Puccini said his success lay in depicting "great sorrows in little souls." But this much quoted phrase oversimplifies his version of operatic verismo (realism). All his operas have characters from real life, but their plots are melodramatic weavings of joys and sorrows. The simple emotions come from recognisable characters, who are always victims not just of evil people, but of impossible situations - power struggles, misogyny, social class, illness driven by poverty.
La Bohème has the lot. But it's not usually listed (with Tosca and Il Tabarro) as one of Puccini's verismo operas. Nor is it always praised for its through-composed and lyrical music, with its sweeping melodies, soaring at those joys and sorrows. Benjamin Britten wrote in 1951, "[A]fter four or five performances I never wanted to hear Bohème again. In spite of its neatness, I became sickened by the cheapness and emptiness of the music."
"Simple" seems often used in the context of this opera. "A simple love story.... An opera without villains, its characters are regular people and easy to relate to. Its melodies are profuse and easy to recall, but there’s nothing trite about any of them, and each is suited to the situation. There is no pageantry for its own sake; the opera is lean and tells a good story." More here.
The most popular opera of all
Just being simple, with recognisable characters, surely can't explain why this opera is always among the most popular, and usually voted the top of that list?
NPR's summary is "Simple feelings, from recognisable, simple people, not gods or aristocrats... But that conclusion itself may also be too simple. Regardless of his methods, Puccini mastered the unique and mystifying synthesis of music, drama and stagecraft that only opera can deliver, and with powerful results. His enduring, popular dramas are graced by appealing and believable characters whose feelings are portrayed so deeply and so vividly that, as we look on, their emotions soon become ours as well, and their heartbreaks seem as wrenching as our own."
Legendary director John Copley, whose 1974 production ran at Covent Garden's Royal Opera House for 38 years, explains it simply in terms of the music. Bohème, he says, "is a work of genius. People can be snooty about it and musicians can certainly be snooty about Puccini, which I've never understood, but there is not a bar in it that you don't want." You can listen to Copley on his return to direct the final performance of this iconic production, in 2015, here.
About the opera
It was just his third, and very different from the previous ones. Details and synopsis on Wiki here.
Full libretto? It's worth checking the words of those lovely songs and the very 'realistic' conversations Puccini set to music. Here's the full libretto.
Our opera house of the week - click here to visit - The Opera Theatre of St Louis.
Their current programme includes La Bohème, and their website has the conductor's reflection on the music. And here's their blog on why Bohème is such a blockbuster (complete with Homer Simpson.)
Zefferelli Rules, OK?
As you get to know this opera, you can understand why it shocked the premiere audience in 1896, rejecting most of the shapes and rules of Romantic Italian opera so far. But also why it's now the most performed opera according to most counts. And you can understand why the big houses continue to present aged productions that please large audiences. Which makes it harder for us to see through to the original work, and work out why it enthralls, after all these years.
Musically, Boheme itself similarly deploys a kind of excess that obliterates thought. Jumbles of musical lines —a children’s chorus, a lover’s quarrel, a regiment of soldiers’ drums—stack up upon each other as if daring the listener to doubt that Puccini will somehow make this cacophony beautiful (he will, of course he will).
Beneath it all, the characters are lightly sketched to say the least, and the huge romantic crescendos that pull the opera from one emotional climax to another do not so much distract the listener from Rodolfo’s less than romantic behavior as allow them to never really consider it at all. When his voice and Mimi’s lift in soaring tandem, it’s not so much a question of thinking as feeling, and nobody makes feeling feel as good as Puccini.
Our production
Yes, we're viewing one version of that Zefferelli production - at the Met in 2008. We've a magnificent cast, with Angela Gheorghiu, (last week she was our Tosca), singing Mimi.
The production is given a very thorough examination in the Bachtrack review here.
NYTimes commented, "The company first staged it in 1981, and critics have disparaged it for nearly as long, although the familiarity that comes with 27 years of repetition has eventually blunted the complaints. It turns out that the Zeffirelli “Bohème” has had more performances than any other production in the Met’s history - 347" (and that was before the 2008 run!)
Those other Mimis
Mimi has won great sopranos. Talk Classical offers five here. In Britain and the USA, the opera was associated largely with Nellie Melba, one of the great Mimìs of her time. But Gramophon gives the prize to one - Victoria de los Angeles. "Nobody has ever been so predestinately right for the role of Mimì than Victoria de los Angeles: right both in vocal quality and in sheer involvement with every word and every musical phrase that Mimì utters. Beyond a certain point (usually a certain dynamic level) most sopranos stop being Mimì and simply produce the same sound that they would if they were singing Aida or Tosca. De los Angeles rarely does this; even under pressure ... Hers is the most moving and involving Mimì ever recorded."
Listen here to her version of her first aria, "They call me Mimi".
And a full opera version to watch in your own time?
But if you want a Mimi with delicate sweet innocence, try a very young Mirella Freni!
Click here for a full opera version from La Scala on YouTube, directed by guess who - Franco Zeffirelli! Herbert Von Karajan is conducting. Mimì is Mirella Freni, Musetta: Adriana Martino and Rodolfo: Gianni Raimondi.
It's a 1965 film version, the first music film conducted by Karajan, and the first major film production by Franco Zeffirelli, based on his 1963 production at La Scala. It achieved status as a classic of the genre, with the young Mirella Freni leading a superb cast of some of the finest Italian singers of the period. This review is detailed, concluding, "This filmed opera is one of the most cinematic that you'll find. This rendition not only makes full use of the potential of cinema, but it may actually be more satisfying, dramatically, than any performance you'll ever see on stage. That's because the potential for close-ups is especially important for this highly intimate opera. This is, quite simply, one of the greatest cinematic adaptations of opera done so far. La Bohème is a great entry point for those wanting to explore opera for the first time, so I highly recommend this film both for established opera lovers and would-be novices. You just can't do any better."
Lyn 18/3/24