Background Notes: La bohème

General

Puccini became world-famous virtually overnight with Manon Lescaut, first given on 1 Feb. 1893 at the Teatro Regio in Turin. It was the first and easily the greatest triumph of his career. The instant success of the opera was somewhat of a surprise. Puccini was not particularly well-known. The genesis of the opera had been difficult, to say the least, with no less than five prominent artists, including Ruggero Leoncavallo, contributing to the libretto, and none being sufficiently content to allow his name to appear on the final result. The same subject had been treated masterfully only seven years before by the well-established Jules Massenet, and was making the rounds of the world (it was to prove his own greatest success). Turin's was one of the top half-dozen opera houses in Italy, but it was not in the class of Milan, where Puccini had had his two previous operas performed, Le Villi at the smaller Teatro dal Verme with good success, and Edgar at La Scala with none. A performance at La Scala would have been hopeless anyway: only eight days after the opening of Manon Lescaut, La Scala was giving a new (and plainly the last) work of the living god of Italian opera, eighty-year-old Giuseppe Verdi's Falstaff.

For his next opera, Puccini seemed determined to reproduce many of the elements that had gone into the success of Manon Lescaut, For another adaptation of a French classic in a semi-historic French setting, he evidently turned once again to Leoncavallo (though he denied this in what evolved into a famous and bitter feud). He (or rather his publisher, Giulio Ricordi) managed to placate the two key authors of the Lescaut libretto, Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, sufficiently to enlist them in the project, the first of what was to be a glorious series of three of the most successful works in the history of opera, all produced within less than a decade. And the new opera was to be performed in the same theater, with the same prima donna, Cesira Ferrani, three years to the day later. And just as Manon Lescaut had actually thrived on comparison and perceived competition with Manon, it became known early in 1893 that both Puccini and Leoncavallo were working on their own settings of La bohème.

The details of how two of the most promising young opera composers in Italy, well-acquainted with one another, came to write operas on the very same subject at the same time have never come fully to light. In the face of the great variety of incidents in Murger's stories, the similarities of the two scenarios make it impossible to believe that they resulted from chance. These similarities are even more striking when we consider the draft originally sketched by Illica, with an additional act involving Musetta's eviction, corresponding to Leoncavallo's second act. Puccini publicly made light of the affair, treating it like Manon, as a spur to a competition to be judged by audience and critics. Leoncavallo took a more sinister view. In the event Puccini's Bohème beat Leoncavallo's to the stage by fifteen months. Puccini's was a success, but nowhere near as great a success (at first!) as Manon Lescaut had been. Puccini pretended to exult in the failure of Leoncavallo's Bohème (at the more prestigious La Fenice in Venice), but Leoncavallo's opera actually enjoyed a greater initial success. The fact of the matter is that audiences of the time were expecting vivid drama in the classic nineteenth-century operatic tradition, something that Puccini had delivered in Manon Lescaut better than Massenet. But the impressionist framework of the stories of Bohème did not support that kind of music drama, as Puccini instinctively appreciated. Puccini, ironically, felt compelled to turn now to a style closer to Massenet's. Leoncavallo, though possessed of a surer understanding of the sources (he had a degree in literature and was fluent in French), ultimately erred in trying to infuse his opera with more drama than it could sustain. Arguably Leoncavallo's opera more faithfully captures the spirit of Murger's Bohemia; but Puccini's establishes its own world, and to an audience familiar with Murger's Bohème only as the antecedent to Puccini's, Leoncavallo's work stands little chance of ever being appreciated on its own merits.

La bohème was composed in the little villa on Lake Massaciuccoli at Torre del Lago that Puccini had purchased in 1891. Puccini loved to go shooting on the lake. The owner of the lake, the Marchese Carlo Ginori-Lisci. became a close friend, and it was to him that the opera was dedicated.

The term Bohemia applied to the social milieu of artists and intellectuals who reject middle-class social conventions in favor of a semi-vagabond lifestyle appears to have originated around the time Murger's novel and play (see Sources below) were written. It does not derive directly from the land, once kingdom, of Bohemia in the Czech Republic, but rather from the French name for the Romany, bohémiens. so-called because they were thought to have come from Bohemia, just as the English word Gypsies derives from a supposed Egyptian origin. Its application to the urban literati was evidently sufficiently new that Barrière and Murger felt constrained to explain its use in the play La vie de bohème. That explanation, in Act I, Scene 8, as a near-original etymologic source document, is worth quoting here as an exact description of what was meant by Bohème (translation my own, with the kind assistance of Charles Bry):


Marcel ... Colline, c'est l'enfant studieux et rêveur de la Bohème!	Marcel ... Colline is a studious and dreamy child of Bohemia!
Rodolphe La Bohème?	Rodolphe Bohemia?
Marcel La Bohème, bornée au nord par l'espérance, le travail et la gaieté; au sud, par la nécessité et la courage; à l'ouest et à l'est, par la calomnie et l'Hôtel-Dieu.	Marcel Bohemia, bounded on the north by hope, labor, and gaiety; on the south by need and courage; on the east and west, by slander and the hospice.
Rodolphe Je vous remercie beaucoup; mais je comprends peu.	Rodolphe Thank you very much; but I don't really understand.
Marcel Vous désirez une seconde leçon de géographie relativement à la Bohème?... C'est très-facile, Monsieur, car vous voyez devant vous deux naturels de ce pays.	Marcel You wish a second lesson in the geography of Bohemia? That's very easy, sir, for you see before you two natives of the country.
Schaunard La Bohème, c'est nous.	Schaunard We are Bohemia.
Rodolphe Vous?	Rodolphe You?
Marcel C'est-à-dire tous ceux qui, par une vocation obstinée, entrent dans l'art sans autre moyens d'existence que l'art lui-même; l'esprit toujours tenu en éveil par leur ambition, qui bat la charge devant eux, et les pousse à l'assaut de l'avenir... Leur existence de chaque jour est une oeuvre du génie, un problème quotidien... Mais qu'il leur tombe un peu de fortune entre les mains, on les voit aussitôt cavalcader sur les plus ruineuses fantaisies, aimant les plus jeunes et les plus belles, buvant des meilleurs est des plus vieux, et ne trouvant jamais assez de fenêtres par où jeter leur argent...	Marcel That is to say, all those who, by their stubborn bent, dedicate themselves to art with nothing to sustain them but art itself; their spirits ever held on watch by their ambition, which leads the charge before them and drives them to the assault on fate... Each day's existence is a work of genius, a daily challenge... But if a bit of fortune should fall into their hands, you will see them immediately embarking on the most ruinous fantasies, loving the fairest and the youngest, drinking the finest and the oldest, and never finding enough windows to toss their money out of...
Schaunard Puis, quand leur dernier écu est mort et enterré, ils recommencent à dîner à la table d'hôte du hasard, où leur couvert est toujours mis, et à chasser du matin au soir cet animal féroce qu'on appelle la pièce de cent sous... gens intelligents, qui auraient trouvé des truffes sur le radeau de la Méduse!...	Schaunard Then, when their last crown is dead and buried, they return to dine at the table of chance, where the cover is always laid for them, and to pursue from morning to evening that wild animal called a five-franc piece... intelligent persons, who would have found truffles on the raft of the Medusa!...

Synopsis

Act I. The four bohemians avoid paying the rent -- Rodolfo meets Mimì -- they fall in love -- all go out to dine.

