Tragedy, harmony and love

• Source: Global Times
• [08:43 August 03 2010]
• Comments

Erika Grimaldi as Mimi. Photo: Courtesy of Shanghai Grand Theater

By Hu Bei

It is said that La Bohème is the one opera you should see if you've never seen an opera before. One of Giacomo Puccini's masterpieces, he wrote this at the age of 38 and it is often regarded as a lament for his youth.

The composer's masterly management of character and plot, his understanding of drama and comedy, and above all, his radiant, supremely expressive music, have helped make La Bohème one of the world's most popular operas.

Now, for the first time, La Bohème will brave the torrid heat of the Shanghai summer and appear on the stage of the Shanghai Grand Theater for two nights, tomorrow and Friday.

This production is being staged by the orchestra and chorus of Teatro Regio Torino (The Royal Theater of Turin) which in 1896 saw the original opera premiere.

The Italian libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa and was based on Henri Muger's autobiographical novel, Scènes de la Vie de Bohème. The opera focuses on a group of impoverished artists: a poet, Rodolfo; a painter, Marcello; a musician, Schaunard; and a philosopher, Colline.

They live in the Latin Quarter in 19th century Paris, leading a poor but unconventional life. Rodolfo falls in love with his neighbor, a delicate seamstress called Mimi. Their passion is contrasted by the flamboyant affair enjoyed by the painter Marcello and his flirtatious sweetheart, Musetta. Although the story is simple and the plot involves ordinary people the opera sweeps along with flair and intensity.

While parts of the opera straddle the divide between comedy and tragedy, the music throughout has a distinctively bittersweet quality. Puccini was in the full flower of genius here and he wrote two of the most famous arias in the world for the first act when Rodolfo and Mimi meet each other.

It is pitch black in the attic when Rodolfo touches and holds Mimi's hand. He sings and introduces himself in the aria "Che Gelida Manina," ("Your Tiny Hand is Frozen"). And Mimi's reply is the aria, "Mi Chiamano Mimi," ("My Name is Mimi") - and so the romance begins.

In 1986, Pavarotti sang Rodolfo's "Che Gelida Manina," during his concert in the Great Hall of the People in Beijing. "This might have been the first time the Chinese people learned about Rodolfo and Puccini's La Bohème," the director of the Italian Government Institute of Culture Consulate General of Italy in Shanghai, Paolo Sabbatini said.

"The world's three leading tenors, Pavarotti, Placido Domingo and Jose Carreras, all sang this aria. Unlike his compatriot Giuseppe Verdi, who mainly wrote grand operas involving heroism, Puccini's opera was called 'the people's opera' by Italians because of its natural, simple style. After every performance of La Bohème in Italy the arias are always heard being sung throughout the streets including, of course, 'Che Gelida Manina.'"

The famous Chinese baritone, Zhang Feng, who has sung Rodolfo in Italy, has his own thoughts on the opera.