LA BOHEME Student Guide 2006 | Opera Company of Philadelphia

Giacomo Puccini’s

La

Bohème and The School District of Philadelphia

Season Sponsor

The School District of Philadelphia School Reform Commission James E. Nevels, Chairman Martin G. Bednarek, Sandra Dungee Glenn, James P. Gallagher, Ph.D, Daniel J. Whelan,

Sounds of Learning™ was established by a generous grant from The Annenberg Foundation.

Dedicated funding for the Sounds of Learning™ program has been provided by:

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Opera Company of Philadelphia

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Robert B. Driver General and Artistic Director

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The Opera Company of Philadelphia is supported by major grants from The William Penn Foundation, The Pew Charitable Trusts, and The Lenfest Foundation.

Additional support is provided by the Independence Foundation and the Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation.

The Opera Company of Philadelphia receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

Universal Health Services

A Family Guide to Pennsylvania’s standards in education call for students to show what they know and are able to do.

As every parent knows, children need to share what they have discovered or learned. Thus, the title of our program is Sounds of Learning™. It reflects our belief that children must be actively engaged in sharing ideas, which reflects the collaborative learning that has been called for by the U.S. Department of Labor. For the future success of our research and development teams, today’s students must learn to work collaboratively using creative problem-solving techniques. This was further highlighted by Professor Richard Florida of Carnegie Mellon University. He noted that 30% of the U.S. work force is directly involved with some level of creative engagements in their work. His June 2002 book, The Rise of the Creative Class, was published by Basic Books. His work supported the U.S. Governors report that was released in spring of 2002. This report called for arts education in all schools since it has been directly tied to the economic development of urban areas.

With the Sounds of Learning™ program we strive to support the creative needs of our youth while we also support the core literacy goals of our community. This book will integrate with the local core curriculum in literacy in many ways. Since opera is a uniquely integrated art, possessing orchestra, voice, literature, drama, and dance, the Sounds of Learning™ program is an interdisciplinary and student-centered program. The goal of Active Learning is to have your children engaged in the process of self-teaching. They will be able to show how they have gained insights into their learning by drawing, writing, charting, and discussing the issues most relevant to them. In this way, they will be able to show what they can do with what they know.

We believe the family is the most important foundation to learning. Let your kitchen table become a classroom where your children can build their knowledge of opera and the humanities. As you join in the teaching and learning process with your children, watch their eyes sparkle. Opera is a communal celebration, so too should be your children’s education.

In reading the libretto, we suggest that your family members take turns reading particular roles.

This adds a dimension of fun to the reading of this great literature. Recent research by Dr. Ellen Winner of Harvard’s Project Zero found that “drama helps to build verbal skills that transfer to new materials.”

She found that acting out texts helps students in “reading readiness and achievement” and “oral and written language development.” (Journal of Aesthetic Education, v34, #3/4, Fall/Winter, 2000.) In preparing for the opera, we suggest you purchase one of EMI’s excellent recordings of this opera. We are grateful to EMI for offering us their libretti for use in our program. Together, we hope to build future audiences for, and performers of, the arts.

Best Practices in Arts Education is sponsored

by Pennsylvania Alliance for Arts Education, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the Pennsylvania Department of Education.

Table of Costume Designer Richard St. Clair’s sketch for Mimi’s simple grisette dress and apron in Act I of La bohème.

Contents Opera 101: Getting Ready for the Opera 4 6 7

A Brief History of Western Opera Puccini’s Early Poverty and Political Beliefs Puccini Timeline

Relating Opera to History: The Culture Connection 8 9 11 12 15 16 17 18 20

Make Your Own Timeline A Time of Revolution in the Arts During Puccini’s Lifetime: Literature During Puccini’s Lifetime: Science A Woman’s Work: Women’s Issues in the 1850’s A Bohemian Named Mimi An Ancient Killer Returns: Tuberculosis (TB) The 1850’s: Health Care Issues When Fashion Dictates a Corset, Coughing Could Be Deadly

Inside the Opera: La bohème 21 22 24 25 26 28 30

Game: Connect the Opera Terms Philadelphia’s Academy of Music Broad Street: Avenue of the Arts Acting the LIBRETTO La bohème: Inside the Music Synopsis Meet the Artists

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Game: La bohème Crossword Puzzle

64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73

Sequence of the Story Make Your Own Synopsis What Happens Next?/Alternate Endings Recognizing Facts and Opinions Supporting Your Opinions Etymology and Word Comparison in Other Languages 1898 Newspaper Review of La bohème Compose Your Own Review of La bohème The Café Momus and the Euro Active Learning in the Creative Arts

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Careers in the Arts Introducing Ermonela Jaho

Lessons

Careers

Glossary

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Academic Standards

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State Standards Met

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A Brief History of

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Western Opera

The origins of opera as we now know it come out of the long history of instrumental and vocal music, as well as The ancient Greeks were one of the first cultures drama. to use a combination of spoken poetry and musical accompaniment. Their language, Attic, was a singsong language in which half of the words were sung and half of the words were spoken. It has been likened to the chanting of some church services.

The conventions set forth in Greek drama defined most types of dramatic performance until the late 17th century, when the first operas began to emerge. Prior to that period, many developments in vocal and instrumental music were taking place.

Gregorian chant, a style involving single line melodies and heavily relying on the fifth notes of scales, dominated the early Christian church. This monodic music (one line) later developed into polyphonic music, which meant that voices were added that sang at intervals below the melody (producing harmony).

As music increased in complexity, so did its popular usage. Counterpoint, the practice of weaving together melodies horizontally, was considered too secular to the ears of the church. Counterpoint, they said, obscured the meanings of the liturgical text, whose setting was the primary reason for singing in church.

This new secular style of music continued to evolve among the laity in the figure of the troubadour, or minstrel. Their folk songs were both entertaining and informational, relaying anything from serious heroic adventures, to sentimental love stories, to comic tales. They had a one line melody and were accompanied by guitars, lutes, or pipes. Alfonso the Wise, ruler of Castile, Spain was a famous 13th century troubadour. He further expanded this type of music to include harmonies in the instruments that supported the singer. By dedicating his music to Saint Mary, he also helped to ease some of the stress between the church and the purveyors of music.

By the early part of the 17th century, a new musical form began to emerge that began to prefigure modern opera. The motet was a style of vocal music in which sacred texts were sung by multiple voices using counterpoint techniques. The secular style that evolved from this was the madrigal, often sung in taverns, village squares and private homes.

The popular embrace of complex vocal music for multiple voices was now thriving.

Into this picture entered a group of men, who identified themselves as the Florentine Camerata. Claudio Monteverdi Their group was a kind of club, 1567-1643 dedicated to the study and advancement of both music and classical Greek theater. These composers developed recitative, or “sung speech” in an attempt to imitate the Attic language. The solo song became the opera aria. Throughout their work, Greek tragedies and mythology formed the basis of their subject matter.

Because they dealt with fantastical characters, singing seemed to fit naturally into the language.

The earliest operas out of Florence and Naples were very simple, and featured lots of short arias strung together with recitative patches. The first opera, Dafne, by Jacopo Peri (1561-1633) is based o n a Greek myth. It was performed in 1598 for Carnival in a private home. It became famous throughout Europe. Claudio Monteverdi, who is considered the last great composer of madrigals and the first great composer of operas, composed his opera Orfeo in 1607. Monteverdi began to develop the dramatic potential of the orchestra in this musical form.

Monteverdi was in many ways ahead of his time.

In other parts of Italy, composers were struggling to expand and develop opera. Pietro Allesandro Scarlatti, a composer from Naples, helped to shape this young art form and expand the vocal sections.

Niccolo Jommelli was another contemporary who began to develop the orchestra in operas. He was credited with making the instruments “speak without words.” While Italian composers were credited with the birth of opera as a form, its next steps in conception were taken in Austria and eastern Europe.

The prolific and gifted composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart composed his first opera when he was only 12 years old. He went on to dramatically change the way opera would be viewed up until the present time. Mozart’s innovations included manipulating the key and tone of the music to reflect the feelings of the characters. To create conflict within the music in an opera such as Don Giovanni, Mozart would have one character’s arias set in the key of D-minor and his nemesis’ in D-major. The subtle difference in tone creates an audible clash, and thus increases the dramatic tension. Conversely, when a conflict was on its way to resolution, Mozart wrote the music to slowly work down the harmonic scale, until

it reached the key in which the opera had begun.

These subtle but powerful manipulations in the musical form of opera bring us into the height of opera’s popularity. In the 18th and 19th centuries, operas were composed to reflect the contemporary drama of the day. Many of Shakespeare’s plays were transformed into operas. Opera later played a role in the development of the nation states of Europe. Today, we have operas written in and produced in the languages of many diverse countries including: Italy, Germany, France, Russia, England, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Spain, the United States, Argentina and Denmark.