Act II. It is Christmas Eve on a square in the Latin Quarter where several streets meet, surrounded by shops of all kinds, on one side the Café Momus. Vendors outside their shops are hawking their wares: oranges, dates, roasted chestnuts, trinkets, crosses, candies, whipped cream, caramels, flowers, pastries, finches and sparrows, coconut milk, jackets, carrots. There is a great motley crowd of townsfolk, soldiers, hosemaids, youths, children, students, midinettes, gendarmes, etc. They marvel at the tumult and at the uproar, hurrying and struggling to keep from being separated in the throng. Patrons of the café are heard calling to the waiters for drinks, beer, coffee, and ratafia (an almond- and fruit-flavored liqueur). Schaunard is at a tinker's comparing a horn and a pipe; he blows the horn, complains about its bad D, but inquires about buying both. Colline is having his coat mended; he apologizes for its worn condition, pays, and carefully distributes the books he is carrying among its many pockets. Rodolfo goes with Mimì to buy her a bonnet. Marcello, alone in the crowd with a package under his arm, eyes the various young ladies as they jostle him. He tries to flirt with one, who runs away laughing. A vendor offers prunes from Tours. Schaunard, waiting in front of the Café Momus for his friends, armed with the enormous pipe and hunting horn he has purchased, comments on the madding crowd as salesgirls hawk trinkets, pins, dates, and caramels and flower-vendors press their wares. Colline comes up, proudly showing off the book he has purchased, a rare Runic grammar. Marcello arrives, anxious for dinner, explaining that Rodolfo is in the milliner's (from which Rodolfo and Mimì are just then emerging, admiring her bonnet). Hawkers offer whipped cream, but the street urchins prefer coconut milk. Marcel, Schaunard, and Colline look for a table outside the cafe, but there is only one, and it is already occupied by honest townsfolk; thr three friends cast haughty glances at the occupants and enter the cafe as the pastry vendors continue and customers of the cafe are heard calling to the waiters for glasses and ratafia (an almond- and fruit-flavored liqueur). At a shop in the back, a merchant stands up on a chair, and with grand gestures offers his wares of stockings, night-caps, etc. A group of street urchins surround him and burst out laughing, joined by working girls and students. The townsfolk, calling out to one another and to the children, and to further cries from the vendors, make for the Rue Mazarin and enter the cafe. A huge throng gathers on the square from all sides, and gradually collects at the back. Colline, Schaunard, and Narcello come out of the cafe, carrying a table, followed by a waiter with chairs. Rodolfo and Mimì arrive, and Mimì notices a group of students, arousing Rodolfo's gentle jealousy. Annoyed by the clamor, the people at the neigbboring table soon get up and go off into the cafe. Rodolfo introduces Mimì to his friends, who welcome her with sly or silly Latin phrases. Parpignol, a toy vendor, appears from the Rue Dauphin pushing a cart bedecked with ribbons and flowers, lit by Chinese lanterns. The children of the street throng around Parpignol, calling out to him their wishes for trumpets, hobby horses, drums, toy guns and soldiers, a riding crop. Schaunard, Marcello and Colline order supper. The children surround Parpignol's cart, gesticulating with greta liveliness. A group of mothers run out in search of their children, and finding them around Parpignol, begin to scold them; one takes her son by the hand, another is about to lead away her daughter. Some threaten, some scold, wondering what the devil has got into these ruffians who should be home and in bed, threatening them with a beating; but in vain, for the children will not leave. One mother takes her child by the ear; the child begins to whimper for a trumpet and a hobby horse. Finally the mothers give in and decide to buy toys from Parpignol, to the great delight of the children. Parpignol moves on down the Rue d'Ancienne Comédie. The children merrily follow after him, marching an pretending to play their newly-acquired toy instruments. After a brief interlude (which was not in the original version), Nusetta appears from the corner of the Rue Mazarin. She is a veryt pretty lady of merry and coquettish ways, with a provocative smile. Following her is Alcindoro, a pompous old gentleman, pretentious in dress and manner. The shopwomen comment favorably on Musetta's appearance. The working girls and the students are amused by the way she treats the stammering Alcindoro. Musetta and Marcello are not getting along very well; she treats Alcindoro badly, flirting with Marcello; eventually Marcello gives in and she abandons Alcindoro. A military march is heard in the distance. Mmebers of the crowd hasten out of the cafe and pour into the square from both sides, wondering excitedly which way the military band will come. Windows are op-ened, mothers with their children appearing in them and on the balconies, all wondering where the band will come from. In the confusion some try to hold back the crowd, the children call out eagerly from the windows, the mothers trying to restrain them, especially Lisetta and Tonio. The crowd completely fills the square, the sound of the band gradually approaching from the left. The shopkeepers close up their shops and come out into the street, sensing in the drumrolls the majesty of the fatherland. Everyone looks to the left; as the band is about to enter the crowd divides into two lines on either side of the square. The military band enters to their exclamations, preceded by a huge drum major, proud as an ancient warrior, who dextrously and solemnly manages his baton of command, indicating the way. He and the sappers pass by, hailed by the crowd. Musetta, who has lost a shoe, is hoisted onto the shoulders of Marcello and Colline. The corwd, seeing her being carried triumphantly, seizes the opportunity for a clamorous ovation. Marcello and Colline with Musetta join the end of parade, followed by Rodolfo and Mimì arm in arm, and Schaunard with his horn to his mouth; then the students and working girls, skipping gaily, then the children, townsmen, and women joining the parade. The whole crowd disappears in the background, following the band and singing the march. Alcindoro is left to pay the bill.

Act III. Outside the gate of the barrière d'Enfer, in the pre-dawn snow, 8 sweepers and dustmen from Gentilly call out impatiently to the customs officals to let them in. From the nearby tavern the voices of Musetta and 18 guests are heard in a drinking song. 3 carters are heard cracking their whips, and 6 Milkmaids appear riding the donkeys and greet the officials before moving off in different directions. 6 peasant women display their wares, butter and cheese, chickens and eggs, to the officials, pay the tax, and agree to meet at St Michel at noon. As Mimì inquires as to Marcello's whereabouts, the sergeant inspects the basket of another passer-by. Others pass through the gate and go off in various directions. The bells of the hospice Marie-Thérèse sound matins, and several couples depart from the tavern. -- Rodolfo and Mimì discuss their relationship -- Marcello and Musetta quarrel.

Act IV. Mimì returns to Rodolfo and dies.

Editions

There have been numerous editions of the vocal score, but there are few significant differences among them. The first edition, arranged by Carlo Carignani, was published by G. Ricordi, ©1896, plate #99000. A second, nuova edizione con aggiunte dell'autore, was soon issued, with the same plate numbers but ©1898. The differences between these two editions, constituting the ``revision'' of the opera that is now standard, are minor. Most subsequent Ricordi editions follow the 1898 version. The G.W. Schirmer edition, though it does not say so, is also based on the 1898 Carignani arrangement. The C.F. Peters editon is a new arrangement by Rolf Reuter, and restores part of the 1896 version of the opera.

