The Project Gutenberg eBook of Libretto: La Bohème, by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica

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.

TIME ABOUT 1830—IN PARIS

SYNOPSIS

ACT I

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 comes bringing fuel and provisions. They all prepare their meal, when the landlord enters and demands the payment of his rent. The friends offer him a glass of wine and turn him out amidst joking and laughter. After their gay repast they separate and Rudolph remains alone writing.

A knock is heard at the door and Mimi, a little seamstress, who lives on the same floor, appears and asks Rudolph to give her a match to light her candle. As she is about to go out, she falls in a faint. Rudolph gives her wine and restores her to consciousness. She tells him that she suffers from consumption. Rudolph is struck by her beauty and her delicate hands. She notices that she has lost her key and whilst they search for it their candles are extinguished. As they grope on the floor in the dark, Rudolph finds the key and puts it in his pocket. Their hands meet and Rudolph tries to warm her hands and tells her all about his life. Mimi confides her struggles to him and their conversation soon turns upon their love for each other.

ACT II

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 quarrelled, now enters with Alcindoro. Marcel is deeply moved when he sees her. Musetta notices this and sends Alcindoro on an errand. Whilst he is away, she makes peace with Marcel. The friends find that they have not sufficient money to pay for their supper, so they carry off Musetta and leave their bills to be paid by Alcindoro.

ACT III

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 consumption. Mimi's cough betrays her and although she says good-bye to Rudolph they find they cannot part and determine to await the spring. Meanwhile Musetta and Marcel have a violent quarrel.

ACT IV

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 not to leave her. Mimi reconciles Marcel and Musetta. Musetta tells her old friends that Mimi is dying and gives them her earrings to sell, asking them to get a doctor for Mimi. They all go out leaving Rudolph alone with Mimi. He holds her in his arms and recalls their love. Mimi is seized with a fit of coughing and falls back in a faint. Musetta returns with medicine. Mimi regains consciousness and turning to Rudolph tells him of her love. Musetta falls upon her knees in prayer and Mimi passes away in Rudolph's arms.

Their existence of every day is a work of genius, a daily problem which they always contrive to solve with the aid of bold mathematics.

When want presses them, abstemious as anchorites—but, if a little fortune falls into their hands, see them ride forth on the most ruinous fancies, loving the fairest and youngest, drinking the oldest and best wines, and not finding enough windows whence to throw their money; then—the last crown dead and buried—they begin again to dine at the table d'hôte of chance, where their cover is always laid; smugglers of all the industries which spring from art; in chase, from morning till night, of that wild animal which is called the crown.

"Bohemia" has a special dialect, a distinct jargon of its own. This vocabulary is the hell of rhetoric and the paradise of neologism_.

[Footnote 1: Rather than follow MURGER'S novel step by step, the authors of the present libretto, both for reasons of musical and dramatic effect, have sought to derive inspiration from the French writer's admirable preface.

Although they have faithfully portrayed the characters, even displaying a certain fastidiousness as to sundry local details; albeit in the scenic development of the opera they have followed Murger's method of dividing the libretto into four separate acts, in the dramatic and comic episodes they have claimed that ample and entire freedom of action, which, rightly or wrongly, they deemed necessary to the proper scenic presentment of a novel the most free, perhaps, in modern literature.

Yet, in this strange book, if the characters of each person therein stand out clear and sharply defined, we often may perceive that one and the same temperament bears different names, and that it is incarnated, so to speak, in two different persons. Who cannot detect in the delicate profile of one woman the personality both of Mimi and of Francine? Who, as he reads of Mimi's "little hands, whiter than those of the Goddess of Ease," is not reminded of Francine's little muff?

The authors deem it their duty to point out this identity of character. It has seemed to them that these two mirthful, fragile, and unhappy creatures in this comedy of Bohemian life might haply figure as one person, whose name should not be Mimi, not Francine, but "the Ideal."]

ACT I

"…Mimi was a charming girl specially apt to appeal to Rudolph, the poet and dreamer. Aged twenty-two, she was slight and graceful. Her face reminded one of some sketch of high-born beauty; its features had marvellous refinement.

"The hot, impetuous blood of youth coursed through her veins, giving a rosy hue to her clear complexion that had the white velvety bloom of the camellia.

"This frail beauty allured Rudolph. But what wholly served to enchant him were Mimi's tiny hands, that, despite her household duties, she contrived to keep whiter even than the Goddess of Ease."

ACT I

IN THE ATTIC

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.

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 changing position on account of the frost.

MAR. (seated, continuing to paint)
This Red Sea passage feels as damp and chill to me
As if adown my back a stream were flowing.

RUD. (pointing to the tireless stove)
Lazily rising, see how the smoke
From thousands of chimneys floats upward!
And yet that stove of ours
No fuel seems to need, the idle rascal,
Content to live in ease, just like a lord!

RUD. (approaching MARCEL)
And I, Marcel, to be quite candid,
I've no faith in the sweat of my brow.

MAR. All my fingers are frozen
Just as if they'd been touching that iceberg,
Touching that block of marble, the heart of false Musetta.

(Heaves a long sigh, laying aside his palette and brushes, and ceases painting.)

MAR. (seizing a chair and about to break it up)
I have it,
This crazy chair shall save us!

RUD. No: think what a stench 'twould occasion!
But my drama, my beautiful drama shall give us warmth.

RUD. No. The paper in flame shall be burning,
The soul to its heaven returning. (with tragic emphasis)
Great loss! but the world yet must bear it,
When Rome is in peril!

(RUDOLPH strikes a flint on steel, lights a candle, and goes to the stove with MARCEL; together they set fire to a part of the MS. thrown into the fireplace; then both draw up their chairs and sit down, delightedly warming themselves.)

