The Opera “La Bohème” was written by Italian composer Giacomo Puccini which premiered at the Teatro Regiao in Turin, Italy. The year in which it was written was 1896 which took almost 3 years to complete. The opera took place in 19th century Paris which was a love story as well as a tragedy. The affair took place between a poet Rodolfo and seamstress Mimi who were both equally poor which was based off of the book, Scenes from bohemian life, written by Henri Murger. The story was divided into four acts and told of the encounters between Rodolfo and Mimi as well as the other supporting bohemians
In the first act, Rodolfo, Marcello, and Colline were living together in an attic during the winter where they were struggling to keep warm. They reach a point where they become desperate enough to burn Rodolfo’s work which was a drama he had written since they weren’t able to afford firewood. That’s when the musician, Schaunard interrupts them with news of his new job and that he has brought wood, cigars, and food to celebrate with. Schaunard then insists they go to the café Momus instead and Rodolfo stays behind where he meets Mimi was living in the flat below. She asked Rodolfo for a match to light her candle where their interest in each other began to grow as they …show more content…
Once Meme began to sing of her despair, the music swelled with emotion which was emphasized by the dynamic contrast. The lower range of the orchestra, such as the bass and cellos alluded to the deep sense of melancholy as Mimi’s diminishing health was brought to our attention. Puccini also made use of thematic reminiscence to emphasize a sense of Irony by using reoccurring themes and fragments from earlier in the story. This brought a sense of nostalgia to when Mimi and Rodolfo had first met as they were saying goodbye to each other in the third