Publisher	Language	Date	Pages	Plate number	Translator	Comments
Ricordi	Italian	1896	269	99000		original version
Ricordi	English	1897	204	100357	William Grist, Percy Pinkerton	generally follows original version
Ricordi	Italian	1898	277	99000		revised (standard) version
Ricordi	French	1898	283	101800	Paul Ferrier
Ricordi	German	1898	266	100171	Ludwig Hartmann
Ricordi	English/Italian	1917	283	115494	William Grist, Percy Pinkerton	reprinted 1995
Schirmer	Italian/English	1954	292	42660	Ruth & Thomas Martin
Peters	Italian/German	1975	238	12766	Joachim Herz, Klaus Schlegel	new arrangement, combines elements of original and revised versions

Differences between the 1896 and the 1898 edition are as follows:

Act II, beginning three bars before #15 (after the children sing ``dei soladati il drapel''): in the 1896 version Parpignol and the children reprise their lines ``ecco i giocattoli di Parpignol'' and ``Parpignol, Parpignol, Parpignol'' offstage twice (in the key of A), and after 1 bars of transition (5 in the 1897 English edition, suggesting Puccini was monkeying with it from the start), Marcello sings (rather than speaks) the line ``Ch'io beva del tossico'' leading to #16. None of the lengthy discussion of Mimì's bonnet and reflections on love leading up to the toast is present, which is why there is such an unusually long stretch between rehearsal numbers 15 and 16 in the standard version.

Act II, Starting at the bar before #22, Musetta and Mimì (after #23) sing slightly different vocal line (including even rather than dotted quavers on `struggi' and `rifuggi' in the original version of the waltz theme!). The only textual changes are that Musetta's line ``Così l'effluvio del desio / tutta m'aggira felice mi fa'' is in the 1896 version ``Così l'effluvio del desio... / m'aggira felice mi fa''; and Mimì's lines are:

1896	1898
Mimì [a Rodolfo] Io vedo ben... che quella poveretta, è di Marcello tuo tutta invaghita, tutta invaghita, poveretta! Ah! tutta invaghita di Marcel!	Mimì [a Rodolfo] Io vedo ben... che quella poveretta, Tutta invaghita ell'è, tutta invaghita di Marcel, tutta invaghita ell'è!

In the original version Mimì accompanies Musetta to the end of their passage. Alcindoro's line ``Quella gente che dirà'' is suppressed.

Act II, #27: in the 1896 version there is one extra measure and two extra drum strokes at the commencement of the allegro alla marcia.
Act II, four bars before #32: Colline does not sing here with Marcello and Schaunard in the original. The choral section after #32 is much thinner in the first version, with ``Ecco il tambur maggiore! / Più fier d'un antico guerrier!'' being sung only by the trebles and ``il tambur maggior'' being answered first by the chorus tenors on middle F and then echoed in octaves by only the urchins and basses. After the six principals' ``Lesti, lesti, lesti!'' (Colline is back in the ensemble), the remainder of the final chorus is quite different and very abbreviated: eight bars rather than the present thirty-one leading to the orchestral play-out at #35 (#33 in the original). The play-out is a bit longer, nineteen rather than ten bars, with five bars of the retreating tattoo heard before the same tutta forza orchestral ending.

Act III, eleven bars after #14: there is a dramatic difference here:

1896	1898
Mimì Ch'ei non mi veda.	Mimì Ch'ei non mi veda.
Marcello Celatevi colà [indicandole di nascondersi fra gli alberi] [Mimì si ripara fra gli alberi]	Marcello Or rincasate Mimì, per carità! Non fate scene qua! [Marcello spinge dolcemente Mimì verso l'angolo del Cabarè di dove però quasi subito sporge curiosa la testa] [Marcello va incontro a Rodolfo]

So in 1896, Marcello instructs Mimì to conceal herself, and he will thus be aware of her presence later; whereas in 1898 he tells her to go home and not make a scene. He will have no reason later to suspect that she is still present.

Act III, beginning at #21, Marcello, sings a somewhat different text to a slightly different vocal line, because in the 1896 version he is aware of Mimì's presence and is actively trying to shut Rodolfo up, rather than merely being upset at Rodolfo's description of how sick Mimì is:

1896	1898
Marcello [temendo che Mimì possa udire, tenta di allontanare Rodolfo]	-
Marcello [sorpresa con voce sorda] Rodolfo! Bada! Ah! vieni via! Vieni via! Taci! Rodolfo! Non sai... -	Marcello [sorpresa con voce sorda] Mimì!? Povera Mimì! Che far dunque? O qual pietà! Poveretta! Povera Mimì! Povera Mimì! Ella dunque ascoltava?

This is the passage that the Peters edition restores to the original version, though it errs in asserting that this is the only difference between the two. The 1917 Ricordi English/Italian edition oddly retains most of the English translation of the original text from its 1897 English-only version (including the key stage instruction) over the Italian text of the revised version (e.g. `poveretta' appears translated as `softly')! It accidentally omits the English for Marcello's final ``Povera Mimì''s. These peculiarities are corrected in the reprints.

The Schirmer edition suffers from the publisher's usual idiosyncracies (lack of rehearsal numbers, slurs on multiple notes on a single syllable that have nothing to do with musical phrasing), but is otherwise fine. All editions provide independent text underlay for each vocal line. The Peters edition avoids a common confusion by placing the bass vendors' lines at the beginning of Act 2 at the bottom of the systems rather than at the top. Naturally the unilingual editions are less cluttered.

Sources

The title page of the libretto reads:

LA BOHÈME
(Scene de La vie de Bohème di Henry Murger)

i.e. scenes from Henry Murger's La vie de Bohème. This is curious because the title of Murger's famous novel was in fact Scènes de la Vie de Bohème (Scenes of Bohemian Life), at least from its 3rd (1855) edition onward. The two previous editions, both of 1851, were entitled Scènes de la Bohème. The novel was aptly named, as its chapters constitute a collection of independent stories about a common set of characters, unencumbered by narrative. The various chapters had originally been published separately as a series of stories in a magazine, Corsaire-Satan. Before collecting them into a single volume, however, Murger had already capitalized on their popularity by collaborating with Théodore Barrière on a 5-act play featuring the same characters, La vie de Bohème, first performed at the Théâtre des Variétés in Paris in 1849.

The novel is readily accessible, and can be found online in both its original language, at http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k89180j.item, and in an English translation at http://home.swbell.net/worchel/contents.htm. The play is much more difficult to find; it has apparently not been republished since an 1898 revival, doubtless inspired by the success of the opera. Here is a précis:

