La Bohème

Opéra de Nice, Nice, France

Scene 1 from the opera La Bohème, photo 2

Scene 2 from the opera La Bohème, photo 3

Scene 3 from the opera La Bohème, photo 4

Scene 4 from the opera La Bohème, photo 5

Scene 5 from the opera La Bohème, photo 6

Scene 6 from the opera La Bohème, photo 7

Scene 7 from the opera "La Bohème", photo 8

Scene 8 from the opera "La Bohème", photo 9

Scene 10 from the opera "La Bohème", photo 10

Scene 11 from the opera "La Bohème", photo 11

All photos (11)

Tuesday 30 March 2021

Important Info

Type: Opera

City: Nice, France

Starts at: 20:00

Overview

Deploying the most beautiful and haunting music possible, the Italian composer has created with La Bohème one of the most moving operas in the repertoire, daring to let emotions sing like no one before him: joy, love, sadness, passion, heartbreak ... Rarely the musical landscapes of an opera had so explored the depths of hearts and souls.

New production

Three years after Manon Lescaut , his first great lyrical success (1893), Puccini again chose France for his new opera, but the Age of Enlightenment gave way here to that of the Industrial Revolution. Under the roofs of Paris, the penniless youth try to survive in the most total misery. Friendships are formed, loves too, then unmade ... Based on a bestseller of the XIX th century, Scenes of bohemian life , Puccini, always eager for social issues and realistic grabs this little group of colorful and endearing characters, whom the illness of one of theirs, the delicate Mimi, will eventually shatter.

Words from Kristian Frédric and Émilie Rault:
Freedom, youth, eccentricity, carelessness: the term "bohemian" evokes a very particular lifestyle, an artistic existence imbued with fantasy and love in all its forms. That being said, " Bohème " first describes a character " on the fringes " - on the fringes of the codes and routines of bourgeois society. Thus, the protagonists of Puccini's La Bohème mark as much by their passionate extravagance as by the tragic fatum which delivers them to the solitude of an isolated attic - an attic where one dies without leaving a trace. Phthisis, this disease described as “romantic” in the 19th century punishes recklessness and fragility: “ the age when we love is also the one when we die ” we will say.

The diseases of " love and death " have passed through the ages and haunted artists in their works. These diseases have always played an ambiguous role in the collective consciousness, both a source of fear and fascination. However, if there is a disease of this type still very present in the contemporary mind, it is certainly that of HIV. It is through these points of similarity and because the AIDS years were those of our generation that we chose to situate this staging of La Bohème in the 1990s. It is in a room that will be reminiscent of that of the Factory in New York, which will begin and end our opera.

A Mecca for Warhol effervescence often described as “ bohemian pop ”, the Factory will however present here hazy shades à la Fassbinder, and lighting inspired by the New Wave. Our Puccinian Warhol, surrounded by figures à la David Bowie, Anna Karina, or even Godard, will be none other than Marcello, who will also be ill. Because in this shed, death lurks and strikes those, like Mimi, who indulge in romanticism, in love. If some have been able to write that " The phthisic is a victim of his behavior"In the nineteenth century, the marginalization of HIV carriers a century later will be ruthless: this existence pointed out, condemned for its sexual, artistic and social freedom, Marcello photographed throughout the drama, anchored in an omnipresent winter. Perhaps, one day, we will discover his photographs in a Museum of Contemporary Art: The Snowflakes of the last breaths ?

History

Premiere of this production: 01 February 1896, Teatro Regio, Turin

La bohème is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world premiere of La bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio, conducted by the 28-year-old Arturo Toscanini. Since then, La bohème has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide.

Venue Info

Opéra de Nice - Nice
4-6 Rue Saint-François de Paule

The Opéra de Nice is the principal opera venue in Nice, which houses the Ballet Nice Méditerrannée and the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra. It offers three types of performances: operas, ballets and classical music concerts.

The “petit théâtre en bois” (wooden theatre) was first created in 1776 by Marquess Alli-Maccarani. Sold in 1787 to a group of gentry, it reopened in 1790 under the name “Théâtre Royal”.

In 1826, the city of Nice, encouraged by King Charles Félix, bought it from its owners and had it demolished and rebuilt. It was inaugurated in 1828 with Giovanni Pacini's Il Barone di Bolsheim.

In 1856, a great ball was organized in the honour of King Victor Emmanuel II.

In 1860, Napoleon III was invited to attend an evening at the Théâtre Royal. For this special occasion, Johann Strauss led the orchestra. The same year, the theatre became the “Théâtre Impérial”. In 1864, Napoleon III returned, accompanied by Tsar Alexander II of Russia. In 1868, Louis II, Duke of Bavaria attended a performance of Cendrillon. The Théâtre Royal was renamed “Théâtre Municipal” in 1870.

On Wednesday, March 23, 1881, as the opera Lucia di Lammermoor began, a gas leak started a huge fire. The fire was controlled the next day but there was nothing left of the theatre. Three siblings of Marjory Kennedy-Fraser died in the fire: Lizzie, Kate and James (soprano, contralto and baritone respectively). The city of Nice immediately decided to rebuild another theatre on the same site. It was designed by architect François Aune with the apparent approval of Charles Garnier, the architect of the Paris Opera. On February 7, 1885, the Théâtre Municipal re-opened with Verdi’s Aida. Over the following years it hosted the French stage premieres of operas such as A Life for the Tsar, Eugene Onegin, La Gioconda, Manon Lescaut, Marie-Magdeleine, Katerina Ismailova and Elegy for Young Lovers. Artistic directors included Edoardo Sonzogno (1887–88), Raoul Gunsbourg (1889-91) and Ferdinand Aymé (1950–82). Musical directors included Alexandre Luigini (1888–89 and 1897–98), Albert Wolff (1930–32 and 1934–37), Antonio de Almeida (1976–78) and Pierre Dervaux (1978-82).

In 1902, it was named Opéra de Nice and is today referred to as Opéra Nice Côte d’Azur.

With the support of the Médecin family of Nice, the house flourished, attracting major singers and directors in opera, but despite the efforts of Jean-Albert Cartier from 1994 to 1997, the importance of the house declined.

21st century
From 2001 to 2009 the director-general was the Belgian producer Paul-Émile Fourny. He was succeeded by Jacques Hédouin, with a policy of closer working with the Opéra de Monte-Carlo, as well as closer collaboration with the two regional orchestras, the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice and the Orchestre régional de Cannes-Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.

In November 2012, Marc Adam became the new artistic director of the opera. The same month tenor Jonas Kaufmann performed there. Adam departed in 2015 to be replaced by Eric Chevalier.

The Diacosmie is the workshop of the Opéra de Nice, where everything from costumes to sets is created. The building also houses rehearsal rooms for the Nice Philharmonic Orchestra and the Ballet Nice Méditerranée.