(The door at the back opens violently, and COLLINE enters frozen and nipped up, stamping his feet, and throwing angrily on the table a bundle of books tied up in a handkerchief.)

COL. Surely miracles apocalyptic are dawning!
For Christmas eve they honor by allowing no pawning!

(RUDOLPH tears up the MS. and throws it into the fireplace; the flames revive. COLLINE moves his chair nearer and warms his hands. RUDOLPH is standing near the two with the rest of the MS.)

RUD. In that blue smoke my drama is dying
Full of its love-scenes ardent and new.

RUD. (throwing the remaining MS. on the fire)
Three acts at once I desire to hear.

(From the middle door two boys enter, carrying provisions and fuel; the three friends turn, and with a surprised cry, seize the provisions and place them on the table. COLLINE carries the wood to the fireplace.)

SCH. (triumphantly throwing some coins on the ground)
Such wealth in the balance
Outweighs the Bank of France.

COL. (assisting RUDOLPH and MARCEL to pick up the coins)
Then, take them—then, take them.

SCH. (showing one to MARCEL)
You're deaf then, or blear-eyed?
What face do they show?

(SCHAUNARD will go on recounting his good luck, but the others continue to arrange everything on the table.)

SCH. Now I'll explain.
This gold has—or rather silver—
Has its own noble story.

SCH. 'Twas an Englishman, then—
Lord, or mi-lord, as may be—
Desired a musician.

MAR. (throwing COLLINE'S books from the table)
Off! Let us furnish the table.

COL. (preparing the viands on the table while RUDOLPH lights the
other candle)
Here's cold roast beef.

SCH. When shall we start the lessons?
When I seek him, in answer to my question,
"When shall we start the lessons?"
He tells me "Now—at once.
Just look there,"
Showing a parrot on the first floor, hung, then continues:
"You must play until that bird has ceased to live."
Thus it befell:
Three days I play and yell.

SCH. Then on the servant girl
Try all the charms wherewith I'm laden;
I fascinate the maiden.

RUD. (unfolding the paper)
Excellent paper!
One eats a meal and swallows news at the same time!

SCH. With parsley I approach the bird,
His beak Lorito opens;
Lorito's wings outspread,
Lorito opens his beak,
A little piece of parsley gulps—
As Socrates, is dead!

(SCHAUNARD, seeing that no one is paying any attention to him, seizes
COLLINE as he passes with a plate.)

No! dainties of this kind
Are but the stored-up fodder
Saved for the morrow,
Fraught with gloom and sorrow, (clearing the table)
To dine at home on the day of Christmas vigil,
While the Quartier Latin embellishes
Its ways with dainty food and tempting relishes.
Meanwhile the smell of savory fritters
The old street fills with fragrant odor.
There singing joyously, merry maidens hover,
Having for echo each a student lover.

SCH. A little of religion, comrades, I pray;
Within doors drink we, but we dine away.

BEN. (to MARCEL, putting down his glass and showing his paper.)
'Tis the quarter's rent I call for.

RUD., MAR., SCH. and COL. (all touching BENOIT'S glass)
Drink we all your health, sir! (all drink)

BEN. (resuming, to MARCEL)
To you I come, as the quarter now is ended;
You have promised,

MAR. (to BENOIT, without noticing the two)
Hast seen it? Then give your care a respite,
And join our friendly circle.
Tell me how many years
Boast you of, my dear sir?

MAR. (mischievously, in a low voice)
T'other evening at Mabille
I caught him in a passage of love.

BEN. (in a very confidential tone)
Bashful was I in youth,
Now somewhat am I altered.
Well, what I like myself …
Must know that my one delight …
Is a merry damsel,—and small,
I do not ask a whale, nor a world-map to study,
Nor, like a full moon,
A face round and ruddy;
But leanness, downright leanness, No! No!
Lean women's claws oftentimes are scratchy,
Their temper somewhat catchy,
Full of aches, too, and mourning,
As my wife is my warning.

(MARCEL bangs his fist down on the table and rises; the others follow his example, BENOIT looking on in bewilderment.)

MAR. (holding out a cracked mirror to COLLINE)
Beauty is a gift heaven descended,
Now you are rich, to decency pay tribute.
Bear! have your mane attended!

COL. The first chance I can find,
I will make acquaintance with a beard eraser!
So guide me to the monstrous outrage of a barber's weapon.
Let's go!

(RUDOLPH takes a light from the table and goes to open the door: the others go out and descend the staircase.)

(RUDOLPH shuts the door, puts down the light, clears a space at the table for pens and paper, then sits down and commences to write, after putting out the other candle.)

MIMI. (standing on the threshold with an extinguished candle and a
key)
Pray, would you—

(Swoons, and RUDOLPH has hardly time to support her and place her on a chair. She lets fall her candlestick and key.)

RUD. Here 'tis very chilly.
Nearer the fire be seated an instant.
(conducting her to a chair near the tire)
A little wine?

MIMI. (re-entering, stops on the threshold)
Oh! how stupid! How stupid!
The key of my poor chamber,
Where can I have left it?

(RUDOLPH runs with his candle, but, as he nears the door, his light, too, is blown out, and the room remains in darkness.)

MIMI. You have an importunate neighbor,
Pray, forgive your tiresome little neighbor.

(Looks for the key on the floor; sliding over it, he knocks against the table, deposits his candlestick, and searches for the key with his hands on the floor.)

(Finds the key, lets an exclamation escape, then checks himself and puts the key in his pocket.)

(Feigns to search, but guided by Mimi'S voice and movements, approaches her; as Mimi is stooping his hand meets hers, which he clasps.)