Act I takes place at noon in the garden of the country home near Paris of M. Durandin, a rich telegraph investor. Durandin is at odds with his nephew Rodolphe, who has inherited his late father's disorderly and spendthrift ways. Durandin schemes to marry his nephew to the wealthy Mme. Césarine de Rouvres. Rodolphe has nothing against Mme. de Rouvres, but has no intention of giving up his youthful freedom. Mme. de Rouvres is expected that afternoon. After Durandin has gone into the house, a party of picnickers shows up at the garden gate, come to borrow supplies: Marcel, a painter, his girlfriend Musette, Schaunard, an artistic dilettante, Schaunard's girl Phémie, and Gustave Colline, whose pockets bulge with books on the various natural sciences. Rodolphe is captivated by the Bohemian lifestyle they describe, and the bookish butler Baptiste finds a kindred soul in Colline. Rodolphe and Baptiste determines to go away with them. Durandin returns with news that Mme de Rouvres twisted her ankle in descending from her carriage, and was taken to an inn. Rodolphe, seeing his opportunity, arranges to take his uncle's carriage to go to her, secretly arranging with Baptiste to gather their belonging for their flight to Paris. Durandin is delighted that his ruse to excite Rodolphe's concern for Mme de Rouvres has apparently worked.
The set for Act II depicts two neighboring one-room apartments. It is the morning of Friday, July 15, eighteen months having elapsed. Rodolphe is asleep in one room, Musette is seated at her mirror in the other. Rodolphe is awakened by a bill collector, who warns him that he has only four hours to pay the 150 francs he owes, and departs. Rodolphe is startled to hear a woman's voice singing in the next room, even more startled when he recognizes the voice as that of Musette, whome he has not seen in a year. He goes to her room. She explains that after she left Marcel she had gone to live with a viscount. Two months ago, as a precaution, she had rented this room as a pied-à-terre (on the fifth floor! remarks Rodolphe), and having deserted the viscount last night, here she is. She assures Rodolphe that she loves Marcel as much as ever, and is eager to rejoin the group. Rodolphe warns her that Marcel may have been hurt by her desertion. He is reminded of how the girl Marie whom he loved deeply left him after a month. He tried various means of supplanting her in his affection, including taking a pet lobster, until he hit on the idea of going to a foundling home (the Enfants-Trouvés near the Barrière d'Enfer). There he met a pretty girl of eighteen, an orphan who had remained at the home. He proposed to marry her rather than adopt her, but was thwarted by his lack of means of support. He believes she returned his affection. The reverie is interrupted by Benoit, the landlord, who has come to collect the quarterly rents. Rodolphe, returning to his room, puts Benoit off with banter, and the landlord storms out. Musette does the same, finally running off with Benoit in pursuit. Schaunard shows up to borrow money from Rodolphe so that he can pay his debts. The two go off in a taxi to touch others. Baptiste, who is still living with Rodolphe and has been retained as a servant by Benoit, is sent in to make up Musette's room to be let by a new lodger. Soon Benoit arrives with Marcel who has come into a good deal of money and unsuspectingly rents Musette's room. Benoit then brings Mimi, who has struggled climbing the stairs, up to Rodolphe's room. She soon settles in at her job of making paper flowers. Returning to the apartment, Musette is astonished and delighted to find Marcel. Rodolphe is equally excited to discover Mimi, who is of course the orphan from the Enfants-Trouvés. Mimi had left the orphanage to become a companion to an old lady, hoping that she might somehow eventually find Rodolphe. The old lady had used Mimi to please a gentlemen friend, and Mimi, alarmed by his advances, fled and rented this room. Benoit returns and is furious to discover that Musette and Rodolphe are still in their lodgings, but now as the guests of Marcel and Mimi respectively. For the sake of propriety Rodolphe proposes to sleep in Marcel's room; but Musette and Marcel have other ideas and refuse him entrance, and the curtain falls with Rodolphe knocking on Mimi's door.
For Act III we are in the well-furnished parlor of Musette's house. It is late October (1846), at least a year later. Musette and Marcel have somehow come into 2,000 francs a couple months since. Musette is reading and smoking while Mimi is finishing work on a wreath. Musette lightly chides Mimi for her simple ways and devotion to Rodolphe without concern for money; but Mimi perceives Musette's cynicism as bluff. To Musette's laughing remark that no one would die for love, Mimi responds that she is sure she will when Rodolphe leaves her -- if not sooner, she adds in an aside. Baptiste, now employed as a servant by Musette, enters with a letter for Mimi from M. Durandin, asking her to forget Rodolphe. She bids him return it, like the others, to Durandin. Rodolphe and Marcel now come in from the adjoining room, excitedly chattering about the banquet they are to host that evening. Mimi goes out, and Colline soon arrives. Marcel discovers a letter to Musette that she had ignored; it is an announcement that her furniture is being repossessed. Trying to understand how 2,000 francs could have been dissipated in only two months, they go over their account book, turning up such items as 150 francs for a parrot and 70 francs for a monkey that died of indigestion the next day after eating the parrot. Schaunard now arrives with news that he has broken up with Phémie because he suspects her of carrying on an affair with an artillery officer. Everyone goes off to scrounge what they can for a greatly scaled-back banquet; but Rodolphe is detained by Baptiste, who shows him the (unsigned) letters promising Mimi money if she will leave Rodolphe and urge him to attend Mme. de Rouvres' ball. Concerned because she has never spoken to him about the letters, he wonders if perhaps their life of privations may be killing her. Mimi returns, and Rodolphe tries to encourage her to leave him, but they end by reaffirming their love. After Rodolphe leaves, his uncle Durandin arrives, and there now takes place a scene remarkably similar to the comparable one in La dame aux camélias (and La traviata), which this play preceded by a couple of years. Durandin first tries to buy off Mimi, thinking that she seeks to marry Rodolphe for the money he will inherit. That failing, he warns her that she is destroying Rodolphe's chances for success, and that their love will wither. As he plays on her evident concern for Rodolphe she eventually succumbs. Left alone, she sobs that she was too happy, that her dream of happiness for even a little time could not last. The others now return. Mimi, working up her courage, tells Rodolphe to accept the invitation to Mme de Rouvres' ball. Musette, dispirited, make it clear she wants nothing to do with the party and Marcel. Schaunard discerns a funereal air; it is the love of Musette / Mimi that has died, say Marcel and Rodolphe. Schaunard takes a piece of charcoal and scribbles a sign that he places by the door. The voices of the arriving guests are heard as they read the sign: ``Cancelled on account of divorce.''
Act IV: A party at the house of Mme. de Rouvres, a richly furnished salon. Colline and Schaunard are surprised to discover each other there. Schaunard fills Colline in on what has happened: a complete break between Rodolphe and Mimi, Marcel and Musette. Musette is engaged to an English lord. Schaunard expects Rodolphe's.engagement to Mme. de Rouvres to be announced. He has been given the task of breaking the news to Mimi, but has found it impossible to do so. Durandin has given Rodolphe money, and Rodolphe and Marcel have become social lions. Baptiste, to his shame, is now a liveried servant in Mme. de Rouvres' home. Rodolphe and Marcel arrive, quite the dandies. Durandin is there, pressing Rodolphe on Mme. de Rouvres. Rodolphe responds coyly, but assures his uncle that Mimi is completely forgotten. Mme. de Rouvres now enters with several other guests. In response to her importunings, Rodolphe writes a sonnet in her album, and Marcel draws a picture. The picture is a portrait of Mimi, which greatly upsets Mme. de Rouvre, who recognizes in the drawing the chambermaid whom Schaunard has brought to her party. Everyone goes off to waltz. Mimi and Schaunard now enter; Mimi begs Schaunard for the opportunity to see Rodolphe. Schaunard returns to the other guests. Baptiste is shocked to discover Mimi, whom he regrets having wronged as the agent of Durandin's machinations; he secretly vows to make amends. Hearing Rodolphe and Mme. de Rovres returning, he has Mimi hide herself behind a closet door, but not before Mme. de Rouvres has caught sight of her. Mme. de Rouvres, aware that Mimi is listening, leads Rodolphe on to declare that to him Mimi is now ancient history, that his love was a passion of the poet, bueatiful and false, a youthful amour. He leaves, and Mimi now confronts Mme. de Rouvres. From Rodolphe's tone, Mimi scornfully refuses to believe a word of what she has heard, and insists on seeing Rodolphe. Only when Mme. de Rouvres accuses her of valuing her love above Rodolphe's future is Mimi suddenly crushed. She pleads that their love is all her happiness, but Mme. de Rouvres accuses her of selfishness, Mimi resolves that she will prove to everyone her genuine devotion to Rodolphe and departs, admonishing Mme. de Rouvres to love him well. Now frightened, Mme. de Rouvres calls for Baptiste to follow Mimi. Rodolphe returns, furious; Baptiste has informed him of the false calumnies against Mimi, the girl he loved and still loves. Baptiste announces that he was unable to follow Mimi in the dark. Rodolphe believes that she may have been driven to her death. He bitterly accuses Mme. de Rouvres of having tricked him into denying his love for Mimi in favor of another, whom he now renounces. Mme. de Rouvres tears the portrait of Mimi from her album and flings it at his feet. Durandin disowns Rodolphe, who tells him to keep his money, and Mme. de Rouvres her pride; he will keep his love. Mme. de Rouvres swoons as Rodolphe storms out with Marcel and Colline. Baptiste stops Schaunard and offers him his services.
Act V is set in Rodolphe's room, ten days later. Colline and Schaunard are trying to warm themselves at the dying fire in the stove, while Rodolphe and Marcel sit sadly and silently at a table of bottles and empty plates. A little cloud of smoke visible through the window is all that remains of their last log. Colline and Schaunard, seeing that the unhappy Rodolphe and Marcel have no interest in company, depart. Rodolphe and Marcel are pining for their lost lovers. Rodolphe was unable to find Mimi after she fled Mme de Rouvres'; Musette has been gone for five days with no word. Marcel throws Musette's letters in the fire. Suddenly Musette shows up. Rodolphe tactfully leaves to buy some tobacco. Marcel is gradually reconciled to Musette as she gaily recounts an improbable tale of her latest escapades. No sooner has Rodolphe returned, then a noise is heard on the stairs. It is the exhausted Mimi, pale and drawn. Alarmed at her condition, Marcel goes to fetch a doctor. Mimi recounts her story: after fleeing Mme. de Rouvres' party she ran to the bridge, ready to throw herself in ("like a grisette in a novel" she says); she hesitated, a fever came over her, she fainted, and the next thing she knew she was in a hospital. Fearing she would never see Rodolphe again she managed her escape. She is overjoyed to discover that Rodolphe still loves her. If she had found another woman, she says, she would have gladly thrown herself out the window. Marcel returns with the doctor, who, after examining Mimi, reassures her, but privately confides to the others that she has scarcely any time to live, a week at the most. A fever begins to consume Mimi; she expresses a wish for a muff. Musette tells Rodolphe to promise her one, and asks Marcel to fetch her own from their room. She also gives him her bracelets. Marcel and Rodolphe go off for the muff, money, and to recall Schaunard and Colline, as Mimi falls asleep in Musette's care. The men return very shortly with the muff, but the pawnshops are closed for Sunday, and Marcel returns Musette's jewels. Colline and Schaunard arrive with some money they have raised, Schaunard by selling his winter clothes and Colline some philosophy books. Marcel takes the money and goes off to buy medicine. Rodolphe tells Musette that he saw his uncle, on his way to see Mme. de Rouvres. Durandin was as hard-hearted as ever, refusing to believe that this was anything other than a comedy by which Mimi sought to entrap Rodolphe. Mme de Rouvres now shows up, having been apprised of the situation by Durandin. She is full of pity and remorse. Durandin follows, at the same time that Marcel returns with the medicine. Durandin repeats that Rodolphe is being duped; Schaunard offers him a seat that he may better watch the "comedy." Mimi, having awakened, and seeing Durandin, begs Musette to let her leave, but Musette gently leads her to an armchair and gives her the muff. When Mimi recognizes Mme. de Rouvres she asks the others to let her return to the hospital. Mme. de Rouvres and Rodolphe upbraid Durandin for his cruelty, saying that she is dying. Durandin announces that he will cure her. He places her hand in Rodolphe's and blesses their union. He tells her to rise and embrace him. There is a moment of silence; suddenly Musette cries out and falls to her knees. Durandin release Mimi's hand, which falls inertly. He is stunned. Schaunard announces that the comedy is finished. Rodolphe sobs that it is his youth that is being buried.