La bohème Giacomo Puccini’s La bohème was first heard in Turin, Italy on February 1,1896. After the first performance of the opera in Turin, companies around the world began to negotiate for the rights to present it. Soon it was recognized as one of the greatest works in the opera repertoire. It was first heard in the United States in Los Angeles on October 14, 1897. (California was admitted into the Union, thereby becoming a state, in 1850).

It was first heard in Philadelphia on May 2, 1898. The history of this work shows how friends can become enemies.

On March 19, 1893, Italian composer Ruggero Leoncavallo met with Puccini. Leoncavallo had made his international mark with his opera, Pagliacci. He inquired of Puccini what he was going to do after his opera Manon Lescaut had become a major success. Puccini told his friend that he was going to compose an opera based on La bohème. Leoncavallo became very upset because he had offered Puccini a libretto based on Murger’s story and Puccini had rejected the idea.

After this decision by Puccini, Leoncavallo began to compose his own opera based on the novel. With both composers working on an opera based on the same story, they were in direct competition with each other.

Leoncavallo was in shock. His publisher announced to the press the topic of his next opera and Puccini’s agent informed the press the next day that Puccini was also going to write an opera based on La bohème. When Puccini was asked by reporters about the fact that Leoncavallo had already announced the his new work was based on the same story, he replied: “Let him compose, and I will compose, and the public will be the judge!” As a result, both men became bitter enemies.

As the two composer worked, the public waited to see who would reach the finish line first. Puccini was first to stage

his opera. When Leoncavallo staged his work in Venice on May 6, 1897, it received a warm reception. While Leoncavallo’s libretto was closer to the original text of Murger’s novel, Puccini’s dramatic intent and musical color gave him the edge.

The public attended performances of both operas, and there was a time in Milan when both operas were staged at the very same time. However, even great singers of the era like famous tenor Enrico Caruso could not lift Leoncavallo’s opera ahead of Puccini’s in the public’s esteem.

The first Philadelphia performance was presented by the Baghetto Company, direct from Milan, Italy, at the Broad Street Theater. The three performances were given on the evenings of May 2nd, 3rd, and 4th, 1898. Each performance was packed and the reviews were excellent. “Both the opera and the troupe scored an unmistakable triumph.” (Philadelphia Record) See the review on page 70.

These performances also enabled the public to get its mind off the news of the Spanish American War. The date of the first local performance was the very same date that Admiral George Dewey’s flagship, the U.S.S. Olympia, was reported in the local press to have bombarded Manila, capital of the Spanish Colony of the Philippines. (This warship can be found at Penn’s Landing. It is the oldest steel-hulled American warship afloat.)

Giacomo Puccini 1858-1924

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Puccini’s

Puccini’s family was very poor due to his father’s death at the age of 51, when Giacomo was five. He was the oldest son. His mother was left to support two sons and six daughters. She believed that a good education could free her children from their poverty. The following letter was written by Puccini’s mother to the Queen of Italy in an attempt to acquire a scholarship for her son.

ill with yellow fever in 1891 and died. The loss of his brother pained Giacomo deeply. If he had been successful a little earlier, he thought, his brother would not have had to emigrate.

Early Poverty and Political Beliefs

Majesty, You are the Queen and the mother of all the poor, and you are also the patroness of artists, while I am a poor widow with two young sons, whose ambition in life is to give them the best education. My children are students of music, and the older of them, Giacomo, shows great promise. For five generations, the Puccini’s have formed a dynasty of musicians, and if the opportunity should arise, Giacomo will continue the glorious tradition.

He has terminated his studies at Lucca; he desires to proceed to Milan, the capital of music. I cannot myself pay his expenses at the Conservatory, for I have only a meager monthly pension of 75 lire allowed me by the City Council. The Duchess Carafa, who knows me well, has encouraged me to write to Your Majesty. Will you therefore in your immense generosity come to the help of a poor mother and an ambitious boy.

Kissing your munificent hand, I am Albina Magi-Puccini

Even after Puccini received a scholarship, he remained poor. He often wrote to his mother about food, requesting a little olive oil or some beans. He found that the other students were from wealthier families and he could not join them at the cafés of Milan because a drink was more than he could afford.

While he was a student at the conservatory, he wrote Capriccio sinfonico. This piece was part of his graduation requirements, and it found its way into the opening theme of our opera La bohème.

After he graduated with a bronze medal, he struggled for ten years before he became recognized as a major talent in the field of opera. During this time, he would send his younger brother Michele the few extra lire he had. However, his brother decided to immigrate to Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1889 in search of a better life. It was there that he became

Puccini’s family was not the only one suffering. Italy was one of the poorest nations of Europe at the time of Puccini’s life. Italy had been one of the last nations to be reunited as a nation state. This was because the other powerful nations of Europe and the Vatican controlled large sections of the country.

As a result, of the political instability and frequent wars that moved through the region, Italy’s economy was largely underdeveloped.

The economy was weak because investors make capital investments in nations that have stable governments. Countries that have frequent uprisings or political instability place the investments of industry at greater risk. Who would want to invest money in an area where the new factory could be burned down in the next riot? As a result, Italy was not able to begin to attract the foreign investors needed to build its economy.

Some scholars feel that the loss of his young brother to an early death, as a result of poverty, was the passionate power behind the music in his opera, La bohème. In this opera, the main character, Mimi, also dies an early death as a result of extreme poverty. The theme of poverty was again addressed in his Il trittico (The Triptych) operas. As Puccini grew more successful, he continued to be aware of the suffering of those he considered to have “great sorrows in little souls.”

Active Learning 1. What are some of the challenges facing families living in poverty in Philadelphia?

2. What are some ways that you can help those who are living in poverty?

3. Investigate local charities that work with the homeless and see what kinds of programs they provide.

4. If you were in a position to assist at a local charity, can you think of other programs that you would start to help the homeless more?

Puccini

Timeline 1858

Born on December 22 in Lucca, son of Michele and Albina Magi. Puccini’s father Michele was a municipal orchestra leader, Cathedral organist, and a composer of operas and masses.

1876 1878 1880

Writes Symphonic Prelude. He attends the opera Aida and is very impressed.

1883

Graduates from the conservatory with a diploma and a bronze medal. As his senior thesis, he presents Capriccio sinfonico by the student orchestra under Franco Faccio. He uses this piece later in his opera La bohème.

1884

Performs his first opera Le villi on May 31 at Milan’s Teatro Dal Verme, well received by public and press. He begins long relationship with his publisher Giulio Ricordi. His mother dies. He begins a long love affair with the wife of a Luccan pharmacist.

1889

Puccini’s second opera Edgar, which took a long time to compose, premieres at La Scala on April 21 with short-lived success.

1893 1896 1900 1904

Manon Lescaut gives Puccini his first big success at Teatro Regio in Turin on February 1.

1907

Travels to New York to see the Metropolitan Opera premieres of Madama Butterfly and Manon Lescaut.

He is impressed by David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West.

1908

Marital strain due to Elvira’s jealousy. A lawsuit is filed against her after Puccini’s servant commits suicide due to Elvira’s jealous persecutions.

1910

Travels to New York a second time for his premiere of La fanciulla del West on November 10, led by Toscanini.

The opera is based on Belasco’s play.

1912 1917 1918

Death of publisher Giulio Ricordi.

1921 1924 1926

Puccini works on Turandot at Viareggio. Adami and Simoni write the libretto.

Composes “Motet” and “Credo.”

As an exercise for the Conservatory of Lucca, composes Mass for soloists and orchestra, incorporating “Motet” and “Credo” he wrote in 1878. He moves to Milan in the fall to enroll at the Conservatory, aided by a grant from Queen Margherita and a loan from his uncle. His teachers were Bazzini and Ponchielli.

The premiere of La bohème at Teatro Regio on February 1, led by Toscanini.

Tosca premieres at Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14.

Marries Elvira Bonturi after the death of her first husband. Madama Butterfly premieres at La Scala. It was considered a fiasco. It was redeemed by the success of a revised version at Brescia on May 28.

La rondine makes debut at Casino Theatre in Monte Carlo on March 27.

Second world premiere at Metropolitan Opera with Il trittico on December 14. It is a trilogy of one-act operas on differing subjects.

After treatment at a Brussels clinic for throat cancer, Puccini dies of a heart attack on November 29.

Turandot premieres incomplete at La Scala, conducted by Toscanini on April 25. Later performances include the ending as completed by Franco Alfano who used Puccini’s sketches. Two months after his death, Puccini is given the honorary title of senator. His remains are moved to Torre del Lago and reinterred in the chapel of his village.

