This Christmas, between 12 December and 4 from January Royal Theatre offer 15 functions from Bohemian, from Giacomo Puccini, in a Theater Royal co-production with London's Royal Opera House and Chicago's Lyric Opera, who performed on his stage in 2017.
Genesis Bohemian, and also the development of their creative process until the premiere of the opera at the Teatro Regio in Turin 1 February 1896, They are thoroughly documented thanks to the extensive correspondence between Giacomo Puccini, his editor and mentor Giulio Ricordi, and librettists Giuseppe Giacosa Y Luigi Illica, who began their stormy and fruitful collaboration in this opera, later writing the librettos of Tosca Y Madama Butterfly.
Based on the book Scenes of Bohemian Life, from Henri Murger (1822-1861), It born as a series of autobiographical stories published as folletín, the two librettists, always jealously led by Puccini, They built a coral libretto, in which four young bohemians - a writer (Rodolfo), a painter (Marcello), a musician (Schaunard) and a philosopher (Colline)- they overcome economic difficulties and inclement weather with humor and enthusiasm, looking for its place in a Paris effervescent, bustling and winter.
The tragic love story between one, Rodolfo, aspiring poet, y la sastrecilla Mimi, whose death from tuberculosis, inexorable, the sorprende, articulates a kind of initiatory path Bouncing debauchery and dreams of youth and reveals the real life, with all its forcefulness and significance.
With his brilliant orchestral palette, his mastery of prosody and its huge dramatic talent, Puccini is building the personality of young people with their ability to articulate the most characteristic and amusing anecdotal glimpses of everyday life with the deepest feelings, passionate and sweeping. A) Yes, Interlace your sentences short "conversation" with other huge melodic breath and dramatic. His orchestration suggests, with great effectiveness tímbrica, from details as trivial as the flames snaking or the clinking of coins, until 'ambiences' the film almost bare garret, from the bustle of Christmas Paris or from the loneliness and deprivation of poverty.
The evocation of moments past, as if they were flashes that memory revives and updates, it is masterfully recreated with the use of musical motifs associated with emotions, feelings, or even objects that Puccini gives an enormous symbolic power, like the sail of Mimì, the rose cofia que buys Rodolfo, Colline greatcoat, or the muff that warms the cold hands of the protagonist on her deathbed.
It is these moments that come and go back to memory, that they are hidden and show with the experiences that add up and build the way life, those who backbone the production of Bohemian which can be seen at the Royal Theater.
In its dramaturgical proposal, the prestigious British director Richard Jones and set and costume designer Stewart Laing opera presented as a succession of Scenes of Bohemian Life presented to the viewer without concealing jobs backstage which normally develop technical backstage. A) Yes, the audience sees how the sets are changed, how different devices are used to achieve theatrical effects and how props pile up in the wings, as if they were pieces of life crammed into memory.
Placing yourself in a privileged place, the viewer constantly contemplates the past and present of the characters, unable to dive into the cold and fizzy Paris of the young bohemians because it will always represented on stage.
But this artifice of 'play within a play', that the real time and the theater are confused, public space and artist, the drama of the opera and its metaphors, will take the viewer to a richer interpretation of Puccini's work, enhanced by the view from different angles, but also with their reflections.
Two deals give life to this popular choral opera, which highlights, in the lead roles, las sopranos Jaho Ermonela Y Eleonora Buratto (Mimi) and tenors Michael Fabiano Y Andeka Gorrotxategi (Rodolfo), seconded by the sopranos Ruth Iniesta Y Raquel Lojendio (Musetta); baritones Joan Martin-Royo Y Esteve Manel (Schaunard), tenors Stephen Vincent Y Pablo García López (Benedict); baritones Lucas Meachem Y Andrzej Filonczyk (Marcello); and low Krzysztof Baczyk Y Solomon Howard (Colline) Y Roberto Accurso (Alcindoro).
The musical direction will be borne by Nicola Luisotti, except for the days 30 December and 3 from January, in which the opera will be directed by Luis Miguel Mendez.
Bohemian will be the tenth title that Nicola Luisotti will direct at the Teatro Real, after The Troubadour (2007), The Damnation of Faust (2009), Rigoletto (2015), Aida Y Turandot (2018), Don Carlo (2019), La traviata Y A masked ball (2020) Y Tosca (2021).
Besides of Titular Choir of the Teatro Real, directed by Andrés Máspero, the children's choir participates in the production Little Singers of JORCAM, prepared by Ana González.
Bohemian returns to the Royal Theater on Christmas dates, bringing joy to your stage, complicity and dreams of four young people who meet real life, paradoxically, meeting death.
Photography © Javier del Real | Teatro Real