The libretto and most editions of the vocal score include quotations from the novel, translated into Italian, as proems to each of the four acts. (The English translations of the proems in the Schirmer edition, by the way, are those of Grist and/or Pinkerton, though uncredited.) There is also a collection of quotations, excerpted from the last five paragraphs of the preface to Murger's novel, at the beginning of the libretto, with an added note by the librettists. This does not appear in many modern editions, so it is given here, quoted from the 1898 libretto and the 1897 English vocal score. Note that much of the quoted material in the preface to the novel itself originated in those lines of Marcel and Schaunard from the play noticed above.

...pioggia o polvere, freddo o solleone, nulla arresta questi arditi avventurieri...	...rain or dust, cold or heat, nothing stops these bold adventurers.
La loro esistenza è un'opera di genio di ogni giorno, un problema quotidiano, che essi pervengono sempre a risolvere con l'aiuto di audaci matematiche...	Their existence of every day is a work of genius, a daily problem which they always contrive to solve with the aid of bold mathematics.
Quando il bisogno ve li costringe, astinenti come anacoreti-- ma, se nelle loro mani cade un po' di fortuna, eccoli cavalcare in groppa alle più fantasiose matterìe, amando le più belle donne e le più giovani, bevendo i vini migliori ed i più vecchi e non trovando mai abbastanza aperte le finestre onde gittar quattrini; poi-- l'ultimo scudo morto e sepolto-- eccoli ancora desinare alla tavola rotonda del caso ove la loro posata è sempre pronta; contrabbandieri di tutte le industrie che derivano dall'arte, a caccia da mattina a sera di quell'animale feroce che si chiama: lo scudo.	When want presses them, abstemious as anchorites-- but if a little fortune falls into their hands see them ride forth on the most ruinous fancies, loving the fairest and youngest, drinking the oldest and best wines and not finding enough windows whence to throw their money; then-- the last crown dead and buried-- they begin again to dine at the table d'hôte of chance where their cover is always laid; contrabandists of all the industries which spring from art, in chase from morning till night of that wild animal which is called the crown.
La Bohème ha un parlare suo speciale, un gergo... Il suo vocabolario è l'inferno della retorica e il paradiso del neologismo.	Bohemia has a special dialect, a distinct jargon of its own... This vocabulary is the hell of rhetoric and the paradise of neologism.
... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...	... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ...
Vita gaia e terribile!...	A gay life; yet a terrible one!...
(H. MURGER, prefazione alla Vie de Bohème) (*)	(H. MURGER, preface to the Vie de Bohème) (*)

