Puccini, La Boheme

La Boheme/ Puccini

This opera, written by Puccini in 1896, is a love story between Mimi, a poor seamstress, and Rodolfo, a poor poet. Mimi and Rodolfo fall in love at first sight, but due to difficulties Rodolfo ends up leaving Mimi. Mimi, who gets extremely ill with tuberculosis, finds Rodolfo and figures out that he left her because he knew he couldn’t do anything for Mimi as her health weakens. As Mimi and Rodolfo realized their love for each other, they reunite again, but Mimi’s health worsens every day. After spending few months together, Mimi dies in the arms of Rodolfo (Parker). One of the most famous arias in the Opera is “Che gelida manina”, a song Rodolfo sings for Mimi when they first meet each other (Parker). Rodolfo sings: “In my carefree poverty/I squander rhymes/and love songs like a lord./ When it comes to dreams and visions/and castles in the air,/I've the soul of a millionaire.” Rodolfo’s introduction of himself shows how much he values art and beauty instead of capitalistic values He does not mind about his poverty, but rather he is proud of himself that he can write love songs and has visions about his future. He even refers himself to a millionaire, even though in reality, he is just a poor poet. .
Puccini sets his Opera in a poor area of Paris in 1830 where artists and poets lived together(Parker). In the midst of poverty, these young men and women considered their lives as noble and valuable because all they cared about is art and achieving their goals as an artist rather than living under the rules of the society. Instead of obeying capitalistic values and working hard to earn money, these artists only concentrate of achieving their goals. This bohemian life style was very popular and has culturally influenced lots of young people in the 1900s. Puccini extols this bohemian life style through Mimi, Rodolfo and their group of friends.
Even though Mimi dies in the story, this opera still carries a positive message of hope because it displays the triumph of love. Mimi and Rodolfo achieve their love in the end because Mimi happily dies in the arms of Rodolfo even though she could not receive any medical treatment. These young artists did not give in to the power of money; instead their love for each other overcame poverty. Also, towards the end of the opera, when Mimi is about to die, their artist friends sell their valuable items in order to buy medication for Mimi. Puccini delivers a message of hope through the valuable friends whom are willing to sacrifice their goods to save Mimi.