Adapted from the New Encyclopedia Britannica (1988), Encyclopedia Americana (1988), and Collier’s Encyclopedia (1992).

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Make Your Own

Timeline

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Below you will find a number of important dates about people and events that happened during Puccini’s time. You can compare the events below with the events in Puccini’s life to get a more complete picture of what it was like to live at that time.

From the information on the previous page, select the most important incidents in Puccini’s life and combine them with some of the important developments in world history. Discuss your selections with your classmates. Discover why some students chose different facts or dates to record.

American Presidents 1857-1861 . . . . . . . . . . . . .James Buchanan 1861-1865 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abraham Lincoln† 1865-1869 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Andrew Johnson 1869-1877 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ulysses S. Grant 1877-1881 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Rutherford B. Hayes 1881 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .James A. Garfield † 1881-1885 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chester A. Arthur 1885-1889 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Grover Cleveland 1889-1893 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Benjamin Harrison 1893-1897 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Grover Cleveland 1897-1901 . . . . . . . . . . . . .William McKinley† 1901-1909 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Theodore Roosevelt 1909-1913 . . . . . . . . . . . . .William H. Taft 1913-1921 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Woodrow Wilson 1921-1923 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Warren G. Harding* 1923-1929 . . . . . . . . . . . . .Calvin Coolidge *Died in office †Assassinated in office

Inventions Refrigerator 1858 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Ferdinand Carré (Fr.) Telephone 1876 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Alexander Graham Bell (U.S.) Motorcycle 1885 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Gottlieb Daimler (Ger.) Gramophone 1887 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Emile Berliner (Ger./U.S.) Kodak Camera 1888 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .George Eastman (U.S.) Radio 1895 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Guglielmo Marconi (It.) Tape recorder 1899 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Valdemar Poulsen (Den.) Airplane 1903 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Wilbur & Orville Wright (U.S.) Rocket (liquid fuel) 1926 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Robert Goddard (U.S.)

Discoveries Periodic arrangement of elements 1869 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Dmitri Mendeleev (Russ.)

General theory of relativity 1915 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Albert Einstein (Ger.) Ozone 1939 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Christian Schöenberg (Ger.)

Other Major Events 1861 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Unification of Italy under Victor

Emmanuel, King of Piedmont . . . . . . . . . . . . .American Civil War 1861-1865 1863 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Abolition of slavery by Lincoln 1870 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Kingdom of Italy annexes Papal states; Rome becomes capital . . . . . . . . . . . . .World War I 1914-1918 1929 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Stock market crash

Active Learning Cut apart three supermarket paper bags. Cut them open down one of the side seams and cut off the bottom so that when laid flat, you have a rectangular piece of paper. Tape the bags together at the shorter ends, creating a long rectangular piece of paper. From the longer side of the bag near the top, measure in 10” and place a dot. Do the same near the bottom. Draw a straight line from the top to the bottom of the bag through both dots. From the information on this page, select the most important incidents for your timeline. With these facts, include some of the important dates in history listed above. You may also illustrate your timeline.

A Time of

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Revolution in the Arts Puccini’s lifetime was a period of intense artistic activity in Europe. We consider many of the artisans who lived during that period to be among the greatest of the modern era. One of the major movements in art, Impressionism, developed throughout the later part of the 19th century. As a style, Impressionist paintings are mostly studies of outdoor scenes.

Impressionist artists paid particular attention to color and brush stroke in order to create impressions of the light that fell upon subjects they were painting, rather than the more strictly realistic interpretations of subjects as was done in the past. More specifically, the term also refers to artists who were all part of special group exhibitions in Paris.

Impressionism as a movement got its name from the art critic Louis Leroy. After he viewed Claude Monet’s painting Impressionism: Sunrise (1872), he labeled Monet an Impressionist. Leroy meant the term negatively because he did not like the way Monet’s work rejected the popular Romantic s t y l e of the early 1800’s; however, none of the negative connotation remains today. Impressionism includes the works of European artists such as Claude Monet, Pierre Auguste Renoir, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Berthe Morisot, and American artists such as Mary Cassatt and Henry Ossawa Tanner.

Mary Cassatt Although Impressionism started in Europe, there were many famous American Impressionists. Mary Cassatt has special relevance for us because she was born in Pennsylvania, and studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia from 18611865. After finishing at the Academy, she left Philadelphia to take part in the growing artistic fervor in Europe.

While in Paris she became a good friend of Edgar Degas who introduced her to the Impressionists.

Cassatt became quite well known among other artists, and she exhibited her work in Europe and the Mary Cassatt Self Portrait, 1878

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United States. Today, her work can be seen in many American museums.

Henry Ossawa Tanner

The Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts was also the training ground for another locally-born artist named Henry Ossawa Tanner. He was an African-American artist who was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in 1859. His rather unusual middle name came from his socially conscious and active father. He named Tanner after a town in Kansas called Osawatome where the abolitionist John Brown began his work against slavery.

Henry Ossawa Tanner

Tanner and his family lived in Pittsburgh until 1859-1937 he was seven years old and they moved to Philadelphia. In Philadelphia, the Tanner family first lived in South Philadelphia and then later in North Philadelphia. Tanner loved Philadelphia and lived here for 25 years. Like Cassatt, Tanner studied at the Academy of Fine Arts for two years. When Tanner left the Academy, he spent some time in New York and Atlanta.

Like so many artists of Tanner’s time, Tanner was drawn to Europe because of its artistic environment.

However, as an African-American, he had an additional reason to want to leave the United States for life in Europe. Tanner was tired of the racism and bigotry he experienced daily in the United States. He believed that in Europe he would be able to live a life free from intense racial hatred. He found peace there, and it became his home for most of the rest of his life.

Tanner’s work is remarkable not only for the skill and precision it contains, but also for its subject matter. His work often, but certainly not always, focused on African-American people and subjects at a time when hatred and prejudice were openly practiced. Many of his paintings, such as The Banjo Lesson and The Thankful Poor, deal specifically with the lives of African-Americans. And, even though he was an African-American painting AfricanAmericans in a time that was not very tolerant, Tanner succeeded in becoming very well-known while he was still alive – an honor for any artist.

Besides the works of Mary Cassatt and Henry Ossawa Tanner, many other artists from Puccini’s era are on display here in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Museum of Art has a large permanent collection of Impressionist paintings through which you can wander. Found in this collection are the works of many Impressionist masters. Cassatt,

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Monet, Van Gogh, Pissarro, Degas, and Renoir are only a few of the artists whose work is exhibited there. Some of Tanner’s and Cassatt’s finest paintings are also on display at the Academy of Fine Arts.

If you would like to visit the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, it is located at Broad and Cherry Streets in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Museum of Art is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 26th Street. Admission to PMA is free on Sundays between 10am and 1pm.

Auguste Rodin Not far from the Philadelphia Museum of Art is another world-famous museum that houses the work of only one artist, who lived in the time of Puccini.

He is the famous French sculptor Auguste Rodin.

Rodin was born in Paris in 1840. As a young man, he studied to be an artist and supported himself by Auguste Rodin working for other sculptors. He also studied anatomy in 1840-1917 order to have a greater understanding and familiarity with the human body, one of his favorite subjects.

He is credited with changing sculpture by the way he attempted realism and joined his creations with his impression of the emotional state of his subjects.

By the 1880’s, after having studied with sculptors in France and Italy, Rodin was well known to European art lovers. And, by the time he died in 1917, he had created sculptures that many consider to be the greatest of all time, including The Kiss, Eternal Springtime and The Thinker.

the depth of the drama and reality of the plot.

Joining him in this movement was Ruggero Leoncavallo, who composed the second masterpiece of the Verismo movement. His opera, Pagliacci (1892), also had the public in an uproar, as the story unfolded as a play within a play with a murder so real audience members screamed.

Puccini adapted Verismo to meet his needs.

His Tosca (1900) had neither common folk nor their real problems as the focus. However, the focus of the plot centered on religious scandal and the violence was so extreme that it was described as “a shabby little shocker.”

Puccini’s exotic Madama Butterfly (1904) examined the clash of the Japanese culture with the American culture. While this opera does not fall easily within the verismo genre, some have considered it veristic because of the sexually exploitative relationship between the American naval officer and Cio-Cio-San (Butterfly), as well as her sensational suicide at the end of the opera. The world of opera had moved into a new understanding of drama that joined the violent realities of the world to the stage.