(*) Gli autori del presente libretto, meglio che seguire a passo a passo il libro di Murger -- (anche per ragioni di opportunità teatrali e soprattutto musicali) -- hanno voluto ispirarsi alla sua essenza racchiusa in questa mirabile prefezione.	(*) Rather than follow Murger's novel step by step, the authors of the present libretto, both for reasons of musical and dramatic effect, have sought to derive inspiration from the French writer's admirable preface.
Se stettero fedeli ai caratteri dei personaggi, se furono a volte quasi meticolosi nel riprodurre certi particolari di ambiente, se nello svolgimento scenico si attennero al fare del Murger suddividendo il libretto in « quadri ben distinti », negli episodi drammatici e comici essi vollero procedere con quell'ampia libertà che -- a torto o a ragione -- stimarono necessaria alla interpretazione scenica del libro più libero forse della moderna letteratura.	Although they have faithfully portrayed the characters, even displaying a certain fastidiousness as to sundry local details; albeit in the scenic development of the opera they have followed Murger's method by dividing the libretto into four separate acts, in the dramatic and comic episodes they have claimed that ample and entire freedom of action which (rightly or wrongly) they deemed necessary to the proper scenic presentment of a novel the most free, perhaps, in modern literature.
Però, in questo bizzarro libro, se de' diversi personaggi sono e balzano fuori vivi, veri e nettisimi i singoli caratteri, s'incontra spesso che uno stesso carattere prenda diversi nomi, s'incarni quasi in due persone diverse.	Yet in this strange book, if the characters of each person therein stand out clear and sharply defined, we often may perceive that one and the same temperament bears different names, and that it is incarnated, so to speakm in two different persons.
Chi puo non confondere nel delicato profilo di una sola donna quelli di Mimì e di Francine? Chi, quando legge delle « manine » di Mimì più « bianche di quelle della dea dell'ozio » non pensa al manicotto di Francine?	Who cannot detect in the delicate profile of one woman the personality both of Mimi and of Francine? Who as he reads of Mimi's ``little hands, whiter than those of the Goddess of Ease'', is not reminded of Francine's little muff?
Gli autori stimarono di dover rilevare una tale identità di caratteri. Parve ad essi che quelle due gaie, delicate ed infelici creature rappresentassero nella commedia della Bohème un solo personaggio cui si potrebbe benissimo, in luogo dei nomi di Mimì e Francine, dare quello di: Ideale.	The authors deem it their duty to point out this identity of character. It has seemed to them that those two mirthful, fragile and unhappy creatures in this comedy of Bohemian life might aptly figure as one person whose name should be, not Mimi, not Francine, but ``The Ideal''.
G.G. -- L.I.	G.G. -- L.I.

Time and Place

According to the libretto, the action takes place around 1830 in Paris (Epoca: 1830 circa - a Parigi). As far as the location is concerned there is no problem, the scenario takes pains to detail genuine locations in Paris, but the date of 1830 is slightly inconsistent with the text. Although neither the opera nor its sources are specifically historical, casual references to certain elements of the historical milieu can be used to date the presumed action more explicitly. In particular, the reference by Rodolfo and the other Bohemians to King Louis Philippe (Luigi Filippo) in the first act require that the action be set between the revolutions of 1830 and 1848, during the reign of Louis Philippe, the so-called July Monarchy, from 30 July 1830 to 24 Feb. 1848; and the joking reference by Colline to his having been called by the king to the ministry and his going to see Guizot suggests that it takes place during the conservative governments of 1840-1848 in which François Guizot was the prime minister. (It could be argued that it takes place up to a few years earlier, when Guizot was the recognized leader of the rightist opposition, the idea being that a new government is to be formed; there were several changes of government in the late 1830's.)

The source texts offer few additional clues as to a specific historical time; indeed the disconnected events of Scènes de la Bohème are understood to have taken place over a number of years. The first meeting of the Bohemians, however, is stated in the novel as having taken place on 8 April 1840, so all their adventures must certainly follow that date. Even if the date were not explicitly given there would be one very telling and amusing hint in the opening chapter. The founding of the Bohemian Club begins when Schaunard and Colline first meet while dining at La Mère Cadet, a bouchon (tavern) not so far from the locale of Act 3 of the opera. There is a fleeting reference here to an opera singer from an adjoining Montparnasse theater who is dining on an artichoke during an intermission of Lucia di Lammermoor. This opera was written in 1835, but was first heard in Paris, in Donizetti's own revised French version, on 6 Aug. 1839. Evidently Lucia was still in its first season when the Bohemians met.

Beside the internal references, we should take into account the fact that the Scènes de la Vie de Bohème is autobiographical in nature, and that the leading characters are drawn from real people, friends and acquaintances of the author. Henry Murger was born in 1822. His first Bohème stories began appearing in the Corsaire-Satan in 1846 and continued into 1849; the play Vie de Bohème was first performed 22 Nov. 1849. Since the stories plainly strove to depict a Paris he remembered, they could hardly have taken place much before 1840 nor after 1845.

The play La vie de Bohème also contains specific signposts. As noted above, the second act of the play takes place on Friday, 15 July. The only years during the reign of Louis-Philippe when July 15 fell on a Friday were 1831, 1836, and 1842. Rodolphe is 22 years old at the time, Mimi 18. If the authors had actually consulted a calendar, which seems unlikely, 1842 would be the preferred year. On the other hand, the letter notifying Musette of the repossession of her furniture in the third act is dated 25 October, 1846. But this very specific date, being so many years after the equally specific date mentioned in the novel, argues persuasively that no genuine and specific historical context was ever intended for the stories.

Apart from the very curious note on the front page, Illica made no evident attempt to modify the events to fit a different environment from those of the source texts; indeed he adopted innumerable details from them. Illica was himself enamored of historical and geographical detail; he was also particularly drawn to French history. In addition to Manon Lescaut and La bohème,, he wrote Andrea Chénier and provided Puccini with a libretto titled Marie Antoinette. External references in his libretti are seldom casual or fictitious. The conclusion is inescapable that the events depicted in La bohème, though varying in detail from those in Murger, depict the identical milieu, that of Paris in the early 1840s. Why he chose to say "c. 1830" on the libretto is a mystery. It would not have fooled anyone at the time; it is as if a play written today were nominally set c. 1930, but contained references to President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill!

As to the time of year, it is abundantly clear that the first two acts (originally intended to be two scenes of one act) take place on Christmas Eve - the subtitle of Act II is La vigilia di Natale. The stage instructions state that Act III takes place in February, but whether it is a month later, a year later, or more is left deliberately vague. Presumably it is at least a year later, unless the on-again off-again romances evolved remarkably quickly. The time of the last act is even more vague. Marcello refers to Schaunard's feast as "cuccagna da Berlingaccio" (Berlingaccio is the last Thursday before Lent), but I believe that this is a figure of speech only, like "Christmas in July". It should be noted that in the interest of dramatic compression, a minor anachronism has been introduced with Benoit's visit to collect the rent on Dec. 24. In Paris of the time, rents were collected on the 1st or the 15th of the month. This is not a bit of trivia of which the librettists would have been unaware: much is made of the fact throughout the novel.

The time of day is explicitly stated for the third act as being at the beginning of dawn. In Paris, the sun rises at about 8:15 in mid-February, but that is on Western European Time. In the 19th century, before the adoption of time zones, sunrise would have been around 7:15. Twilight by the usual definition (the Sun 6 degrees below the horizon) lasts a little over a half hour at Paris' latitude, so the third act presumably commences around 6:45 AM local time.

As a matter of curiosity, Leoncavallo's own La bohème is explicit about the dates, although he too has moved them slightly back in time. Act I, at the Café Momus, takes place on 24 Dec. 1837; Act II, involving Musetta being put out of her lodgings for non-payment of rent, is faithfully set on 15 Apr. 1838; Act III is in Oct. 1838; and the Act IV death of Mimì in Rodolfo's garret occurs on 24 Dec. 1838.

Locale

(You may find it useful to refer to a near-contemporary map of Paris.)

The location of the garret occupied by the Bohemians, the setting for the first and fourth acts, is not specified. It is not even certain that the garrets of the two acts are the same, although for reasons of theatrical economy foreseen by the librettists they are identically arranged and furnished. Indeed, given the frequency with which the Bohemians moved from place to place in the original stories, it would be highly unlikely that they would have remained in the same quarters unless the time scale is tightly compressed. (Leoncavallo, ever the bad businessman, required two separate garrets for the third and fourth acts of his opera, one occupied by Marcello and one by Rodolfo.) There is an implication that the garret of the 1st act is at no great remove from the Café Momus.

