Page 234 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

in the setting and characters: the principals are bohemians—unconventional artists living in abject poverty. The hero, Rodolfo (a poet), and his pals Schau- nard (a musician), Colline (a philosopher), and Marcello (a painter), inhabit an unheated attic on the Left Bank of Paris. The heroine, Mimi, their neighbor, is a poor seamstress with tuberculosis. Rodolfo and Mimi meet and fall in love. He grows obsessively jealous while she becomes progressively ill. They separate for a time, only to return to each other’s arms immediately before Mimi’s death. The historical importance of La bohème rests in the fact that it was the first opera to foreground city life—with all its wealth, poverty, and disease—in the plot of an opera. Bohemians only live in cities.
In truth, the plot to La bohème is neither deep nor philosophical, and there is little character development. Instead, the glorious sound of the human voice (bel canto singing again) carries the day. Puccini continues the nineteenth- century tendency to lessen the distinction between recitative and aria. His solos typically start syllabically (no more than one note per syllable), as if the char- acter is beginning a conversation. As the speaker’s ardor grows, the voice gains intensity and becomes more expansive, with the strings doubling the melody to add warmth and expression. Verbal semantics yield to musical sensations. When Rodolfo, for example, sings of Mimi’s frozen little hand in the aria “Che gelida manina” (“Ah, What a Frozen Little Hand”; see Listening Cue), we move imperceptibly from recitative to aria, gradually transcending the squalor of the Left Bank garret and soaring to a better world far beyond. The contrast between the dreary stage setting and the transcendental beauty of the music is the great paradox of realistic opera.
Listening Cue
GiacomoPuccini,“Chegelidamanina,”fromLabohème(1896) Download4208 Characters: The poor poet Rodolfo and the equally impoverished seamstress Mimi
Situation: Mimi has knocked on Rodolfo’s door to ask for a light for her candle. Charmed by the lovely stranger, he naturally obliges. The wind again blows out Mimi’s candle, and amidst the confusion, she drops her key. As the two search for it in the darkness, Rodolfo by chance touches her hand and, then holding it, seizes the moment to tell her about himself and
his hopes.
Performer: Renowned tenor Plácido Domingo
what to listen for: The ascending vector of the voice as it moves low to high, speech to song, over the course of an
increasingly passionate and ever-more-beautiful four-minute work
reAD . . . a detailed Listening Guide of this selection online. LiSTeN TO . . . this selection streaming online.
WATCH . . . an Active Listening Guide of this selection online. WATCH . . . a performance of this selection online.
212 chapter thirteen romantic opera
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