The National Theater of Opera, Ballet and Folk Ensemble presents the reprise of Giacomo Puccini’s opera “La Boheme” with the libretto of Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, on March 13, 15 and 16 at the Palace of Congresses.
The first opera production of the last season, January – June 2019, marked the culmination of the commitment of young creators and artists to an operatic production.
The reprise of the opera “La Boheme” is the production of young Albanian artists who have become part of the largest art scene in the country during the last three years of NTOB.
Together with the NTOB Orchestra, NTOB soloists and young soloists engaged in the theater in the past three years perform along with internationally renowned opera singers.
With Ardi Asllani’s costume design and Renold Sula’s scenography.
Synopsis:
At the end of the XIX century in Paris, four friends are living together in a loft. Rodolfo and Marcello are at home working when one of the young men, the musician Schaunard, comes in and they decide to eat at a nearby restaurant. The poet Rodolfo does not accompany them because he must finish his writing, but is interrupted by Mimì, a seamstress who lives next door to him. They are drawn to each other at first glance and head for the restaurant together, where his friends are waiting. Marcello, Rodolfo’s friend, was flirting with his ex-girlfriend Musetta, who forces her companion to pay the bill for everyone. Musetta and Marcello later live together, like Rodolfo and Mimì, who suffers from tuberculosis and wants to separate from Rodolfo because he thinks he can’t help her to heal. Musetta separates from Marcello and the four friends return to their lives in the attic. They are visited by Musetta, who is accompanied by Mimì. Mimì, although she is now rich, when she feels death approaching, goes to her only love, Rodolfo. She wants to die in his arms, surrounded by her true friends. Musetta, Marcello, Schaunard and Colline join in a final hug as Rodolfo cries over Mimì’s lifeless body.
Composer – Giacomo Puccini (life and work)
22 December 1858 – 29 November 1924
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian opera composer who has been called “the greatest composer of Italian opera after Verdi”.
Puccini’s early work was rooted in traditional late-19th-century romantic Italian opera. Later, he successfully developed his work in the realistic verismo style, of which he became one of the leading exponents.
Puccini’s most renowned works are La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (1924), all of which are among the important operas played as standards.
The Puccini family was established in Lucca as a local musical dynasty by Puccini’s great-great-grandfather – also named Giacomo (1712–1781). This first Giacomo Puccini was maestro di cappella of the Cattedrale di San Martino in Lucca. He was succeeded in this position by his son, Antonio Puccini, and then by Antonio’s son Domenico, and Domenico’s son Michele (father of the subject of this article). Each of these men studied music at Bologna, and some took additional musical studies elsewhere. Domenico Puccini studied for a time under Giovanni Paisiello. Each composed music for the church. In addition, Domenico composed several operas, and Michele composed one opera. Puccini’s father Michele enjoyed a reputation throughout northern Italy, and his funeral was an occasion of public mourning, at which the then-famed composer Giovanni Pacini conducted a Requiem.
With the Puccini family having occupied the position of maestro di cappella for 124 years (1740–1864) by the time of Michele’s death, it was anticipated that Michele’s son Giacomo would occupy that position as well when he was old enough. However, when Michele Puccini died in 1864, his son Giacomo was only six years old and thus not capable of taking over his father’s job. As a child, he nevertheless participated in the musical life of the Cattedrale di San Martino, as a member of the boys’ choir and later as a substitute organist.
Puccini was given a general education at the seminary of San Michele in Lucca, and then at the seminary of the cathedral. One of Puccini’s uncles, Fortunato Magi, supervised his musical education. Puccini got a diploma from the Pacini School of Music in Lucca in 1880, having studied there with his uncle Fortunato, and later with Carlo Angeloni, who had also instructed Alfredo Catalani. A grant from Queen Margherita, and assistance from another uncle, Nicholas Cerù, provided the funds necessary for Puccini to continue his studies at the Milan Conservatory, where he studied composition with Stefano Ronchetti-Monteviti, Amilcare Ponchielli, and Antonio Bazzini. Puccini studied at the conservatory for three years, sharing a room with Pietro Mascagni. In 1880, at the age of 21, Puccini composed his Mass, which marks the culmination of his family’s long association with church music in his native Lucca.
Early career and first operas
Puccini wrote an orchestral piece called the Capriccio sinfonico as a thesis composition for the Milan Conservatory. Puccini’s teachers Ponchielli and Bazzini were impressed by the work, and it was performed at a student concert at the conservatory on 14 July 1883, conducted by Franco Faccio. Puccini’s work was favorably reviewed in the Milanese publication Perseveranza, and thus Puccini began to build a reputation as a young composer of promise in Milanese music circles.
Characters of La Boheme:
Rodolfo, a poet – Tenor
Mimì, a seamstress – Soprano
Marcello, painter – Baritone
Schaunard, a musician – Baritone
Colline, a philosopher – Bass
Musetta, a singer – Soprano
Benoît, their landlord – Bass
Alcindoro, a state councillor – Bass
Parpignol, a toy vendor – Tenor
A customs Sergeant – Bass
Tickets are on sale at the Palace of Congresses, daily from 10am – 8pm. The ticket costs 1000 ALL.