RUD. (holding Mimi's hand, with emotion)
Your tiny hand is frozen,
Let me warm it into life;
Our search is useless,
In darkness all is hidden,
'Ere long the light of the moon shall aid us,
Yes, in the moonlight our search let us resume.
One moment, pretty maiden,
While I tell you in a trice,
Who I am, what I do,
And how I live. Shall I?

I am, I am a poet!
What's my employment? Writing.
Is that a living? Hardly.
I've wit though wealth be wanting,
Ladies of rank and fashion
All inspire me with passion;
In dreams and fond illusions,
Or castles in the air,
Richer is none on earth than I.

Bright eyes as yours, believe me,
Steal my priceless jewels,
In fancy's store-house cherished,
Your roguish eyes have robbed me,
Of all my dreams bereft me,
Dreams that are fair, yet fleeting.
Fled are my truant fancies,
Regrets I do not cherish,
For now life's rosy morn is breaking,
Now golden love is waking.
Now that I've told my story,
Pray tell me yours, too;
Tell me frankly, who are you?
Say, will you tell?

MIMI. (after some hesitation)
They call me Mimi
But my name is Lucia;
My story is a short one—
Fine satin stuffs or silk
I deftly embroider;
I am content and happy;
The rose and lily I make for pastime.
These flowers give me pleasure
As in magical accents
They speak to me of love,
Of beauteous springtime.
Of fancies and of visions bright they tell me,
Such as poets, and only poets, know.
Do you hear me?

MIMI. They call me Mimi,
But I know not why;
All by myself I take my frugal supper,
To Mass not oft repairing,
Yet oft I pray to God.
In my room live I lonely,
Up at the top there, in my little chamber
Above the house tops so lofty.
Yet the glad sun first greets me;
After the frost is over
Spring's first, sweet, fragrant kiss is mine,
Her first bright sunbeam is mine,
A rose as her petals are opening
Do I tenderly cherish. Ah! what a charm
Lies for me in her fragrance!
Alas! those flowers I make,
The flowers I fashion, alas! they have no perfume!
More than just this I cannot find to tell you,
I'm a tiresome neighbor that at an awkward moment
intrudes upon you.

(Getting more annoyed RUDOLPH opens the window to answer his friends; the moonlight enters, brightening the room.)

RUD. I'm not lonely. We are two.
So to Momus go on.
There keep us places; we will follow quickly.

MAR., SCH. and COL. (gradually departing)
Momus, Momus, Momus!
Gently and soft to supper let us go.

(MIMI goes nearer the window, so that the moon's rays fall on her while RUDOLPH contemplates her ecstatically.)

RUD. Your face entrancing.
Like radiant seraph from on high appears!
The dream that I would ever, ever dream, returns.

RUD. | MIMI. | | Love alone o'er hearts has sway Heart to heart and soul to soul | Ah Love! to thee do we surrender. Love binds us in his fetters. | (_yielding to her lover's (placing his arm around MIMI embrace_) Love now shall rule our hearts | Sweet to my soul the magic voice alone, | Of love its music chanteth, Life's fairest flower is love! | Life's fairest flower is love! Life's fairest flower is love! | (RUDOLPH kisses her.)

RUD. What, Mimi?
It would be much more pleasant here to stay.
Outside 'tis chilly!

ACT II

"…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.

"A perpetual alternative between a blue brougham and an omnibus; between the Rue Breda and the Quartier Latin.

"…Well! what of that? From time to time I feel the need of breathing the atmosphere of such a life as this. My madcap existence is like a song; each of my love-episodes forms a verse of it, but Marcel is its refrain!"

ACT II

IN THE LATIN QUARTER

CHRISTMAS EVE

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. The café is so crowded that some of the customers are obliged to seat themselves outside.

Come, buy my oranges!
Hot roasted chestnuts!
Trinkets and crosses!
Fine hardbake!
Excellent toffee!
Flowers for the ladies!
Try our candy!
Cream for the babies!
Fat larks and ortolans!
Look at them!
Fine salmon!
Look at our chestnuts!
Who'll buy my carrots?

THE CROWD.

CITIZENS.
Come here, waiter!
Come along!
Come along!
Come here!
To me!
Some beer!
A glass!
Vanilla!
Come along!
Come along!
Some beer!
Some coffee!
Hurry up!

COL. (to the clothes dealer, who has been mending a jacket for him)
It's rather shabby, but sound and not expensive.

(He pays, and then carefully consigns the books to the various pockets of his long coat.)

(MARCEL alone in the midst of the crowd, with a parcel under his arm, making eyes at the girls who jostle against him in the crowd.)

MAR. I feel somehow as if I fain must shout:
Ho! laughing lassies, will you play at love?
Let's play together, let's play the game of buy and sell:
Who'll give a penny for my guileless heart?

(_Pushing through the crowd, RUDOLPH and MIMI, arm in arm, approach a bonnet shop._)

(SCHAUNARD strolls about in front of the Café Momus, waiting for his friends, and, armed with his huge pipe and hunting horn, he watches the crowd curiously.)

SCH. Surging onward—eager, breathless—
Moves the madding crowd,
As they frolic ever
In their wild, insane endeavor.

COL. (comes up, waving an old book in triumph)
Such a rare copy! well-nigh unique,
A grammar of Runic!

SCH. (who arrives at that moment behind COLLINE, compassionately)
Honest fellow!

MAR. (arriving at the Café Momus, and finding SCHAUNARD and
COLLINE)
To supper!

(MARCEL, SCHAUNARD and COLLINE try to find an empty table outside the café, but there is only one, which is occupied by townsfolk. At these latter the three friends glare furiously, and then enter the café. The crowd disperses among the adjacent streets. The shops are crowded and the square becomes densely thronged with buyers who come and go. In the café there is much animation. RUDOLPH and MIMI come out of the shop.)