While opera was making bold strides in Europe, African-American Scott Joplin’s ragtime music broke new ground. His music is considered the forerunner to jazz in America. When he began to compose his music, he published an American masterpiece: Maple Leaf Rag (1899). His music made a major impact on American popular culture and shaped the direction popular music took in the world.

Philadelphia is privileged to have one of only two Rodin Museums in the world. The only other one is in Paris. The Philadelphia Rodin Museum has been open since 1929 and contains 124 of Rodin’s sculptures. A cast of The Thinker sits out on the sidewalk of Benjamin Franklin Parkway and can be viewed by anyone passing.

Active Learning 1. Take a trip to one of the museums discussed in the

The Rodin Museum is located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at 22nd Street.

2.

Music During the time of Puccini, many changes were taking place in the musical drama of the world.

Giuseppe Verdi had shocked many in proper society by his opera, La traviata (1853). The main character in his opera was considered a scandalous woman. Georges Bizet went further in scandalizing society by his opera, Carmen (1875). Pietro Mascagni embraced a new style of opera which was coming out of the literature of his day. It was known as Verismo and stood for realism, where the main characters were common folk and their problems were the problems of real people. His opera, Cavalleria Rusticana (1890), shocked the public by

article and write a report on your experience.

Bring into the classroom a recording of Scott Joplin’s music and discuss how his music influenced American popular culture.

3.

Write a verismo play and have your friends help you put it to music.

4.

Research Henry Ossawa Tanner and write a poem on his art and life. Did you know that he once lived at 2908 W. Diamond Street?

5. Take a book from your library on the Impressionist Era and try your hand at creating an Impressionist painting.

6. If you like Impressionist painting, you must visit The Barnes Foundation, 300 N. Latches Lane, Merion, PA (610-667-0290), or visit www.barnesfoundation.org to learn more.

During Puccini’s Lifetime:

Literature

The century during which Puccini lived and worked was alive with literary genius. While he was composing his operas, others were busy telling stories with ink and paper. The amount of great literature that was written in the 1800’s is amazing.

It was a century filled with intellectual energy, energy preserved in the writing of many great men and women. The list below is only a select list of authors who lived in the 19th century.

Lewis Carroll (1832-98) Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (1865) Through the Looking Glass (1871)

Stephen Crane (1871-1900) Red Badge of Courage (1895)

Charles Dickens (1812-70) Tale of Two Cities (1859) Great Expectations (1860-61)

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Henrik Ibsen (1828-1906) A Doll’s House (1879) Hedda Gabler (1890)

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) The Jungle Book (1895)

Edgar Allan Poe (1809-49) Stories include: “The Tell-Tale Heart” (1845) “The Murders in The Rue Morgue” (1841) Poems include: ‘The Bells’, ‘The Raven’(1845-49) ‘Annabel Lee’ (1849) (Be sure to visit Poe’s House on Spring Garden and 7th Streets. It is open everyday except major holidays, and there is no admission charge.)

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-94) Treasure Island (1883) Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1886)

Emily Dickinson (1830-86) Poems include: ‘The Chariot’, ‘The Snake’, ‘There’s A Certain Slant of Light’, ‘I Died for Beauty’

Bram Stoker (1847-1912) Dracula (1897)

Henry David Thoreau (1817-62)

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859-1930)

Walden, or Life in The Woods (1854) Poems of Nature (1896)

The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1891-1893) The Hounds of The Baskerville (1902)

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910)

Gustave Flaubert (1821-80)

War and Peace (1863-69) Anna Karenina (1874-76)

Madame Bovary (1857)

Short stories include: “The Death of Ivan Ilych” (1886)

Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804-64) The Scarlet Letter (1850) The House of the Seven Gables (1851)

Victor Hugo (1802-85) The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1831) Les Misérables (1862)

Mark Twain (1835-1910) Tom Sawyer (1867) Huckleberry Finn (1894) A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889)

Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) The Importance of Being Earnest (1895) The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)

Active Learning Go to the library and take out one of these great books and do a report on it!

Charles Dickens 1812-1870

Mark Twain 1835-1910

Edgar Allan Poe 1809-1849

During Puccini’s Lifetime:

Science

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The scientific world during Puccini’s time was undergoing a revolution. There were many major scientific discoveries, the fields of microbiology and geology were developed, radiation was discovered and Darwin’s theory of evolution was published.

Electricity was being used in increasingly complex ways, that would directly affect everyday life as we know it.

The Science of Geology The developer of Geology was Sir Charles Lyell, born in 1797 to a wealthy Scottish family.

After studying at Oxford, his parents sent him on a tour of Europe. This journey, the first of many, was a Sir Charles Lyell 1797-1875 time for him to make geologic observations. Later in his career, he traveled to the United States, also to observe geologic formations. These opportunities for widespread fieldwork allowed Lyell to begin to see a unified view of earth history.

Lyell’s Principles of Geology, which arose from these and subsequent travels, was an important text in the 19th century for anyone wanting to study geology. His Principles, besides being influential, was also revolutionary. The popular view of geologic history at the time was Catastrophism, which said that most of earth’s geologic history could be reduced to a short time of flooding and violent upheaval.

In the first volume of Principles (1830), Lyell attacked this view, arguing instead that geological phenomena could be explained in terms of currently observed natural processes operating gradually over long periods of time. This concept was called Uniformitarianism.

Lyell himself expected that his three volumes of Principles (1830, 1832, 1833) would be widely criticized, due to his strong disagreement with Catastrophism. However, this was not the case, as the books were widely read and praised. Moreover, as the three volumes were republished, he updated each new edition to include his and other geologists’ latest findings.

Besides his work with geology, Lyell was also a skilled zoologist (zoology is the study of animals).

In fact, he combined the two fields of study when he classified the Tertiary rocks of northern Italy.

Unlike many geologists of the time, who relied

on differences in rock type, Lyell emphasized differences in fauna. He defined “different tertiary formations in chronological order, by reference to the comparative proportion of living species of fossil [shells] in each.”

Again, this new approach was successful. He defined four periods of time, now known as epochs: Newer Pliocene (renamed Pleistocene by Lyell), Older Pliocene, Miocene, and Eocene. These names, with some modifications, are still used today.

Lyell’s Principles was enthusiastically read by Charles Darwin before his voyage on his ship the Beagle (1831-1836). Lyell’s description of the vastness of geologic time undoubtedly established a frame of mind that paved the way for Darwin’s development of the theory of evolution. Darwin and Lyell became friends after Darwin’s return. Lyell helped Darwin publish his ideas, and eventually supported his theory.

Lyell died in 1875. He was praised by Darwin who stated: “The science of geology is enormously indebted to Lyell – more so, as I believe, than to any other man who ever lived.”

The Science of Electricity Puccini was born into a world of candles and died in a world of electric light. This development would have a great impact on his operas. The visual layout of an opera production depends on light.

The lighting effects add drama and enable the audience to visually experience the story. Through costume, set and lighting, the illusion of another time and place is created on the stage. Specifically, the lighting gives the entire scene mood and depth.

This enables the designer to use light to create feeling and movement to accompany music. Few realize the huge improvement electrical lights bring to the production of modern opera.

This change came about by the scientific research of several Americans. The first and most important of these was Thomas Edison of New Jersey. While he was working on his experiments, he would stay in his lab for weeks, if not months, at a time. He would work through the night and often he would go on with his research and experiments without taking a bath for weeks. His focus was on developing a lasting filament for his electric light bulb. Later he worked on power generation and

many other uses of electric power.

Edison was also a man who judged a person by the content of their character. He recognized brilliant men of science without respect to the color of their skin. He hired Lewis Howard Latimer and Granville T. Woods, both African-Americans, to join his company.

Lewis Latimer, born the son of a former slave, joined the Navy at age sixteen during the Civil War. His interest in drawing and mechanics got him his first position with the patent soliciting company of Crosby and Gould in 1865, and in a few years he was chief draftsman. In 1876, Latimer was given the job of drawing the blueprints for Alexander Graham Bell’s recently invented telephone. He was well on his way towards a prosperous career in mechanical engineering.

In 1879, Latimer became head of the U.S. Electric Lighting Company in Bridgeport, Connecticut and began his real interest in the future of electricity.

By 1882, he received a patent for the manufacturing process of carbon filaments in light bulbs. This giant advancement in electrical lighting improved the duration and conductibility of the filament itself.

In 1884, Latimer became the only black member of the Edison Pioneers, the specialized scientific team who worked for the Edison company. Here, he helped bring Thomas Edison’s electrical lighting system to Canada and the cities of New York, Philadelphia and London. By this point, Latimer was also an accomplished writer. He produced the first textbook on the Edison electric system Granville T. Woods also started his career early, by becoming a fireman-engineer for the railr o a d s in Missouri at age sixteen. Through the pursuit of mechanical and electrical engineering jobs, Woods was able to open a factory in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1881. Specializing in the manufacturing of telephone and telegraph equipment, Woods invented a more powerful telephone and transmitter and by 1885 sold his “telegraphony” apparatus to American Bell.

