Opera

La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924)
Opera in four acts
Sung in Italian, with German surtitles
Reduced orchestration by Gerardo Colella, stage rights CASA RICORDI Milano, represented by G. Ricordi & Co., Bühnen- und Musikverlag GmbH, Berlin.
Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, based on the novel "Scènes de la vie de bohème" by Henri Murger
Premiere: 1896 in Turin
A Theater Augsburg production

Sophia Christine Brommer, Statisterie
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Christopher Bolduc, Young Doo Park, Benjamin Russell, Marco Jentzsch, Sophia Christine Brommer, Chor, Extrachor, Statisterie
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Marco Jentzsch, Sophia Christine Brommer, Statisterie
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Sophia Christine Brommer, Marco Jentzsch
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Ensemble, Chor, Extrachor, Statisterie
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Young Doo Park, Heather Engebretson, Christopher Bolduc, Chor, Extrachor
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Sophia Christine Brommer, Marco Jentzsch
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Ensemble, Chor, Extrachor, Statisterie
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Young Doo Park, Benjamin Russell, Marco Jentzsch, Christopher Bolduc
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Christopher Bolduc, Young Doo Park, Benjamin Russell, Marco Jentzsch
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Sophia Christine Brommer, Marco Jentzsch
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Sophia Christine Brommer, Statisterie
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Sophia Christine Brommer, Statistin
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz
Marco Jentzsch
Photo: Karl-Bernd Karwasz

It remains one of the greatest tragic love stories of all time. A moment of love at first sight, a young girl’s frozen hand and the warmth of a stranger: Puccini adorns the first meeting between Mimì and Rodolfo with music of incomparable expression, hope and desire.  The two embrace musically in a way which is never to be repeated – not even physically – for the remainder of the opera. It is a surprising moment in many ways: two very different people meet for the first time and, although their love seems doomed almost from the start, one cannot help but cling to some hope that, somehow, their love will prevail. But it is not to be, and Mimì’s eventual death brings a type of fateful transcendence to the character.

Rodolfo lives in a shared apartment with a circle of artistic friends, collectively consisting of a painter, musician, writer and philosopher. The group’s Bohemian lifestyle awkwardly wavers between potential artistic breakthrough and life-threatening failure. Yet, as long as one has artistic ideas, ideals and fantasies, the status quo can be maintained. They follow life’s charms without ever taking real responsibility, living an uncommitted lifestyle free of obligation, while managing to always restore the balance when failure looms – one way or another.

Puccini’s immortal and eternally beautiful melodies continue to assure the opera’s unprecedented popularity and relevance. The music is wonderfully detailed and vividly characterises the Bohemian atmosphere, yet it remains realistic and unsentimental. Moments of humorous turbulence effectively contrast lyrical episodes, with the sounds of longing floating above it all, as if yearning for happiness, good fortune and, perhaps, a bit of good luck.