The Opera La Boheme

At the Wolf Trap Theater, on August 5th, I saw the opera La Boheme. La Boheme is a love story between a poet named Rodolfo and seamstress named Mimi. The opera explores ideas of true love and the bitter sweetness of reminiscing past lovers. This opera was based on the novel, Scenes de la vie de Boheme by Henri Murger. The music was written by Giacomo Puccini, an Italian composer who lived during the Post-Romanic Period, and is well known for his opera compositions. The libretto was written by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica. The orchestra that performed was the National Symphony Orchestra. The woodwind section of the orchestra was made up of flutes, the piccolo, oboes, the English horn, clarinets, bass clarinets and the bassoon. The brass section was made up of the French horn, trumpets, and trombones. The percussion section included the timpani, snare drum, triangle, cymbals, bass drum, xylophone, glockenspiel, and the chimes. Lastly, the strings were composed of the harp, first and second violins, viola, cello, and double bass. My drawing of the orchestra’s seating arrangement is included in the email with the ticket stub concert program. For this concert I was required to be a perceptive listener, to properly analyze …show more content…
Puccini uses a wide variety of tempos and pitch with the performers and orchestra together. The expressiveness of love and the bitterness of loss and past love are evoked during the opera. I really enjoyed La Boheme because of its storytelling and memorable musical pieces. Puccini’s use of conjunct melodies allowed the music to be very memorable and I was humming parts of the opera on the way home. After taking this course and learning about the long history and development of music, I was able to enjoy this opera on a deeper level and appreciate the thought and genius to compose pieces like this