La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini

With an extinguished candle and the modest wish for some warmth against the winter cold, Mimì stands at Rodolfo's door one evening. It is the coincidence of neighborhood that brings the seamstress and the writer together. They fall in love instantly, and their love becomes a glimmer of hope in the reality of Bohemians and (artistic) life marked by deprivation and poverty. However, it is not enduring: Mimì suffers from consumption, and Rodolfo lacks the means to help her.

«La Bohème» is Giacomo Puccini's most successful opera. It narrates the everyday lives of four young people, in which nothing happens, yet everything can happen. The plot dispenses with complex intrigues and sings the ideal of great romantic love – despite or precisely because of the sad ending. The characters are simple people from the Parisian Bohème, who, in their poverty, have nothing heroic about them, and yet, especially the women, heroically fight for each other. They are carried and accompanied by Puccini's wonderful music, which ensures goosebumps from start to finish. In addition to the grand choir and folk scenes in the wintry Latin Quarter of Paris, the intimate moments stand out, in which Puccini makes his «poetry of the small things» bloom.