By combining the transmission of signal and oral messages through the line, with telegraphony, the complexity of Morse code was greatly decreased.

Woods continued to invent and in 1887 patented a communication system between moving trains and railway stations which increased the safety and efficiency of railway travel.

In 1890 at a theater in New York, Woods became interested in the dimming apparatus utilized by the electrical lighting system in the performing arts community. His next project improved the

dimming system by decreasing its energy output and the threat of electrical fires common at the time. Woods became a giant in the electrical and mechanical world, accumulating over one-hundred and fifty patents. He invented the electrified “third rail” configuration that powers the New York, Philadelphia and Chicago subways as well as the overhead conducting system still used to power trolleys. He died in 1910, a celebrated man of science.

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The Theory of Radiation Marie Curie was born in Warsaw, Poland to the Sklodowska family in 1867. Her early years were troubled by poverty; however, she never lost her quest for knowledge. She traveled to Paris to study mathematics and physics at the Sorbonne where she was able to earn degrees in both subjects in 1893 and 1894 with honors.

As a college student, she met her future husband, the scientist Pierre Curie. One year after they met they married and began to raise a family.

Together they were pioneers in the study of radioactivity. Marie joined her husband, who had been given the directorship of a lab at a leading institute.

For her doctoral thesis, Maria decided to study radiation, which had been discovered a few years earlier by Henri Becquerel. While working on radiation, she discovered that uranium pitchblende and the mineral chalcolite gave off four times the amount of radiation that was expected from the uranium content. From this discovery she theorized that something else was present that was emitting the higher degree of radiation. Pierre realized the importance of his wife’s discovery and joined her in her work. Over the next year they discovered two elements; one was named for Maria’s native country of Poland and was called polonium; the other they named radium. Once they had discovered these, they began to focus on separating the elements from their compound sources so that they could document the chemical properties of each new element.

In 1903, Marie received her doctorate for her research in radioactive substances. With her husband and Henri Becquerel she received the Nobel Prize in physics for the joint discovery of radioactivity. After Pierre was killed in a car accident, Marie assumed his position as a lecturer at the Sorbonne. She was the first female professor at the school, in 1908.

In 1911, she won her second Nobel Prize for chemistry after she successfully isolated pure radium.

Later she worked in the application of x-rays in medicine. As a result of the work of Marie Curie and her husband Pierre, the deeper understanding of the nucleus of atoms was achieved. Their research also led to the hypothesis that the splitting of the

Marie Curie 1867-1934

Granville T. Woods 1856-1910

Thomas Alva Edison 1847-1931

atom would release great power. From this theory, the atomic age was born.

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The Theory of Evolution In 1857, a year before Puccini’s birth, a book about the science of evolution was published that would change the way people saw the world. It was written by Charles Darwin who was born in Shrewbury, England on February 12, 1809. His father was a doctor and his mother was the daughter of the famous porcelain maker, Josiah Wedgwood. At Cambridge University, he studied for the priesthood but turned his attention to geology and natural history.

Charles Darwin 1809-1882

After he graduated, a professor encouraged him to join a five-year scientific expedition as a non-paid naturalist. Charles accepted the advice of his professor and joined a voyage in 1831 on Her Majesty’s Ship Beagle. His job was to study the geology and biology of the Pacific coast of South America and Pacific islands such as the Galapagos.

This decision changed his life and formed the basis of research that changed the way people thought about the sciences of biology and geology. His work also had a profound impact upon theology and sociology, as people pondered the implications of his findings to religious beliefs and their social relationships.

Darwin reported some of his vast data in England’s Journal of Researchers in 1839. He told some scientists of the conclusions he had reached and was admitted into England’s elite Royal Society.

During the 1840’s, he published three books on his geological research. These books laid the groundwork for people to accept the idea that things in nature change over time.

Over twenty years after he returned home, Darwin published his most controversial theories in a book called On the Origin of Species. From his meticulously-kept notes and records, he theorized that all species on earth had evolved from other earlier species. It is from this concept that the term evolution comes. This idea led to great controversy when people began to realize that his theory also applied to human beings as well as other forms of life.

Darwin’s theory of evolution focused upon the idea that creatures struggle for survival. This leads them to engage in a process he called natural selection. In this process, creatures that are better able to adapt to changing ecological conditions

would survive and pass on to their young the predisposition needed for survival under changing environmental situations.

A good bit of his ideas on this topic were based on research he had compiled while on the Galapagos Islands. He noted three different yet similar types of finches. These birds all looked alike except for one major difference. The birds on one island that ate large seeds had very powerful and large beaks; those on another island that ate smaller seeds had smaller beaks, and those on still another island that ate insects had fine beaks. This led him to theorize that the birds had evolved to address the food type most available in their local ecological food chain. This concept of adaptation was revolutionary.

You can learn more about these advances in science at the Academy of Natural Sciences (215-299-1000) and at the The Franklin Institute (215-448-1200), both in Philadelphia. Both are located within one block of each other on the Ben Franklin Parkway and both offer wonderful active learning exhibits on science and nature.

Active Learning 1. Research and make a map of Darwin’s trip.

2. Write a report on how these developments in science have affected your everyday life.

3. Research and draw a sketch of each of the African-American electrical scientists.

4. Make a timeline of Marie Curie’s life.

A Woman’s Work:

Women’s Issues in the 1850’s

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During the 19th century, women’s rights and roles in society were quickly changing. Across Europe women were joining together in protest to obtain fairer wages, better hours and more comfortable working conditions in major cities where women could earn a living outside the home. In the United States women were also coming together to declare their rights as citizens of the country that they worked so hard to support. Across the world, women were asserting their right to equal treatment, and this struggle would continue until the modern age.

In many parts of Europe, as well as in the United States, it was increasingly acceptable for women to work for a living. Nearly all of the jobs available to them, however, were those in textiles or sewing, or working in the home as a maid, nanny or cook. By the 1850’s, working within the home as a domestic servant was seen as lower status, and therefore these positions were frequently filled by immigrant women, or women of lower social class.

This meant that nearly all women worked in some form of needlework, which was detailed and labor intensive work, yet the standard wage wasn’t always enough to guarantee food and shelter. For this reason, many women became desperate and turned to selling their bodies as prostitutes for extra income.

Another difficult issue facing many women was the limited say that they had in their financial and legal affairs if they were married. Married women and their children were often considered the legal property of their husbands, and divorce was not an option for women in most countries until the late 1850’s. If a man wanted a divorce, all he needed to do was accuse his wife of being unfaithful. By 1857 in England, a woman could obtain a divorce only if she could prove that her husband had been unfaithful, and that he had also abused or mistreated her.

After divorcing, a woman was not always entitled to keep any of her possessions or even her children.

In the United States, the westward expansion was constantly opening new opportunities. But with the promise of gold and open land, many women and children found themselves abandoned by their prospecting husbands. Because of this, the United States not only made it easier for women to obtain a divorce, but also began offering land in the new territory of Oregon for sale to single women. Many

women took this opportunity to move west, where they opened boarding houses to cater to the many new immigrants and workers seeking their fortune.

Paris (the capital of France) erupted into social revolution in 1848, as all workers both male and female demanded better treatment at their jobs in factories. During this period, women could work to support themselves, but they generally were paid very little for time-consuming and challenging work such as sewing and embroidery. The resulting system of national workshops allowed women the right to organize, and provided them with improved working conditions. This first step set the stage for the women’s suffrage movement, or the struggle for the right to vote, as well as for the creation of a new law that would finally let a woman obtain a divorce from her husband.

Daily life for a woman during the 1850’s contained many obstacles, not all of which were as public as the right to vote. The average married woman had six children, and few of today’s modern amenities like the washing machine or dishwasher.

One woman, fed up with trying to work around the home and in her garden in heavy hoop skirts, invented a short trouser that made this work more comfortable. The Bloomer became very popular for a brief time with progressive women but was publicly rejected as “unbecoming” and quickly fell out of fashion.

A Bohemian Named

Mimi

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The opera La bohème is based on Henri Murger’s novel, Scènes de la Vie de Bohème. The novel was set on the Left Bank of Paris. This section of Paris was also where many students lived. It was known for cheap housing for the university intellectuals.

