RUDOLPH (a poet) Tenor SCHAUNARD (a musician) Baritone BENOIT (a landlord) Bass MIMI Soprano PARPIGNOL Tenor MARCEL (a painter) Baritone COLLINE (a philosopher) Bass ALCINDORO (a councilor of state) Bass MUSETTA Soprano CUSTOM-HOUSE SERGEANT Bass Students, Work Girls, Citizens, Shopkeepers, Street Vendors, Soldiers, Restaurant Waiters, Boys, Girls, etc. The opera is founded on Henri Murger's book "La Vie de Bohème."...

Rudolph and Marcel are sitting in the latter's attic-studio in the Quartier Latin, in Paris. Marcel is absorbed in his painting. The day is cold. They have no money to buy coal. Marcel takes a chair to burn it, when Rudolph remembers that he has a manuscript which has been rejected by the publishers and lights a fire with that instead. Colline enters, looking abject and miserable. He had gone out to pawn his books, but nobody wanted them. Their friend, Schaunard, however, had better luck. He com

Rudolph's friends have repaired to their favorite Café. It is Christmas Eve and everyone is in festive spirits. All the shops are bright and displaying their goods. Hawkers offer their goods for sale in the streets. Rudolph and Mimi are seen entering a milliner's where Rudolph is to buy her a new hat. Colline, Schaunard and Marcel take their seats in front of the Café, where a table has been prepared for them. Rudolph introduces Mimi to his friends. Musetta, Marcel's flame, with whom he has quar

Months have elapsed, bringing joy and misery to Rudolph and Mimi. Rudolph loves Mimi passionately, but is consumed with jealousy. On a wintry day, Marcel is seen leaving a tavern near the Gates of Paris. He meets Mimi; she looks pale and haggard. She asks Marcel to help her and tells him of Rudolph's love and jealousy, explaining that she must leave him. Rudolph now comes upon the scene and not seeing Mimi tells of all the miseries of their lives; how he loves her and believes her to be dying of

Marcel and Rudolph are now living together in their attic-studio. Musetta and Mimi have left them. They are seemingly working, but their thoughts wander towards the women they love. Schaunard and Colline enter with rolls and a herring for their meal. They have a wild time and are dancing and singing when Musetta enters and tells them that Mimi is outside so weak and ill that she can go no further. They make up a bed on the couch for her and bring her in. She clings to Rudolph and implores him no

Spacious window, from which one sees an expanse of snow-clad roofs. On left, a fireplace, a table, small cupboard, a little book-case, four chairs, a picture easel, a bed, a few books, many packs of cards, two candlesticks. Door in the middle, another on left. Curtain rises quickly RUDOLPH and MARCEL. RUDOLPH looks pensively out of the window. MARCEL works at his painting, "The Passage of the Red Sea," with hands nipped with cold, and warms them by blowing on them from time to time, often changi

"…Gustave Colline, the great philosopher; Marcel, the great painter; Rudolph, the great poet, and Schaunard, the great musician —as they were wont to style them selves—regularly frequented the Cafe Momus, where, being inseparable, they were nicknamed 'The Four Musketeers.' "Indeed, they always went about together, played together, dined together, often without paying the bill, yet always with a beautiful harmony worthy of the Conservatoire Orchestra. "Mademoiselle Musetta was a pretty girl of tw

A conflux of streets; where they meet, a square, flanked by shops of all sorts; on one side the Café Momus. Aloof from the crowd, RUDOLPH and MIMI; COLLINE is near a rag-shop, SCHAUNARD stands outside a tinker's, buying a pipe and a horn, MARCEL is being hustled hither and thither. A vast, motley crowd; soldiers, serving maids, boys, girls, children, students, work girls, gendarmes, etc. It is evening. The shops are decked with tiny lamps; a huge lantern lights up the entrance to the Café Momus.

"Mimi's voice seemed to go through Rudolph's heart like a death-knell. His love for her was a jealous, fantastic, weird, hysterical love. Scores of times they were on the point of separating. "It must be admitted that their existence was a veritable 'hell-up-on-earth.' "Thus (if life it was) did they live; a few happy days alternating with many wretched ones, while perpetually awaiting a divorce." "Either as a congenital defect or as a natural instinct, Musetta possessed a positive genius for el

_Beyond the toll-gate, the outer boulevard is formed in the background by the Orleans high-road, half hidden by tall houses and the misty gloom of February. To the left is a tavern with a small open space in front of the toll-gate. To the right is the Boulevard d'Enfer; to the left, that of St. Jacques. On the right also there is the entrance of the Rue d'Enfer, leading to the Quartier Latin. Over the tavern, as its sign-board, hangs MARCEL's picture, "The Passage of the Red Sea," while undernea

"At that period, indeed, for some time past, the friends had led lonely lives. "Musetta had once more become a sort of semi-official personage; for three or four months Marcel had never met her. "And Mimi, too, no word of her had Rudolph ever heard except when he talked about her to himself when he was alone. "One day, as Marcel furtively kissed a bunch of ribbons that Musetta had left behind, he saw Rudolph hiding away a bonnet, that same pink bonnet which Mimi had forgotten. "'Good!' muttered

( As in Act I ) (MARCEL,_as before, stands in front of his easel, while RUDOLPH sits at his writing table; each trying to make the other believe that he is working indefatigably, whereas they are really only gossiping.)_ MAR. ( resuming his talk ) In a coupé? RUD. Yes, in carriage and pair did she merrily hail me. "Well, Musetta," I questioned: "How's your heart?" "It beats not—or I don't feel it—Thanks to this velvet I'm wearing!" MAR. ( endeavoring to laugh ) I'm glad, very glad! RUD. ( aside