RUD. I have an aunt a millionaire.
If the good God wills to take her,
Then shall you have a necklace far more fine.
(suddenly seeing MIMI look round suspiciously)
What is it?

(Enter from the café, COLLINE, SCHAUNARD and MARCEL carrying a table. A waiter follows with chairs. The townsfolks seated near seem vexed at the noise which the three friends are making, for they soon get up and walk away.)

RUD. So we have come. (introducing Mimi)
This is Mimi,
The merry flower girl;
And now she's come to join us.
Our party is completed—
For I shall play the poet,
While she's the muse incarnate.
Forth from my brain flow songs of passion,
As, at her touch the pretty buds blow;
As in the soul awaketh beautiful love!

(RUDOLPH makes MIMI sit down. All being seated, the waiter returns with the menu.)

(Enter PARPIGNOL from the Rue Dauphin, pushing a barrow festooned with foliage, flowers and paper lanterns.)

CHILDREN, (crowding and jumping round the barrow)
Parpignol! Parpignol!
With his pretty barrow bright with flowers!

I want the horn! and I the horse!
Get away, they are mine!
I want the gun! and I the whip!
No, the drum shall be mine!

(At the cries of the children, the mothers try, but without success, to lead them away from PARPIGNOL, scolding loudly.)

MOTHERS.
Ah! wait a bit, you dirty little rascals.
What can it be that sets you all a-gaping?
Get home to your beds, get home, lazy rascals,
Or you shall all have a tidy beating.

(The children refuse to go. One of them cries for Parpignol'S toys and his mother pulls his ear. The mothers, relenting, buy some. Parpignol moves down the street, followed by the children, pretending to play on their toy instruments.)

(The waiter presents the menu, which the four friends carefully scrutinize in turn.)

(The shopwomen are going away, but stop to watch the fair stranger, and are astonished to recognize in her MUSETTA; they whisper among themselves, pointing at her.)

Look! 'tis Musetta!
She!
Musetta!
'Tis she!
Yes!
Yes!
'Tis Musetta!
Oh! what swagger!
My! she's gorgeous.

STUDENTS and WORK GIRLS (crossing the stage)
Only look! why, there she is!
Some old stammering dotard's with her, too!
Yes, 'tis she!
Tis she!
Musetta!

(Enter from the corner of the Rue Mazarin an extremely pretty coquettish-looking young lady. She is followed by a pompous old gentleman, who is both fussy and over-dressed.)

ALCINDORO DE MITONNEAUX. (_joining MUSETTA, out of breath_)
Just like a valet
I must run here and there.
No, no, not for me!
I can stand it no more.

(MUSETTA_ without noticing_ ALCINDORO_, takes a vacant seat, outside the café._) How now? Outside? Here?

MUS. (without noticing his protests, he fearing to remain outside in the cold) Sit down, Lulu!

ALC. (in great irritation, sits down, and turns up his coat collar)
Such a term of fond endearment
Pray do not apply to me!

(_A waiter approaches briskly, to prepare the table and begins to serve. SCHAUNARD and COLLINE furtively watch MUSETTA. MARCEL feigns the greatest indifference. RUDOLPH devotes all his attention to MIMI._)

SCH. (at the sight of the old gentleman with his decorations)
He's had a pretty good dose, I reckon.

(A piquet of the National Guard passes across the square; some shop-keepers go home; at the corner of the street the chestnut-seller does a thriving trade; the old clothes dealer fills her barrel with clothes, and goes away with it over her shoulder.)

MUS. (disconcerted at not being noticed by her friends)
Marcel can see me,
But he won't look, the villain!
And Schaunard!
They provoke me past bearing!
Ah! could I but beat them!
If I could, I would scratch!
But I only have to back me
This old pelican!
No matter! (calls the waiter who has gone away)
Hi! waiter, here! (the waiter hurriedly approaches)
See, this plate has a horrid smell of onions!
(dashes the plate on the ground; the waiter picks up the pieces)

MUS. (irritated, still watching MARCEL) He won't look round! Now I could beat him!

ALC. Manners! Manners! (Takes the bill from the waiter and orders the supper.)

MUS. (more irritated)
Such a bore!
Just let me have my own way.
If you please; I won't be ruled by you!

MAR. You had better ask me.
Well, her name is Musetta
Her surname is Temptation.
As to her vocation:
Like a rose in the breezes,
So she changes lover for lover without number.
And like the spiteful screech owl,
A bird that's most rapacious,
The food that most she favors is the heart!
Her food the heart is;
Thus have I now none left!
(to his friends, concealing his agitation)
So pass me the ragout!

SCH. (to COLLINE)
Now the fun's at its climax,
To one she speaks because the other listens.

COL. (to SCHAUNARD)
The other will not hear,
Feigns not to see the girl: which makes her mad.

MIMI. (to RUDOLPH)
I love you, love you fondly,
Am wholly yours, my dearest! (eating)

MUS. As through the streets I wander onward merrily,
See how the folk look round,
Because they know I'm charming,
A very charming girl.
And then 'tis mine to mark the hidden longing,
And all the passion in their eyes;
And then the joy of conquest overcomes me,
Every man is my prize!

And thus their hearts, their hearts I capture,
As if by magic all my own, ah! rapture!
Tis mine alone!
Now you that once your love for me betrayed,
Why should you be dismayed?
Yet though deep in your heart
Rankles the smart.
You'd ne'er confess—but rather die!

(SCHAUNARD and COLLINE rise and stand aside, watching the scene with interest, while RUDOLPH and MIMI remain seated and continue their talk. MARCEL nervously quits his seat, and is about to go, but is spell-bound by MUSETTA'S voice.)

(ALCINDORO vainly endeavors to induce MUSETTA to resume her seat at the table where the supper is ready.)