As a result, this area also attracted many artists who were seeking inexpensive housing and young girls who had run away from their homes in the countryside. One of these young girls was our Mimi. She was Lucille Louvet, an historic person, who made silk flowers. She died on March 6, 1848, at the very young age of 22, from tuberculosis. This explains why Mimi in her first act aria sings: “They call me Mimi, but my real name is Lucia. “

the historic Mimi was not as sweet as our theatrical character. The librettists altered her personality to match the era’s concept of the ideal woman in need – the fragile female. This created a woman in need for which the audience could express sympathy.

This also reflected the inability of society to address the root causes of the suffering of women – the inherent sexism within a society that treated women as property. The real Mimi was drawn to Rodolfo but was very strong willed and independent.

The concept of a strong woman in need would have forced social issues that could have undercut the dramatic thrust of the two lovers struggling against a health crisis made worse through their poverty.

Why would a young girl run away from her home? At the time of Mimi, nearly all women were considered the property of their fathers until they were married, and at that point they became the property of their husbands. Young ladies could not choose who they would marry; this decision was up to their fathers. If a young girl was unhappy about whom she was being forced to marry, or a victim of abuse at home, she would often run away to Paris where she would end up living in the Left Bank of Paris with the other young people. This was a time of great social inequality; women were usually not allowed to attend schools. The country girls who ran away to Paris were very poor. Alone and only domestically skilled, they made their clothes from cheap gray cloth. This earned them the name grisette, referring to the cheap material. It became a badge or symbol of the status.

Within the opera’s plot, Rodolfo realizes Mimi is very ill with tuberculosis. The impoverished lovers decide it is best for them to part so that Mimi can trade on her beauty and find a wealthy man who can afford to get her the medical treatment she needs.

Although Mimi does not want to leave Rodolfo, she knows that becoming a courtesan might be her only chance to survive. At the end of the third act, they decide to stay together until the coming of spring.

Life for women in the Left Bank was not easy.

Many women were forced to share rooms in tenement housing. Overcrowding enabled disease to spread quickly and easily from one person to another. Jobs were few for uneducated women from the country side. To support themselves, women would either try to find work as maids, or as seamstresses, and in many cases they would use their personal beauty to entice men to support them in exchange for sexual favors. If they chose the latter, they became known as courtesans. In many cases, women shifted from one path to another as they struggled to survive.

In our opera, Mimi begins as a grisette living alone and trying to make a living as an artificial flower maker. She meets Rodolfo, the young Bohemian artist, and the two fall in love. In truth,

Choosing to live the life of a courtesan was very dangerous. However, as with Mimi, many of the women of the Left Bank were already dying of diseases, so the choice to become a courtesan was most often a survival tactic. Marriage was not an option because the women who had run away from the traditional lifestyle were considered outcasts. A man who married a courtesan found that his social invitation were limited. Women of proper society did not accept the courtesans but noted their freedom. Thus courtesans challenged the social structure to its core.

Active Learning 1. Make a list of the rights women have today that they did not have at the time of Mimi.

2. Do a research project on run-aways. List the frequent causes and danger encountered by young people who run away from home.

An Ancient Killer Returns:

Tuberculosis [TB] When Mimi fell ill in our opera, tuberculosis (TB) was known as consumption. This ancient disease haunted humanity for thousands of years. The first scientists who worked at understanding it were from France. Gaspard Laurent Bayle (1774-1816) and René Laënnec (1781-1826) studied and documented the progressive stages of the illness until it killed both of them. Robert Koch (1843-1910), a German microbiologist who founded modern medi c a l bacteriology, isolated the bacteria that causes the disease. In 1882, Koch presented his findings showing that the tubercle bacillus was the cause of the illness. In time, researchers from around the world confirmed his findings. This discovery enabled doctors to improve their diagnosis of the disease.

It was discovered that the bacteria that caused TB was often in the saliva of the person infected.

As the disease led the person to cough, the bacteria became airborne in small droplets of saliva and then it was carried on dust particles. When another person breathed the bacteria into their lungs, they became infected with the disease. Only about one in ten become seriously ill with the infection because most people have strong immune systems. However, when people did not eat enough because they were poor, or they did not get enough sleep because they were working many hours just to survive, their immune systems began to fail and the bacteria would then grow stronger. In time, they could become deathly sick.

At the turn of the last century, many people in cities were dying of the disease. Fortunately, in 1944, American microbiologist Selman Abraham Waksman discovered streptomycin. The use of antibiotics enabled many infected people to recover from the disease. For a time, it was thought that antibiotics would enable us to wipe TB from the earth. If we could cure people suffering from TB, maybe the day would come when no one would be suffering from it.

Unfortunately, to cure a person infected called for them to take an antibiotic for up to six months and sometimes for over a year. This was necessary if they were to totally kill off the bacteria that caused the illness. For many years, people followed their doctor’s orders and took their medication. As a result, the number of people dying from TB decreased every

year until the mid 1980’s.

However, as more and more poor people in our cities became ill, it was soon not easy to keep track of them to see if they had taken their pills.

Since nature has ways of adapting to the environmental changes that threaten one of its species, the people who failed to take all of their medication began to develop new kinds of mutated TB. These new strains of the disease now resist antibiotics.

The World Health Organization reports that over fifty million people have a form of TB that resists antibiotics at present. They also state that one third of the human population now have the bacteria that causes TB in their lungs, but most never develop the disease. In 2006 alone, 9 million people are living with TB, of which 2 million will die.

The incurable form of TB now kills over 50% of the people it infects. This fact helps us to realize that all of us must take all of the medication prescribed by our doctors. There is now hope that our leading scientists will develop a vaccine for TB in the near future.

Active Learning 1. Research the life of Dr. Koch and find out what other major disease he researched.

2. Research the term “sanatorium” and write a position paper on your feelings. Would this concept help in the fight against TB?

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The 1850’s:

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Health Care Issues Many of today’s developments in health care and medical treatment have their origins in the 19th century. So many features of everyday life seem ordinary to us, like washing our hands, using mouthwash, or being treated by a nurse before we see the doctor. But these practices were part of a revolution during the 1850’s that helped people live longer, healthier lives.

Becoming seriously ill, or receiving a serious injury during the early 19th century was a frightening experience. Surgery was only rarely performed, and when it was doctors used bare, unwashed hands.

The pain was also a serious issue, until a drug Louis Pasteur called Ether was discovered in the mid-1800s.

1822-1895 Ether, which is an anesthetic, was first used in 1846 in Massachusetts during an operation to remove a growth on a man’s neck. The man reported no pain during the procedure. This one discovery would lead to many more types of anesthetics, and therefore allow much more surgery to be performed.

The doctor’s bare, dirty hands often caused an infection in patients known as sepsis. Until the mid-1800’s, doctor’s did not understand that there were germs present on their hands and that it was germs that caused infection. This concept (known as “Germ Theory”) was introduced by Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) who discovered the microorganisms that cause food to spoil. Pasteur had been employed by the government of France to figure out how beer and wine became fermented. After this discovery, Pasteur invented a process to keep food from spoiling, which we now call Pasteurization.

Pasteur’s work was continued, and applied to the medical world, through the work of Joseph Lister (1827-1912). Lister also understood that just as germs cause food to go bad, germs cause infection in people. His invention, the anti-septic, revolutionized not only the world of medical care, but much of our understanding of hygiene today. Lister’s anti-septic could be sprayed on surfaces throughout the hospital, and applied to all tools used, and thus greatly reduce the number of germs that would come in contact with a patient. This scientist’s name lives on in medicine cabinets across the world, as the anti-septic mouthwash “Listerine”.

Health care and the hospital system as it exists today are very new concepts. Becoming a nurse and working in a hospital is a desirable and respected

vocation. But this was not the case until one very important woman, Florence Nightingale. In the early part of the 19th century, very little was understood about illness and the body. For this reason, people were afraid to be near patients. Jobs in hospitals were taken by people of very low status, such as criminals and servants. During the Crimean War (March 28, 1853 – April 1, 1856) however, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), a wealthy member of the British aristocracy, was troubled by the treatment of injured soldiers.

Nightingale cared for her patients in a way that was both kind and efficient. As an educated woman, Florence understood the new idea of germ theory, and helped spread the new hygienic practices throughout the army and in army hospitals. Most importantly, as a woman of high social status, she brought the profession of nursing into a respectable light, and made it the promising and rewarding career that it is today.

The wars of the 19th century produced another important development in global health care that today has become a symbol of hope and health to many. The Red Cross was founded in 1859 by Henry Dunant. Dunant was a wealthy Swiss businessman who was horrified to learn of the fate of many wounded soldiers. Owing to a poor understanding of illness and disease, and some developing nations’ lack of resources, many wounded soldiers were simply left on the field of battle to die. Dunant created the Red Cross in such a way that they would be able to help these soldiers, and the people affected by the horrors of war, without risking any attack from an opposing army. The Red Cross’s staff would clearly wear the giant Red Cross on their uniforms and be free from harm. Soon after their creation, the Red Crescent was formed, which provides similar health services in Islamic countries. The Red Cross continues today in this effort and in many others across the world.

