In February I went to see the VSO’s production of La Bohème which presented the drama of everyday life among the common people. My favourite part of the opera occurs early on in Act 1 where the two leads, Mimi and Rodolfo introduce each other. Here, each perform an aria back to back with Rodolfo first singing “Che gelada manina” and then Mimi responding with “Mi chiamano Mimi”. Throughout the piece, I felt that it was often conveying a contrast between reality and dreaming with the lyrics and that the melody often mimicked this contrast as well. Throughout the piece, the melody moves steadily but there are small peaks in the music, however, these are only brief and always come back down to return to its original position. Perhaps this indicates that while Mimi may have higher dreams and aspirations for herself, however, her reality is that she is limited to the small poverty life and she has no way to escape from her ultimate fate of death. The piece begins with the following lyrics:
Yes. They call me Mimi,
but my real name is Lucia.
My story is short
I embroider satin
and silk at home and elsewhere.
I’m peaceful and happy,
and my past time is
making lilies and roses.
Here she speaks of her daily tasks and what she enjoys to do. The melody follows a similar repetitive pattern and there are no large variations with the melody indicating maybe her constant routines of her life. However, she allows herself to dream for a little while and expresses herself with the following lyrics:
I love all things
that have gentle sweet smells,
that speak of love, of spring,
of dreams and fanciful things,
those things that have poetic names
Here, her voice rises slowly and becomes slightly stronger, however this is very brief. Mimi seems non-resistant and is immediately pulled back down to reality as the melody experiences a descending motion. Mimi then goes on to talk about her daily life again and the melody is light with flourishes of a flute and is repetitive:
They call me Mimi,
I do not know why.
Alone, I make
lunch by myself.
I do not go to church,
but I pray a lot to the Lord.
I stay all alone
there in a white room
and look upon the roofs and the sky
However, what immediately follows is an incredibly dreamy interlude as her voice rises more and more and it seems unrestrained. It is the most distinct part of the aria as it is almost a complete departure from her reality and a rupture in her description of her daily routines in life. What is created here is an incredibly otherworldly atmosphere, you can almost imagine Mimi soaring over the roofs in the skies of Paris. Perhaps a suggestion that she is waiting for love to come and to be taken away from her poor destitute life.
but when the thaw comes
The first sun, like my
first kiss, is mine!
However, again, this was not meant to last and it is not reality. Once again, her voice moves down and descends back down to the tonic and returns from her dream. The last few lines of the piece ends where she sings a bit faster, almost half singing, where it is almost as if Mimi is literally being pulled back into reality, out of the dream like trance of the song and back to life.