La Boheme

Paris in the mid 19th century. Four artist friends are living in a shabby attic apartment: the effusive poet Rodolfo (Rolando Villazón), the temperamental artist Marcello (George von Bergen), the merry musician Schaunard (Adrian Eröd) and the detached, somewhat grumpy philosopher Colline (Vitaly Kovalyov). They are typical "Bohemians," who have not a penny to their name, but are full of passion for life. On Christmas Eve the four friends decide to celebrate in their local pub Café Momus, and merrily leave the flat. Only Rodolfo remains behind to read. Unexpectedly, the beautiful, but gravely ill neighbor Mimi (Anna Netrebko) knocks at the door to ask for fire to light her candle. Rodolfo and Mimi fall in love and Rodolfo takes her to the café to meet up with his friends. Soon joining the group is Musetta (Nicole Cabell), Marcello's former girlfriend. Although she is in the company of her elderly admirer Alcindoro (Ioan Holender), she nevertheless makes Marcello lose his head, and the two once again become lovers. The friends joyfully leave the café.

One month has elapsed since Christmas Eve and the atmosphere is dismal. The heartbroken Mimi has come to find the painter Marcello, who is staying with his mistress Musetta and with Rodolfo in an inn on the outskirts of the city. She tells him that Rodolfo left her the day before in a fit of jealousy and refuses to see her anymore. When Marcello questions his friend about this shortly thereafter, he learns that Rodolfo had to abandon his beloved, since she is suffering from consumption and he can offer her nothing but bitter poverty. Mimi, who secretly hears Rodolfo's confession, now also accepts the separation, but when they are about to take leave of one another, love triumphs over reason and they avow their passion once again, while the jealous Marcello and the flirtatious Musetta have a heated argument in the background.

In the fourth and last act, Rodolfo and Marcello are sitting in their attic apartment, trying to work. But they are both sad and lovesick. Mimi has now broken up for good with Rodolfo, and Musetta has also been unfaithful to her lover. Schaunard and Colline manage to cheer up the two lovesick friends with dances and masquerades, but the merry mood dissipates abruptly when Musetta suddenly arrives. With her is the dying Mimi, who wishes to spend her last hours with Rodolfo. While the friends search for a doctor in the city, the two lovers recall their passion one last time. When the group returns to the apartment, Mimi dies and Rodolfo breaks down in despair.

Giacomo Puccini's (1858-1924) "La Bohème" is one of the greatest masterpieces of Italian opera. The four-act work is based on the novel "La vie de Bohème" by the French author Henri Murger. Puccini commissioned Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa with the dramatization of the scenes. The theme is the life of Bohemians in mid 19th-century Paris – their daily struggle to survive, their loves, poverty, sacrifices and deaths. Arturo Toscanini conducted the world premiere of "La Bohème" at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 1 February 1896.