Research what would happen
to the body during that death. What systems are affected? How does the body try to
compensate? Would someone really be able to sing?
♪
The voice is a combination of a wind instrument and a string instrument…air passing through
the vocal cords creates a vacuum, pulling the vocal cords closed. The cords then vibrate
together and create sound. Pitch is determined by the tension of the vocal cords—just like a
violin or a guitar. You can demonstrate this with a rubber band: Wrap a rubber band around
your fingers. Pluck it a few times. Can you see and feel the vibrations? The harder you pluck the
rubber band, the more it will vibrate, creating a louder sound. If you stretch the rubber band,
making it longer and thinner, what do you hear? (It will be a higher pitch.) Have your students
place their hands on their throats while speaking or singing at different pitches—have them feel
the vibrations in their throats and their chests. Explore sound waves.
create, present, perform
♪
In an opera, the chorus creates a huge amount of atmosphere and sound. Obviously, in
Portland Opera To Go’s production, we have had to sacrifice the chorus. In this activity,
students can explore the role of the chorus and soundscape. Listen to the opening of Act II
from La Bohème. In this scene many types of characters are represented: vendors, waiters,
shoppers, children, soldiers, students…Have your students listen to the chorus and decide
what type of character they would like to be and write a profile of them including name, age,
occupation, family history, etc. Then have the students work together to create a street scene.
Help them decide what area of the room represents what area of the street. Have the
students position themselves around the room and freeze as if they were mid action. Start the
music and let them mime their stories. Remind the students to let the music inform their
characters, and notice how it does. (A huge thanks to English National Opera for this idea)
♪
Obtain and make copies of the translation for the libretto for La Bohème. Have students read
the parts in a dramatic reading, infusing as much feeling and power into the words as possible.
The language may be awkward or embarrassing for some of the students—that’s okay, have
them explore the reasons why. Have them “translate” the libretto into their own language and
perform that. Then return to the original libretto. How does their perception of the language
change—or not? Do they think that music would affect how the lines would sound?
♪
Have students break into groups and write their own “opera” using popular songs and stringing
them together with dialogue. Perform for the class.
♪
Sets and costumes play an ENORMOUS role in opera. Design sets and costumes for an
updated version of La Bohème. Costumes are rendered in color on paper and set designers
often make dioramas of their set designs. Keep in mind the symbolism possible in color and
texture. Remind students that drawings on paper would have to be translated into three
dimensions and made practical. How does that affect their designs? Have them present their
sets and costumes to the class pointing out their challenges and the possible symbolism of their
choices.