"O soave fanciulla"
O sweet maiden
Sung by: Beatrice Floyer-Acland and David Powton Pianist: Guy Murgatroyd
RODOLFO
Oh! sweet girl! Oh, sweetest face
Gently bathed in moonlight!
In you I see the dream
I'll always wish to dream!
MIMI
Oh, you alone rule us, love!
Oh how gently his sweet words overwhelm my heart.
Deep in my soul trembles extreme delight,
Kisses thrill with love!
Be mine!
No, I beg you!
You’re sending me away already?
Your friends are waiting
Say it!
I’d like to say... but I dare not
What? Mimi!
MIMI
What if I went with you?
RODOLFO
It would be so much sweeter to stay .
It's freezing outside
I'll stay close to you!
And when we return?
You’d like to know!
Take my arm, my dear little one.
I’ll oblige, kind sir!
Tell me you love me!
I love you.
Love! Love! Love!
Love! Love! Love!
Puccini's La Bohème (The Bohemians) is set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s – Rodolfo is a poet, who lives with his artist friends including the painter, Marcello. They live hand to mouth, striving to make ends meet. Rodolfo has fallen in love a neighbour, Mimi, a quiet girl who works as an embroiderer. They met when Mimi came to borrow a candle. Marcello has an on again, off again relationship with the flighty Musetta.
By the opera’s end, both Rodolfo and Marcello are separated from their lovers but their thoughts still dwell on Mimi and Musetta and the love they have lost.