MIMI. (to RUDOLPH)
Oh! now I see that this unhappy maiden
Adores your friend Marcel madly!

RUD. She once was Marcel's love;
She wantonly forsook her fate,
And rarer game she thought to capture!

MIMI. The love that's born of passion ends in grief;
That poor, unhappy girl!
She moves me to tears!

COL. Who knows what will happen now?
Goodness me! 'tis most unpleasant!
Anyhow, it is for me!
She is pretty, I don't doubt it;
Yet I would rather have
My pipe and a page of Homer!

SCH. See the braggart in a moment will give in;
The snare for some is pleasant,
For the biter and the bit.

If such a pretty damsel
Should but make eyes at you,
You'd forget your mouldy classics,
And run to fetch her shoe.

MUS. Ah! Marcel you are vanquished!
And though your heart is breaking,
You'd never let us know, (feigning great regret)
(I must try to get rid of the old boy.)
Oh! dear!

MUS. Close by there is a boot-shop; hasten! quickly!
He may have boots to please me.

MUS. Ah! the torture!
How these horrid tight shoes squeeze me!
I'll take it off! So let it lie!

(Hides her shoe under his coat, which he hastily buttons up; hurries off the stage.)

MAR. (greatly agitated)
Ah! golden youth! you are not dead, not dead for me,
For love revives again in me;
If at my door you came to greet me,
My heart would straight go out to meet thee!

(Hastening from the left. As the Tattoo is still a long way off, the folk run hither and thither, as if uncertain from which quarter the band will appear.)

(They all feel their pockets which are empty; none can explain the sudden disappearance of SCHAUNARD'S purse, and they look at each other in surprise.)

Thank you.
Just make one bill of the two.
The gentleman will pay
Who came to sup with me.

MUS. (placing both bills at ALCINDORO's place)
And, after this pleasant meeting,
This shall be my greeting!

RUD., MAR., SCH. and COL. And, after our pleasant meeting,
This shall be her greeting!

(Several windows are opened at which mothers and their children appear and eagerly await the coming of the patrol.)

(The patrol enters, headed by a gigantic drum-major, who dexterously twists his baton, showing the way.)

STUDENTS and CITIZENS. Like a general he appears!
He passes by and heeds us not!

(MUSETTA being without her shoe, cannot walk, so MARCEL and COLLINE carry her through the crowd, as they endeavor to follow the patrol. The mob, seeing her borne along in this triumphal fashion, give her a regular ovation. MARCEL and COLLINE with MUSETTA follow the patrol; RUDOLPH and MIMI follow arm in arm; SCHAUNARD goes next, blowing his horn; while the students, work-girls, street-lads, women and towns-folk merrily bring up the rear.)

(Marching in time with the music, the whole vast crowd gradually moves off as it follows the patrol. Meanwhile ALCINDORO, with a pair of shoes carefully wrapped up, returns to the café in search of MUSETTA. The waiter by the table takes up the bill left by MUSETTA and ceremoniously hands it to ALCINDORO, who, seeing the amount, and perceiving that they have all left him there alone, falls back into a chair, utterly dumbfounded.)

ACT III

"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.

"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 elegance.

"Intelligent, shrewd, and above all, hostile to anything that she considered tyranny, she had but one rule—caprice.

"In truth the only man that she really loved was Marcel; perhaps because he alone could make her suffer. Yet extravagance was for her one of the conditions of well-being."

ACT III

_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 underneath, in large letters, is the inscription. "At the Port of Marseilles." On either side of the door are frescoes of a Turk and a Zouave with a huge laurel-wreath round his fez. From the ground-floor windows of the tavern, which faces the toll-gate, light gleams. The plane-trees, grey and gaunt, which flank the toll-gate square, lead diagonally towards the two boulevards. Between each tree is a marble bench. It is towards the close of February; snow covers all.

As the curtain rises, the scene is merged in the dim light of early dawn. In front of a brazier are seated, in a group, snoring custom-house officers. From the tavern at intervals one may hear laughter, shouts, and the clink of glasses. A custom-house official comes out of the tavern with wine. The toll-gate is closed.

Behind the toll-gate, stamping their feet and blowing in their frost-bitten fingers, stand several street-scavengers._

SCAVENGERS. What ho, there! What ho, there! Admit us!
Make haste and let us pass,
The sweepers are we. (stamping their feet)
Look how it's snowing! What ho, there!
We are frozen!

(Goes to open the gate; the scavengers pass through to the Rue d'Enfer. The official closes the gate again.)

CHORUS. (from the tavern; the clink of glasses forms an accompaniment
to the song)
Pass the glass,
Let each toast his lass;
Pass the glass,
Let each lad toast his lass;
Ha! Ha!
Each one as he sips,
As he sips his wine,
Shall dream of lips
Made for love divine!

MUS. (from the tavern)
Ah!
As the toper loves his glass,
So the gallant loves his lass.

(A sergeant comes out of the guard-house and orders the toll-gate to be opened.)

PEASANT WOMEN. (who enter carrying baskets)
Butter! Cheese!
Chickens and eggs!

(They go off in various directions, and the officials remove the bench and brazier.)

(_Enter MIMI from the Rue d'Enfer; she looks about her as if anxious to make sure of her whereabouts. On reaching the first plane-tree she is seized by a violent fit of coughing. Then recovering herself, she sees the sergeant, whom she approaches._)

MIMI. Oh! Please, sir, tell me the name of that tavern
Where now a painter's working?

MIMI. Thank you.
(_A serving woman comes out of the tavern; MIMI goes to her._)
Oh! my good woman, pray do me this favor!
Can you find me the painter, Marcel?
I fain would see him; the matter's urgent;
Just tell him softly that Mimi awaits him.