It is incredible how the discovery of the tiny organisms known as germs dramatically changed life in the later half of the 19th century. Knowing that invisible germs could cause illness led people to change nearly all aspects of their lives, right down to the clothes that they wore. Women’s fashions had previously called for huge, layered petticoats worn under heavier elaborate dresses. These petticoats were rarely laundered, and often quite dirty. As

germs were better understood, women rejected these petticoats in favor of simpler, more breathable undergarments. For men, the beard which was at one time the height of fashion, was considered unhygienic, and men sported clean-shaven faces. The most common of household items, toilet paper, owes its creation to this idea and this period of world history.

Active Learning

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1. How are hospital patients and the sick treated differently now as compared to the 1850’s?

2. Name some products in your home were created because of Joseph Lister’s discoveries.

Common Diseases Malaria: (was called “the ague” or “intermittent fever”), responsible for many deaths in Europe between 15th and 19th century. In the 19th century, quinine was available for treatment. Likely spread due to poor sanitation across the continent and especially in Britain. In the early 1800s, the problem of malaria eased as swamp lands were drained and individual hygiene generally improved.

Treatments and Practices The Sanitarium: The sanitarium was created primarily to treat patients suffering from respiratory problems, which especially included tuberculosis which was rampant in the mid19th century. The first famous sanitarium was founded by a German physician in the German alps in 1859. The main principle behind sanitariums like this one was that fresh air and exercise could cure nearly all ailments, including tuberculosis.

The Laryngoscope: Manuel Garcia, (1805-1906), a famous tenor, invented this device in order to look at his own vocal chords when they became inflamed or irritated. This invention led to the development of a number of other important tools for internal medicine which are still used today.

Surgery: Surgery was beginning to be performed throughout Europe at this point, but there were many risks.

Sepsis, an infection caused by poor sanitation and doctors use of bare hands was a major cause of death. Perhaps even more disturbing was the lack of anesthetics, a class of drug that prevents the sensation of pain. Ether, an early anesthetic was discovered in the mid 19th century and led to the discovery of chloroform, another commonly used anesthetic.

Discoveries Gregor Mendel is one of the biggest names from this period in the development of public health. Mendel (1822-1884) is responsible for the discovery of the science of genetics (1870) which has led to many of the major advances in science today.

Also discovered during this period was the structure of the cell, helped in large part by use of the microscope.

3. Florence Nightingale could be seen as a role model for the Victorian-era women. What female role models are in your life?

4. In what ways does the Red Cross affect our lives today?

Can you think of any recent events in which the Red Cross provided support?

Florence Nightingale 1820-1910

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When Fashion Dictates a Corset, Coughing Could Be Deadly In our opera, Mimi is sick with a lung infection called tuberculosis (see article on page 17), which is more commonly known as TB. This illness was aggravated by the fashion of her day. In her era, women wore corsets to make their waists look smaller.

This fashion had an impact on their ability to breathe freely and as a result, any lung infection was compounded. This fashion also had a role in how women were thought of by men. How the corset had an impact on women is interesting.

As a piece of fashion, the corset dates back to four thousand years ago when, in its earliest form – simple metal band around the waist – it was worn around the back and waist reinforced with whalebone or steel. It was tied tight from behind with cord in a cross stitch like a shoe. To make it as tight as possible, women would hold onto a door as a friend would pull the cord, sometimes with a foot in the small of the woman’s back. Once on, the woman would put on a dress that also was frequently tied in the back.

Eventually it was discovered by men of wealth that women who had a small waist appeared meeker. This was because the corset restricted the waist and this put pressure against the lungs. The resulting reduction of lung capacity made women unable to perform heavy work. Heavy work demands a free flow of oxygen to support the needs of the muscles.

A second reason why the corset made women meek or weak was due to the reaction of the human body when excited.

When a person is excited or suffers an emotional shock, the body produces a hormone or drug known as adrenaline into the blood so that the person can respond quickly to the situation. This drug increases the heart rate and this demands that the oxygen supply increase with the increased blood flow.

For a woman wearing a corset, this situation often caused her to faint because she could not breathe deeply enough to meet her body’s oxygen needs. When this happened, other women would gather around her and spread their skirts. Standing next to each other, they would form a screen that would enable one of the women to undo the tight cords of the dress and corset while the other women fanned the lady who was unconscious.

In reality, the so called weaker sex was created by fashion!

The corset was not only viewed as fashionable, it was later believed to be a medical necessity. Since women of wealth were weak due to their lack of oxygen, over time, people of power and wealth began to believe that women’s muscles were too weak to hold their bodies upright, so from childhood on, they wore corsets for their support. Instead of helping, the

corsets caused muscles to wither; they disfigured internal organs, and made it nearly impossible for a woman to breathe deeply. The leading doctors of the age were incorrect in the hypothesis. The corset did not correct a problem, it caused one.

Wealthy women did not hear that the corset was doing damage to their health; they were most concerned with securing a marriage. For most of history, women were the property of men and not having an arranged marriage meant that they had to go to a convent. As a result, a small waist became associated with beauty since it could lead to marriage.

Today we do not have the physical problems that the corset caused. But, we still have problems with the discriminatory beliefs that the wearing of the corset caused. Some people still think that women are too weak for certain kinds of work.

Yet, throughout history, peasant women never had an option of how hard they had to work for their daily bread.

Today, we think of ourselves as free of many of these foolish beliefs, yet our fashion advertisers still lead young girls to think that they have to be thin to be beautiful. In essence, diets have taken the place of the corset. A few years ago the diet drug Fen-Phen, once thought to be one of the most effective diet drugs on the market, was reported to cause heart problems in one third of the patients using it. Many other women and young girls are suffering from bulimia and anorexia because that cannot match the beauty concept put before them by the mass media. These eating disorders are tied to false beliefs of what beauty is. Beauty cannot be purchased, copied, or starved for. In truth, beauty is a state of mind, it is spiritual.

But you will not read this in a magazine because manufacturers advertise their products in them and they would not support a publication that taught young women that they did not need to buy something or do something to be beautiful.

Active Learning 1. The corset was used to create the illusion of a smaller waistline. Does fashion still dictate our appearance?

2. How does peer-pressure play a role in the clothes that we wear?

3. What are some healthy ways for people to lose weight?

Connect the

Opera Terms

21

1.

Opera Seria

A.

Dance spectacle set to music

2.

Baritone

B.

Highest pitched woman’s voice

3.

Opera

C.

Dramatic text adapted for opera

4.

Ballet

D.

Low female voice

5.

Orchestra

E.

Comic opera

6.

Libretto

F.

7.

A drama or comedy in which music is the essential factor; very little is spoken

Duet

8.

G.

Opera with dramatic and intense plots

Aria

9.

H.

Music composed for a singing group

Soprano

I.

A composition written for two performers

J.

A group of musicians who play together on various musical instruments

12. Contralto

K.

Highest pitched man’s voice

13. Tenor

L.

A musical style used in opera and oratorio, in which the text is declaimed in the rhythm of natural speech with slight melodic variation

10. Chorus 11. Act

14. Opera Buffa 15. Recitative

M. Male voice between bass and tenor

16. Bass

N.

A piece of music originally designed to be played before an opera or musical play

O.

The term describing the realistic or naturalistic school of opera that flourished briefly in the late 19th and early 20th centuries; libretti were chosen to depict a ‘slice of life’

P.

Deepest male voice

Q.

Elaborate solo in an opera or oratorio

R.

Main division of a play or opera

17. Overture 18. Verismo

Philadelphia’s

22

Academy of Music

Few Philadelphians know that the great Academy of Music was dedicated to the memory of Mozart.

As the guests enter the Opera House’s main hall, there above the proscenium arch, over the Academy stage, a bas-relief of Mozart looks down upon the audience. This place of prominence for Mozart indicates that the builders of the Academy expected to attract the finest performing arts known to the world. However, building this Opera House was not an easy task for the young country. Between 1837 and 1852 there were five attempts to raise the funds needed to build an Opera House within the city limits of Philadelphia. After Commissioners were appointed by an act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Charles Henry Fisher began to sell stock in the Academy of Music on May 24, 1852. On October 13, 1854, the land on the southwest corner of Broad and Locust Streets was purchased. At that time, the area was undeveloped.

(The Old State House, now known as Independence Hall, was the heart of the city at that time.)