The Café Momus was a real restaurant in the 1840s which Murger and his friends frequented. It was not, however, in the Latin Quarter, despite the title of Act II. It was in the Rue des Prêtres Saint-Germain-l'Auxerrois, a one-block street on the right bank off the Place du Louvre, directly behind the palace/musueum, and its location is stated explicitly in the first chapter of the novel. (The church of St. Germain l'Auxerrois across the street had been sacked in early 1831 during one of the many insurrections that rocked the first few years of the July Monarchy.) The true location of the Café was ignored by the librettists, who have the students singing about going by the Rue Mazarin (``Pigliam via Mazzarino'') which is in the Latin Quarter on the Left Bank; Murger in fact had lived there. It is also the street whence Musetta makes her appearance. Likewise, there are stage instructions that Parpignol comes from the via Delfino (Rue Dauphine), and leaves by the via Vecchia Commedia (Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie), suggesting that Illica envisioned the Café Momus as being somewhere on the north side (with the audience facing northward) of the Carrefours de Bussy (or Buci as it is now known), where the Rue Dauphine, Rue Mazarine, and Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie intersect in the heart of the Latin Quarter, a block from the Odéon Métro station. (The Rue de l'Ancienne Comédie is a one-block long extension of the Rue Mazarin. It takes its name from the Comédie-Française, which occupied the building at #14 from 1689 till 1770. The street was known as the Rue des Fossés St. Germain until 1834, another minor bit of evidence for a setting of the opera later than the early 1830s.) By the time the opera was written, the real Café Momus had long since ceased to exist; it was gone by the 1870s at the latest. The name of the café appeared to refer to Momus, the Greek god of satire, which made it an appealing spot for the Bohemians. In fact, though, Momus was the name of the real proprietor! A more likely restaurant for the locale would have been the Caf&é Procope adjacent to the old Comédie-Française, a favorite and famous gathering spot for Jacobins during the Revolution and great artists, including Musset, Sand, and Chopin, in the 1840s.

The setting of the third act at the Barrière d'Enfer seems to have been wholly Illica's invention, since there is no corresponding scene in the sources. Furthermore, the ultimate resting place of Marcel's Crossing of the Red Sea, re-christened The Harbor of Marseilles, was, in the novel, on a delicatessen in the distant and fashionable faubourg Saint-Honoré. Characteristically, though, there is sufficient detail in the libretto to demonstrate Illica's knowledge of the real Paris of the time. Beyond the barrière we see the Orleans Road leading off in the distance; to the right, the Boulevard d'Enfer and the Rue d'Enfer, which leads to the Latin Quarter, and to the left the Boulevard St. Jacques. None of these save the last now exists, but they are all identifiable with modern streets. The Avenue d'Orleans is now known as Avenue du Général Leclerc, the Boulevard d'Enfer is now the Boulevard Raspail, and the former Rue d'Enfer, at least here, is the Avenue Denfert-Rochereau. The scene is at what was called until 1879 the Place d"Enfer, and is now called the Place Denfert-Rochereau, looking south or southwest across the square to the barrière (customs gate). It is near the center of the 14th Arondissement, about a kilometer south of the Latin Quarter and a kilometer north of the modern city limit by Gentilly (whence come the spazzini).

The Place, the Barrière, and the Boulevard all took their colorful names from the Rue d'Enfer. Contrary to a popular belief that the name referred to the devils of Vauvert, haunting an ancient castle, it is probably simply a corruption of the old Latin Via inferior, the lower of the two Roman roads that led from Lutetia (Paris) to Aurelianum (Orléans). Its name, and that of the Place, was changed in 1879 to honor Colonel Pierre Marie Aristide Denfert-Rochereau (1823-1878), the commander of the garrison in the heroic resistance to the siege of Belfort during the Franco-Prussian War. That Denfert and d'Enfer sound identical in French made this an obvious choice. The Boulevard d'Enfer was renamed in 1887 to honor François Vincent Raspail, a scientist and republican political leader in the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 who had also died in 1878. The Avenue d'Orléans was renamed in 1948 to honor Leclerc (Philippe de Hautecloque, 1902-1947), who led a division of the Free French forces up that avenue in the liberation of Paris on 25 Aug. 1944.

Concerning the Barrière d'Enfer: under Louis XVI construction of a wall around Paris was begun in 1785, and completed in 1789, just before the Revolution. Paris had been walled from Roman times, and the city walls had been successively enlarged and rebuilt at least six times. The new wall enclosed an area three times larger than its predecessor (built under Louis XIV). Unlike the other walls, this new one was not of a defensive nature; it was rather a simple fence to assist in the collection of taxes on merchandise entering the city.

View of the Barrière d'Enfer (d'égalité), 1791

It was known as the Clôture des Fermiers-general, the Farmers-general Wall (farmers-general referring to the tax farmers charged with collecting the revenue). The 24-km wall featured sixty ports of entry, or barrières, 42 on the Right Bank and 18 on the Left. Adjoining each gateway were one or two stately neo-classic octrois,

Octroi of the Barrière d'Enfer

administrative buildings that served as banks for the revenue. They were all designed in different styles by the famous architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux, to evoke a classical Roman splendor - he called them propylaea. The important gate at the head of the Orléans Road and the start of the Rue d'Enfer was known as both the Barrière d'Enfer and occasionally the Barrière d'Orléans. The mur des octrois became the focus of intense hatred -- a catch-phrase had it that ``Le mur murant Paris rend Paris murmurant!'' The French Revolution might as well be dated from the sacking and torching of several of the tollhouses on 12 July, 1789 as from the storming of the Bastille two days later. The hated customs duties were of course abolished in the Revolution, and the Barrière d'Enfer was the site of a great celebration on 1 May 1791, commemorated in subsequent years; it was renamed the Barrière d'égalité, but eventually reverted to its original name (and the levies were reinstituted in 1799). The Barrière d'Enfer also gained a certain notoriety because one of its two octrois is the entrance to the Catacombs, the abandoned underground quarry where the remains of six or seven million people from the Parisian cemeteries were reinterred between 1785 and 1870 (including probably most of the Bohemians of the story).

During the 1840s, at the time of the action of novel and opera, a new enceinte was being built. This was a true line of fortifications, and it marks the limits of modern Paris, double the area within the Farmer-generals' wall. When the enclosed area was incorporated in 1859, the customs wall and almost all of the barrières were demolished; but the Barrière d'Enfer, along with only three others, was preserved as an archictectural monument, and its octrois stand to this day in the Place Denfert-Rochereau. The Barrière d'Enfer is also the site of the railway station at the head of the ligne de Sceaux of what is now the RER. The railway was inaugurated 23 June 1846, again around the time of La bohème; it was only the second railway line in the city, and the facade of the original is preserved in the present station, the oldest in Paris. (The first Paris railway, the line to Versailles, was inagurated 10 Sep. 1840, five months after the meeting of Murger's Bohemians.)

The Sceaux Railway Station at the Place d'Enfer, 1846

Through the mid-nineteenth century the neighborhoods of the barrières tended to be the foci of poverty, misery and crime. This was particularly true of the southern ones, including Enfer, where extensive church lands had been freed for settlement by migrant workers during the Revolution. The Rue d'Enfer was famous for Paris' foundling home, with its window where newborn infants could be abandoned. There were also nearby a home and a lying-in hospital for unmarried mothers, of whom the numbers in Paris of that time were staggering. Other institutions in the area included a hospital for victims of venereal disease and an asylum for blind girls. Paris' main prison, la Santé, was also close by. When Louis-Philippe restored the death penalty in 1832, the guillotine was set up at the neighboring Barrière Saint-Jacques, where it remained for public executions till 1870.

