Word: bohã
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Conceived in 1913 as a Viennese operetta but developed at Puccini's insistence into a more operatic work, La Rondine has never been considered the equal of such tearjerkers as La Boh??me or Madama Butterfly. Its resemblances to both Boh??me and Verdi's La Traviata are held against it, as are its less serious origins. "It has proved the weakest of Puccini's works, uneasily hovering between opera and operetta and devoid of striking lyrical melody," wrote Puccini Scholar Mosco Carner in a typical critical assessment...
...first the opera does appear to be something of a rewrite. The story certainly recalls La Traviata: Parisian Courtesan Magda meets innocent Country Boy Ruggero, loves him and then, out of concern for his family's honor, leaves him. And as in La Boh??me, there is a joyous café scene and a secondary pair of quarrelsome lovers. Yet the feel of La Rondine is very different, for Magda is a more worldly-wise heroine than either Violetta or Mimi. Her affair with Ruggero is a self-deluding attempt to recapture a lost moment from her youth...
...lovers' duet into a full-blown chorus in the second act is a magical lyric moment. There is even wit: a sly quote from Richard Strauss's Salome when Prunier describes his ideal woman, and a love duet that deliberately recalls the end of the first act of La Boh??me. The melodies are supple and strongly defined, and there is none of the manipulative abuse of the heroine that coarsens, say, Butterfly...
...BOH?...
...opera, LHO’s La Boh??¨me has some very successful elements. The music, both vocal and instrumental, is strong and potent. The set design is both very imaginative and precise. From the exit turnstile in the subway station to the frosted windows of the Hong Kong, viewers are convinced and delighted by the imaginative set conceptions of set designer Gabriel Abraham...