(Other folk now pass through the toll-gate and move off in different directions. The bell of the Hospice Ste. Therese rings for matins.)

MAR. Aye, here we've been for a month:
So to pay for our footing,
Musetta teaches singing
To those who come here.
And I, well—I paint warriors—
There, on the house front!

MIMI. Rudolph is madly jealous!
He loves and yet avoids me!
A glance, a touch, a token,
Suffice to make him jealous,
And start his senseless fury!
And oft at night,
When feigning to be sleeping,
I felt his eyes were watching
to spy upon my slumbers!
How oft he would reproach me!
"You are not mine, Mimi!
You love another gallant!"
Alas! 'tis jealousy that prompts him.
Yet how may I reply?

MIMI. You are right, you speak truly:
'Twere best we were parted.
Will you aid us, then,
Will you aid us to part?
Oft to do this we have striven, but in vain.
Ah! 'tis true, to part were the best.

MAR. I'm happy with Musetta,
And she's happy with me.
Because 'tis mirth that binds us together.
Laughter, music and song,
Ever our love prolong.

MAR. Overcome with fatigue,
Just as dawn was approaching,
On the bench fast lie slumbers,

MIMI. Unceasingly it shakes me,
And Rudolph now forsakes me.
And says to me, "It is over!"
At daybreak swift escaping,
I hurried here to find him.

MAR. (watching RUDOLPH inside the tavern)
He's moving, waking, and wants me.
Come, then.

RUD. (coming out of the inn, hastens towards MARCEL)
Marcel! at last I've found you,
Where none can hear us.
I want a separation from Mimi.

RUD. Love in my heart was dying, almost was dead,
But her blue eyes new glory on me shed.
Love, swift revived, all me; what woe is mine!

MAR. Nay, be prudent! Love is not worth the keeping,
That only ends in weeping.
Love must thrive in mirth and gladness,
Or else it is but madness.
'Tis that you're jealous!

RUD. Aye, somewhat;
And choleric, and lunatic,
And a victim of vile suspicion,
Unhappy, and stubborn!

RUD. Mimi's a heartless maiden,
Prone to flirting with all.
A scented dandy, some lordling,
Now striveth to win her caresses.
With bosom swaying,
One foot displaying,
Doth she lure him on
With the magic of her smile.

RUD. No, 'tis not true.
In vain, in vain I smother
All the torture that racks me.
I love Mimi, she is my only treasure!
I love her, but, oh! I fear it!

Mimi's so sickly, so ailing,
Every day she grows weaker,
The poor girl, as I think, is dying.

MAR. (fearing MIMI may overhear them, tries to keep RUDOLPH further off) Oh! Rudolph!

RUD. By fierce, incessant coughing
Her fragile frame is shaken,
While in her cheeks so pallid
The fires of fever waken.

RUD. And my room's but a squalid hovel,
No fire there burneth,
Only the cruel night wind
Waileth, waileth there ever.
Yet she's merry and smiling,
While, remorseful, despairing,
I feel that 'tis I that am guilty.

RUD. Want has wasted her beauty,
And to bring her back to life
Would need far more than love.

RUD. Ha! Mimi! You here!
You heard, you heard me?
Swayed by each light suspicion,
A trifle yet alarms me;
Come, come inside here!

MAR. (running to look through the window.)
Tis Musetta that's laughing!
Laughing, flirting!
Ah! what a hussy!
I'll not allow it. (enters the tavern impetuously)

MIMI. To the home that she left
At the voice of her lover.
Sad, forsaken Mimi
Must turn back, heavy-hearted.
For love and her lover
Are gone, and she must die,
Farewell, then!
I wish you well!
Nay, listen! listen! those things,
Those few old things I've left behind me,
Within my trunk safely arc stored.
That bracelet of gold,
The prayer-book you gave me,
Pray wrap them up together in my little apron,
And I will send to fetch them.
Yet stay! Beneath the pillow
You'll find my little bonnet—
Who knows?
Maybe you'd like to keep it
To remind you of our love!
Farewell! Good-bye! I wish you well!

RUD. Then, you are going to leave me?
Yes, you are going, my little Mimi?
Ah! farewell, sweet dream of love!

MIMI. (playfully) Farewell to jealousy and fury!
Farewell suspicion, and its bitter anguish!

MIMI and RUD. Lonely in winter,
With Death as sole companion!
But in glad springtime
There's the sun, the glorious sun!

MAR. (from within)
You were laughing, you were flirting
By the fireside with that stranger!

MUS. (defiantly) Stuff and nonsense! all he said was:
"Are you very fond of dancing?"
And, half blushing, I made answer:
"I'd be dancing all day long, sir."

MAR. (_half menacing _MUSETTA)
I will teach you better manners;
Now if I catch you once more flirting—

MUS. What a bother!
Why this anger?
Why this fury?
We're not married yet, thank goodness!

RUD. and MIMI. When the hawthorn-bough's in blossom,
When we have the glorious sun,
Murmur the silver fountains,
The breezes of the evening
Waft fragrant balsams
To the world and its sorrow.
Shall we await another spring?

ACT IV

"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.

ACT IV

IN THE ATTIC

(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.)_

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. It beats not! Bravo! (commences to paint with great vigor) Then I saw, too—

RUD. (throwing down his pen) This pen's too awful! (remains seated, apparently lost in thought)

MAR. (flinging away his brush) This infamous paint-brush! (Stares at his canvas, and then without RUDOLPH observing it, he takes from his pocket a bunch of ribbons and kisses it.)

RUD. Ah! Mimi! false, fickle-hearted!
Ah! beauteous days departed!
Those hands so dainty!
Oh! fragrant, shining tresses!
Ah! snow-white bosom!
Ah! Mimi! those brief, glad, golden days!