One institution in the immediate vicinity of the Barrière d;Enfer, the Hospice Marie-Thérèse, deserves special note because it is mentioned in the libretto as the source of the matin bells near the beginning of the 3rd act. This hospice, on the west side of the Rue d'Enfer, only a block away from the barrière, was a home for needy women of "good society" and for feeble or sick elderly priests. It was founded in 1816 by Mme Céleste de Chateaubriand, wife of the famous writer and statesman the Vicomte de Chateaubriand. It was named in honor of its patroness, Marie Thérèse Charlotte, the duchess of Angoulême, daughter of Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette and the only member of her immediate family to survive the revolution. (She was still alive at the time of the story; she died in 1851.) Chateaubriand, who lived next to the hospice from 1826-1838, described his life there in his memoirs in idyllic terms suggesting the peaceful rural atmosphere that still obtained in this outpost of the city. It is possible that his description of awaking to the sound of the Angelus may have inspired Illica. In order to help defray expenses, Mme. de Chateaubriand established a chocolate factory on the premises, earning her the sobriquet ``la vicomtesse Chocolat.'' Victor Hugo describes being beguiled into spending more than a week's budget: ``The Catholic chocolate and the smile of Mme. de Chateaubriand cost me fifteen francs... It was the dearest woman's smile ever sold to me.'' The hospice (and associated chocolaterie) survived well into the twentieth century.

Characters [incomplete]

Rodolfo

All the characters in the opera are referred to by only single names, sometimes their given names, sometimes their family names. Rodolfo, translated from Rodolphe in the sources, has no family name stated directly in any of the texts. In the play La vie de Bohème, however, his uncle M. Durandin speaks of him as "the son of my brother"; presumably therefore Rodolphe's last name is also Durandin. The other bohemians in the stories are to varying extents inspired by real people, members of Henri Murger's circle. Rodolphe is presumed to represent Murger himself.

Marcello

Marcello, or Marcel, also has no known family name. As an artist he is thought to be modeled on the obscure painter François Germain Léopold Tabar (sometimes spelled Tabart), born in Paris in 1818, died at Argenteuil 29 Mar. 1869. Tabar, a student of Paul Delaroche, was indeed a painter of historical and military scenes. There was a standing joke among his friends of a painting of the crossing of the Red Sea that he contemplated but never executed. The few references that mention him suggest that the neglect of his work is unjust. His canvases, most painted after the writing of Scènes de la Vie de Bohème, include the following, many in various provincial French museums:

Niobe and her Children	1842
The Good Samaritan	1847
Bacchus and Ariadne	1848
M. Goury, Belleville	1851
St. Sebastien	1851
Phryne before the Areopagus	1852
Punishment of Queen Brunhilde	1853	Rouen
Episode of the Campaign in Egypt	1855	Bordeaux
Campaign in the Crimea	1857
Horde of Barbarians	1857
War in the Crimea	1859	Paris, Ministry of State
Attila Massacring his Prisoners	1861	Louviers
Fête of Heliogabalus	1863
Joshua Halting the Sun	1863	Chalons-sur-Marne
Convoy of Wounded	1864	Saumur
Hyperides Defending Phryne	1865
Solferino, 24 June 1866, at 5:00 in the Evening	1866	Reims
March from Saragossa	1867
Burning of Scutari	1868
Mosque of Sylymanée at Constantinople		Algiers
Return of the Prodigal Son		Aurillac
Evening in Venice		Béziers
Portait of Jean Cousin		Sens
The Wounded Chaplain		Tarbes

His wife Alexina, née Goury, was also a painter. She exhibited at the Salons of 1865 and 1868. (Tabar's 1851 portrait M. Goury was of his future father-in-law.)

Schaunard

Of the original for Alexandre Schaunard there can be no doubt: Alexandre Schanne, one of Murger's companions in his bohemian days. Schanne was evidently never a serious artist, and abandoned the circle to become a successful businessman; but he survived long enough to profit from his association, and in 1887 published a book Souvenirs de Schaunard, in which he identified the models for the various characters in Vie de Bohème. Indeed, Murger had originally intended to name the character Schannard; Schaunard was the result of a printer's error that Murger never bothered to correct. His first name is nowhere mentioned in the opera. Although described specifically as a musician in the opera, in the novel and play his artistic interests are not particularly specialized, just as the real-life Schanne was a dilettante. Phémie Teinturière, Schaunard's constant companion, does not appear in the opera, although she does in Leoncavallo's version, as Eufemia. Schanne was unusually reticent about identifying her, denying that he had had such a love. The character's surname suggested her work as a dyer (teinturière) in an artificial flower factory, as a consequence of which her fingers were always green. Mimì's profession in the opera is the sole reminder of Phémie.

Colline

Benoit

Alcindoro

Mimì

Musetta

In the play she is six weeks shy of age 22 when Marcel introduces her to Rodolphe. The 2nd act quotation from the novel describes her as a pretty girl of twenty. It is noteworthy that the librettists made her a little younger than Mimì.

Parpignol

Sergente dei doganieri

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For a Laugh

Here is part of the AltaVista Babelfish translation of the 2nd Act of La bohème:

To The Latin quarter.

A cross road of ways that to the wide one takes large square shape; botteghe, vendors of every kind; on one side, the Momus Coffee.

The eve of Been born them.

Great various crowd and: bourgeois, soldiers, fantesche, boys, children, students, sartine, gendarmi, etc. On limiting of theirs botteghe the vendors gridano to squarciagola inviting the crowd de' buyers. He separates to you in that great crowd of people go around Rodolfo and Mimì from a part, Hills near the bottega of one rappezzatrice; Schaunard to a bottega of ferravecchi is buying one pipa and a horn; Marcello pushed here and here from the whim of people. Several bourgeois to a table outside of the Momus Coffee. It is evening. The botteghe adorne of lampioncini and fanali they are ignited; a great fanale illuminates the income to the Coffee.

Vendors
(on limiting of theirs botteghe, others going around themselves between the crowd and offering the own goods)
Oranges, dates! Warmth the browns!
Ninnoli, crosses. Torroni! Mounted cream!
Candies! The crostata one! Fringuelli
sparrows! Flowers to the beautiful ones!

The crowd
(students, sartine, bourgeois and people)
How much crowd! On, corriam! That uproar!
You tighten yourself to me. Given the step.

From the coffee
(screaming and calling the Waiters who go and come it is busy to you)
Soon here! Camerier! A bicchier!
You run! Beer! To drink! A coffee!

Vendors
Latte of coconut! Giubbe! Carrots!

The crowd
(going away)
How much crowd, on, partiam!

Schaunard
(after to have blown in the horn that it has contracted to along with a vendor of ferravecchi)
False this King!
Pipa and horn quant' are?
(Satisfied.)

I particularly like the suggestion that the line Falso questo re! which was lifted directly from the novel:

Fa, ré, mi, ré. -- Aïe, aïe, il est faux comme Judas, ce ré, fit Schaunard en frappant avec violence sur la note aux sons douteux.

is a veiled reference to republican and revolutionary sentiments on the part of Schaunard, consistent with a setting just before the 1848 revolution. Given Illica's political leanings, it is entirely possible!

Other WBO Chorus Notes