Matthew Polenzani as Rodolfo & Ailyn Pérez as Mimi Photo: Evan Zimmerman/ Met Opera
Sunday 23 February 2020 at 6pm on RNZ Concert
Metropolitan Opera Season
PUCCINI: La Bohème
Cast:
Ailyn Pérez (Mimì), Olga Kulchynska (Musetta), Matthew Polenzani (Rodolfo), David Bizic (Marcello), Andrey Zhilikhovsky (Schaunard), Jongmin Park (Colline), Arthur Woodley (Benoît), Metropolitan Opera Chorus & Orchestra conducted by Marco Armiliato
Recorded in the Metropolitan Opera House, New York
Matthew Polenzani as Rodolfo & Ailyn Pérez as Mimi Photo: Evan Zimmerman/ Met Opera
'La Bohème', the passionate, timeless, and indelible story of love among young artists in Paris, can stake its claim as the world’s most popular opera. It has a marvellous ability to make a powerful first impression and to reveal unsuspected treasures after dozens of hearings. At first glance, 'La Bohème' is the definitive depiction of the joys and sorrows of love and loss; on closer inspection, it reveals the deep emotional significance hidden in the trivial things—a bonnet, an old overcoat, a chance meeting with a neighbour—that make up our everyday lives.
Matthew Polenzani as Rodolfo Photo: Evan Zimmerman/ Met Opera
Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) was immensely popular in his own lifetime, and his mature works remain staples in the repertory of most of the world’s opera companies.
His librettists for 'La Bohème', Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906) and Luigi Illica (1857–1919), also collaborated with him on his next two operas, 'Tosca' and 'Madama Butterfly'. Giacosa, a dramatist, was responsible for the stories and Illica, a poet, worked primarily on the words themselves.
A scene from La Bohème at The Met Photo: Evan Zimmerman/ Met Opera
The libretto sets the action in Paris, circa 1830. This is not a random setting, but rather reflects the issues and concerns of a particular time when, following the upheavals of revolution and war, French artists had lost their traditional support base of aristocracy and church. The story centres on self-conscious youth at odds with mainstream society—a Bohemian ambience that is clearly recognisable in any modern urban centre. 'La Bohème' captures this ethos in its earliest days.
A scene from La Bohème at The Met Photo: Evan Zimmerman/ Met Opera
Lyrical and touchingly beautiful, the score of 'La Bohème' exerts an immediate emotional pull. Many of its most memorable melodies are built incrementally, with small intervals between the notes that carry the listener with them on their lyrical path. This is a distinct contrast to the grand leaps and dives that earlier operas often depended on for emotional effect. The melodic structure perfectly captures the “small people” (as Puccini called them) of the drama and the details of everyday life.
Olga Kulchynska as Musetta & Ailyn Pérez as Mimi Photo: Evan Zimmerman/ Met Opera