MAR. (putting away his ribbons and staring anew at his canvas)
How is it that my brush
With speed mechanical keeps moving,
And plasters on the colors
Quite against my will?
And though I would be painting landscapes,
Meadows, woodlands fair in Spring-tide,
My brush refuses to perform its office;
But paints dark eyes, and two red, smiling lips;
The features of Musetta haunt me still!

RUD. (taking Mimi's old bonnet from the table drawer)
And thou, O! rose-pink bonnet,
That 'neath her pillow lay,
That in her hour of parting she forgot—Thou
wert the witness of our joy!
Come to my heart, ah! come!
Lie close against my heart, since my love is dead!
(clasps the bonnet to his heart)

MAR. Ah! frivolous Musetta! thee can I ne'er forget!
My grief affords her pleasure,
And yet my weak heart is fain
To call her to my fond arms again.

RUD. (endeavoring to conceal his emotion from Marcel, carelessly questions him) What time is it now?

MAR. (roused from his reverie, gaily replies) Time for our yesterday's dinner.

RUD. But Schaunard's not back yet. (Enter Schaunard and Colline; the former carries four rolls, and the latter a paper bag.)

COL. (taking a herring out of the bag, and putting it on the table)
A dish that's worthy of Demosthenes:
'Tis a herring!

COL. 'Our dinner is ready! (Seating themselves at the table, they pretend to be having a sumptuous meal.)

SCH. (placing Colline's hat on the table, and thrusting a bottle of water into it) Now the champagne in the ice must go.

RUD. (to MARCEL, offering him some bread) Choose, my lord marquis—salmon or turbot? (_His offer is accepted, when, turning to _SCHAUNARD, he proffers another crust of bread.) Now, duke, here's a choice vol-au-vent with mushrooms. (He politely declines, and pours out a glass of water, which he hands to Marcel.)

SCH. Thank you, I dare not, this evening I'm dancing! (The one and only tumbler is handed about. Colline, after voraciously devouring his roll, rises.)

SCH. (rises and approaches Colline, observing with droll inquisitiveness) What's in the wind?

SCH. (solemnly gets on to a chair and raises his glass) Have I permission, oh! my most noble courtier?

SCH. (motioning his friends to let him speak) With ardor irresistible Poetry fills my spirit.

RUD., MAR. and COL. Yes, yes! (Amid applause they surround Schaunard and make him get off the chair.)

COL. Well, clear the stage for action. (Moving chairs and tables aside, they prepare for a dance; they suggest various dances.)

SCH. (improvising, beats time with comic pomposity of manner)
La-lera, la-lera, la-lera!

RUD. (approaching MARCEL_, and bowing very low, offers him his hand as he gallantly says_) Oh! maiden fair and gentle!

MAR. (with coy bashfulness of manner, counterfeiting a woman's voice) My modesty respect, sir, I beg you.

COL. (giving directions as to the figures, while RUDOLPH and
MARCEL dance the quadrille) Balancez!

SCH. (taking up the poker) Ready! Have at you! (preparing to receive his adversary's attack) Thy hot blood would I drink!

COL. (doing likewise) One of us shall now be gutted! (Rudolph and
Marcel stop dancing and burst out laughing.)

RUD. and MAR. (gaily) While they beat each other's brains out, Our fandango we will finish. (They dance round the combatants, whose blows fall faster. The door opens and Musetta enters in a state of great agitation.)

MUS. She has not strength to climb the staircase. (_Through the open door RUDOLPH spies MIMI, seated on the topmost stair; he rushes to her, followed by _MARCEL.)

SCH. (_to _COLLINE) Here's the bed: we'll put her on it. (they drag the bed forward)

RUD. (_supporting MIMI and leading her towards the bed, aided by _MARCEL) There! some water!

RUD. Darling Mimi! stay here ever! (_He induces Mimi to lie down at full length on the bed, and draws the coverlet over her; he then carefully adjusts the pillow be neath her head._)

MUS. (taking the others aside and whispering to them) I heard them
saying that Mimi
Had left the rich old viscount;
And now was almost dying.
Ah! but where? After searching,
I met her alone just now,
Almost dead with exhaustion.
She murmured: "I'm dying! dying!
But listen; I want to die near him.
Maybe he's waiting!
Take me thither, Musetta!"

MIMI. I feel so much better.
All here seems just the same as ever.
(with a sweet smile)
Ah! It is all so pleasant here!
Saved from sadness,
All is gladness;
Once again new life is mine!

MIMI. I feel so cold!
If I had but my muff here!
My poor hands are simply frozen!
How shall I get them warm?
(Mimi coughs; Rudolph takes her hands in his and chafes them.)

MIMI. Tis coughing tires me.
I'm used to that, though.
(seeing RUDOLPH'S friends, she calls them by name, when they hasten
to her side)
Good-morrow, Marcel!
Schaunard, Colline, good-morrow!
All are here, as I see, glad to welcome Mimi.

(SCHAUNARD and COLLINE mournfully withdraw; the former sits at the table, burying his face in his hands, the latter is a prey to sad thoughts.)

MIMI. (motioning Marcel to approach) Marcel, now believe me,
A good girl is Musetta.

MUS. (drawing Marcel away from Mimi, takes off her earrings and gives them to him as she whispers) Look here! sell them, And buy some tonic for her— Send for a doctor! (Mimi gradually grows drowsy; Rudolph takes a chair and sits down beside the bed.)

RUD. No, no! (MARCEL is about to go, when Musetta stops him and takes him still further from Mimi.)

MUS. Stay, listen! Maybe, what she has asked us
Will be her last request on earth, little darling!
I'll go for the muff—I'll come with you.

