from Act IV of the Italian opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa

Role: Colline, a philosopher

Voice Part: bass       Fach: lyric bass

Setting: An attic room

Synopsis: After Mimi has collapsed on the staircase to the attic room, she is carried into the room. On the edge of death, she says that her hands are cold. In order to buy her something to keep her hands warm, Musetta pawns her jewelry and Colline decides to pawn his old overcoat, to which he sings farewell.

from Act III of the Italian opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa

Role: Mimi, a seamstress

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric soprano

Setting: The barrière d'Enfer, on the outskirts of Paris

Synopsis: Rodolfo and Mimi have had a fight, with Rodolfo saying that Mimi has been flirting with other men. However, the real reason he wants to separate from Mimi is because she is very sick and he cannot bear to watch her die. He reveals this to Marcello, but Mimi overhears him and, after Marcello leaves, she comes to him and asks him to return all of her possessions to her former room.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa

Role: Mimi, a seamstress

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric soprano

Setting: Christmas Eve in a room in an attic

Synopsis: After Rodolfo tells Mimi that he has fallen in love with her, he asks her to tell him something of her. She responds, telling him (among other things) that her name is Lucia, although she is called Mimi.

from Act II of the Italian opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa

Role: Musetta, Marcello's occasional girlfriend

Voice Part: soprano       Fach: lyric soprano

Setting: The Cafe Momus

Synopsis: Having spotted her occasional boyfriend, Marcello, Musetta sings of the way everyone always notices her beauty when she goes out.

from Act I of the Italian opera La Bohème by Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Giuseppe Giacosa

Role: Rodolfo, a poet

Voice Part: tenor       Fach: lyric tenor

Setting: Christmas Eve in a room in an attic

Synopsis: After both of their candles go out, Rodolfo and a young woman who has come to his room in order to relight her candle are in the darkness together. Pretending to look for her key which she had lost in the room, Rodolfo instead finds her hand and sings to her of his dreams and ambitions. He also tells her that he has fallen in love with her.