COL. (who has removed his overcoat while Marcel and Musetta were
talking)
Garment antique and rusty!
A last good-bye! farewell!
Faded friend, so tried and trusty,
We must part, you and I.
For never yet your back did you bow
To rich man or mighty!
How oft,
Safe in your pockets spacious,
Have you concealed philosophers and poets!
Now that our pleasant friendship is o'er,
I would bid thee once more,
Oh! companion tried and trusty,
Farewell! farewell!
(He folds up the coat, puts it under his arm, and is about to go, but
seeing Schaunard, he approaches him, pats him on the back, and
mournfully exclaims)
Schaunard, our methods possibly may differ,
But yet two kindly acts we'll do: (pointing to the coat)
Mine's this one, and yours—leave them alone in there.

SCH. (overcome by emotion) Philosopher, you're right! 'Tis true; I'll go! (He looks about him: then, to justify his exit, he takes up the water bottle and goes out after Colline, gently closing the door. Mimi opens her eyes, and seeing that all have gone, holds out her hand to Rudolph, who affectionately kisses it.)

MIMI. Have they left us? (Rudolph nods)
To sleep I only feigned,
For I wanted to be alone with you, love.
So many things there are that I would tell you.
There is one, too, as spacious as the ocean,
As the ocean, profound, without limit:
You are my love, my all, and all my life!
(putting her arms round Rudolph's neck)

MIMI. No, the simile fits not; you meant to say:
Fair as the flame of sunset.
"They call me Mimi; (like an echo)
They call me Mimi, but I know not why."

Back to her nest comes the swallow in Spring-tide. (He takes out the bonnet and gives it to Mimi.)

MIMI. (gaily) Why, that's my bonnet! (motions RUDOLPH to put the
bonnet on her head)
Why, that's my bonnet!
(makes RUDOLPH sit next to her, and rests her head on his breast)
Ah! do you remember how we both went shopping
When first we fell in love?

MIMI. And you, my young master,
Now I can tell you frankly,
That you soon managed to find it.

MIMI. It was dark, and my blushes were unnoticed. (_faintly repeating Rudolph's words_) "Your tiny hand is frozen, Let me warm it into life!" It was dark, and my hand then you clasped— (a sudden spasm half suffocates her; she sinks back fainting)

(_At this moment Schaunard returns, and hearing Rudolph's exclamation, hastens to the bedside._)

MIMI. (_opens her eyes and smilingly reassures Rudolph and _Schaunard) Nothing; I'm better.

(MUSETTA and MARCEL_ cautiously enter; MUSETTA carrying a muff, and her companion a phial._)

MAR. I have seen the doctor.
He'll come—I bade him hasten.
Here's the tonic.
(Takes a spirit lamp, and placing it upon the table, lights it.)

MUS. I—Musetta. (Approaches Mimi and gives her the muff. Helped by Musetta, she sits up in bed, and, with almost infantine glee, seizes the muff)

MIMI. So soft it is and feathery!
No more will my poor fingers be frozen,
For this muff shall keep them warm. (_to _Rudolph)
Did you give me this present?

MIMI. You thoughtless fellow! Thank you.
It cost you dear. (Rudolph bursts into tears)
Weep not: I'm better.
Why should you weep for me?
Here love . . . ever with you! . . .
(thrusts her hands into the muff; then she gradually grows drowsy,
gracefully nodding her head, as one who is overcome by sleep)
My hands are much warmer: now I will sleep!

(RUDOLPH,_ reassured at seeing MIMI fall asleep, gently moves away from the bedside, and motioning the others not to make any noise, approaches _MARCEL.)

MUS. (_who is busily heating the medicine, brought by MARCEL, over the spirit-lamp, as she unconsciously murmurs a prayer_) Oh! Mary! Blessed Virgin! Save, of thy mercy, this poor maiden! Save her, Madonna mine, from death! (Rudolph, Marcel and Schaunard_ whisper together. Every now and then Rudolph goes on tiptoe to the bed, and then rejoins his companions. Musetta, interrupting, bids Marcel place a book upright on the table, so as to shade the lamp._) Here there should be a shade, Because the lamp is flickering! Like this. (resuming her prayer) And, oh! may she recover! Madonna! holy mother! I merit not thy pardon, But our little Mimi is an angel from Heaven! (Rudolph _approaches Musetta, while Schaunard goes on tiptoe to the bedside; with a sorrowful gesture he goes back to _Marcel.)

SCH. (hoarsely) Marcel, she is dead! (Marcel in his turn goes up to the bed, and retreats in alarm; a ray of sunshine falls through the window upon Mimi's face; Musetta points to her cloak, which, with a grateful glance, Rudolph takes, and standing upon a chair, endeavors to form a screen by stretching the cloak across the window-pane.)

COL. (quietly entering and putting some money on the table near
Musetta) How is she?

(RUDOLPH, turning round, sees MUSETTA, who makes a sign to him that the medicine is ready; getting off the chair, he is suddenly aware of the strange demeanor of MARCEL and SCHAUNARD.)

RUD. (huskily, almost in a speaking voice)
What's the meaning of this going and this coming,
And these glances so strange?
(He glances from one to the other in consternation.)

MAR. (_unable to bear up any longer, hastens to embrace Rudolph as he murmurs_) Poor fellow!

RUD. (_flings himself on Mimi's bed, lifts her up, shakes her by the hand, and exclaims in tones of anguish_) Mimi! Mimi! (he falls, sobbing, upon her lifeless form) (_Terror-stricken, MUSETTA rushes to the bed, utters a piercing cry of grief; then kneels sobbing, at the foot of the bed. SCHAUNARD, overcome, sinks back into a chair; to the left, COLLINE stands at the foot of the bed, dazed at the suddenness of this catastrophe. MARCEL, sobbing, turns his back to the footlights. The curtain slowly falls._)

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