The Commissioners held a competition to select the design of the Academy. Fifteen architects submitted designs between October 3 and December 15 of 1854. The winners were announced on February 12, 1855. Gustav Rungé and Napoleon le Brun won the $400 prize. It was their idea to dedicate the Academy to Mozart’s memory. Within four months the ground-breaking took place. This project was so important that President Franklin Pierce, along with Governor James Pollock and Mayor Robert T. Conrad, laid the cornerstone on July 26, 1855.

On January 26, 1857, the Academy held the Grand Ball and Promenade Concert of its opening.

The first opera presented in the brand new opera house was Verdi’s Il trovatore on February 25, 1857.

Gounod’s opera Faust had its American premiere here on November 18, 1863. On February 14, 1907, Madama Butterfly premiered to “emphatic success” with its composer, Giacomo Puccini, in attendance.

On May 14,1897, John Philip Sousa’s composition “The Stars and Stripes Forever” was premiered on the Academy stage. On March 29 and April 5, 1900, Fritz Scheel conducted two serious concerts of professional musicians. These two concerts are considered the genesis of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Today the Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Pennsylvania Ballet call the Academy home.

Numerous presidents have visited the Academy, including Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and Richard Nixon. The Academy has had many world-famous performers on its stage: Peter Tchaikovsky, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Richard Strauss, Igor Stravinsky, Anna Pavlova, George Gershwin, Arturo Toscanini, Marian Anderson, Maria Callas, Leontyne Price, Luciano Pavarotti, and thousands more

Historic images of the Academy courtesy of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

The Academy was made a Registered National Historic Landmark in 1963. Since then, a few changes have been made to the structure. In 1996 the “Twenty-First Century Project” began, which allowed for a new rigging system, replacement of the stage floor, and cleaning and restoration of the historic ceiling. With Mozart’s image looking down on the Academy’s audiences from his position above the stage for over one hundred years, let the joy of opera and dance continue forever.

23

Academy Facts 2 Built in 1857, The Academy of Music is the oldest grand

opera house in the United States used for its initial purpose.

2 In 1963, The Academy was honored as a National Historic Landmark. As a National Historic Landmark, live flame can never be produced on the stage.

2

The auditorium seats 2,897; 14 columns support the Academy’s tiers; and the auditorium is encased within a three foot-thick solid brick wall.

2

The Academy of Music chandelier is 50 feet in circumference, 16 feet in diameter, and 5,000 pounds in weight. It is lowered once a year for cleaning.

It used to take four hours and 12 men to hand lower the chandelier. Now it takes five minutes, thanks to an electric-powered winch.

2

In the 1800’s, an artificial floor was placed over the Parquet level seats for balls, political conventions, gymnastic and ice skating expositions, carnivals, parades, and other events. You’ll see a wooden guide along the edge of the Parquet wall that helped support the floor.

2

The first-ever indoor football game was held on the Academy’s Parquet level on March 7, 1889 between University of Pennsylvania and Riverton Club of Princeton. At halftime, tug-of-war matches were held as entertainment.

2

2

The red and gold pattern on the Academy’s stage curtain simulates that of a pineapple, a Victorian-era symbol for “welcome.”

A motion picture was first screened at the Academy on February 5, 1870. The silent movie consisted of an oratory, an acrobatic performance by a popular Japanese gymnast, and a waltz danced by the presenter, Henry H. Heyl and his sister. 1,600 people attended.

2

2

The Academy of Music has an expandable orchestra pit to accommodate works with larger orchestral requirements. The first two rows of seats on the Parquet level are on a platform which can be removed to enlarge the pit. The decorative brass and wooden orchestra pit railing can also be moved to ornament the expanded pit as well.

There were talks underway to turn the Academy of Music into a movie theater in 1920.

2

Starting in 1884, electricity was used to light the large chandelier (originally lit by 240 gas burners), the auditorium, and stage lights. New regenerative gas lights were placed along the exterior walls on both Broad and Locust streets.

2

Incandescent electric lighting was introduced to the foyer and balcony in 1892.

2

Air conditioning was installed in the theatre 1959.

2

There was no elevator for the general public in the Academy until 1990!

For more information on the Academy of Music, go to the library and take out Within These Walls, by John Francis Marion or go online to www.academyofmusic.org.

Broad Street:

24

Avenue of the Arts Here is part of a map of Center City. This area, which includes Broad Street south of City Hall, is the home of many famous theaters, museums, hotels, restaurants and cultural centers. Here are some descriptions of the attractions around the Academy of Music. See if you can match them to the lettered flags on the map.

_____ The Kimmel Center Dance, orchestra, chamber and folk music

_____ Prince Music Theater Contemporary music, musicals and blues

_____ Merriam Theater Theater and broadway musicals

_____ University of the Arts Art and Design School

_____ Wilma Theater Modern theater and musicals

_____ Ritz Carlton Hotel World famous 5-star hotel and restaurant

1.

The Academy of Music is marked on this map with a picture. What is its address? _______________________________________

2.

How many blocks is it from City Hall to the Academy?

_______________________________________

3.

All but one of the East to West streets on this map have names that have something in common?

What is it? _______________________________________

For more information about this exciting part of the city, visit: www.avenueofthearts.org/visit.htm

4. You and your friends are planning a night on the town. You will hear a lecture about famous artists, see the Broadway musical The Lion King and scout celebrities at a fancy restaurant. Where do you go? _______________________________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________

Acting the

Libretto Playing the roles of the characters adds fun to the reading of the libretto. This allows you to take ownership of the opera in your own classroom. But do you know how to act?

One of the greatest teachers of acting was a man named Constantin Stanislavski. He lived in Russia and he taught his students to become one with the characters in the play. Prior to his day, actors often looked stiff or wooden. The actors would often hold poses as they declaimed their lines. If you have ever seen a silent movie where the actors over-acted to help the audience understand the text of the movie, this was also true of how many actors performed in theaters.

25

Here are the goals of his system of techniques:

1. To make the performer’s outward activities natural and convincing.

2. To have the actor or actress convey the inner truth of their part.

3. To make the life of the character onstage dynamic and continuous.

4. To develop a strong sense of the ensemble.

His techniques for realistic acting are as follows: (Remember, in Acting, the whole is greater than the sum of these parts.)

Stanislavski developed the idea that actors should not just tell a story. He felt that they should help the audience believe that the actors were in reality the characters they were playing. He called this idea realistic acting.

1. The actor must be relaxed in his or her role. All action

Stanislavski said that “the actor must first of all believe in everything that takes place onstage, and most of all, he must believe what he himself is doing.

And one can only believe in the truth.”

3. The actor must know the importance of specifics.

In learning to act, Stanislavski’s performers had to master the following techniques. The goal is not to memorize his techniques but to know them so well that once on stage, the actor becomes the character under study.

being performed. How does this character feel at this very moment in this play?

should appear as natural.

2. The actor must have strong concentration. Know your lines and stay in character.

Every little thing counts. All gestures, tones of voice, facial expressions reflect the inner truth of the character.

4. The actor must capture the inner truth of the character 5. The actor must have the emotional recall that reflects the inner truth of the character.

6. The actor must know the: Why? What? How? of the action onstage as it reflects to the whole of the piece.

7. The actor must become one with the others in the Constantin Stanislavski 1863-1938

performance so that they show the audience ensemble playing. Ensemble Playing is when the actors are one with their roles and share a common understanding of the director’s vision.

A direct correlation has been found between acting out a play in class and improved reading.

La bohème:

26

Inside the Music In this opera Giacomo Puccini shows his mastery of characterization through music; scene after scene you always know exactly what the characters are thinking. It has also been said that in Act II Puccini perfectly captures the feel of Parisian nightlife through music. Our excerpts come from an EMI recording made in 1956 in Milan, Italy.

The famous cast included two distinctive American sopranos: Maria Callas as Mimi, and Anna Moffo as Musetta. Ms. Moffo was raised in Wayne, Pennsylvania and studied music at The Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

The first selection on the classroom CD is the poet Rodolfo’s aria Che gelida manina (That icy little hand). Rodolfo and Mimi are fumbling in the dark looking for the seamstress’s dropped key.

They’re attracted to each other and Rodolfo seizes the opportunity to grab Mimi’s hand. He starts to tell her all about himself in bravura fashion. While he may be of modest means, his music shows that he is boisterous, confident, flirtatious, and knows how to get a woman’s attention – especially with the high C at the aria’s climax.

When Mimi begins to tell him about herself in Mi chiamano Mimi (They call me Mimi), she’s self conscious. The opening of the aria suggests, especially as she repeats the same pitch, that she’s just rattling off facts about herself while trying to be charming. Then she starts to talk about her passion: Spring. As she sings, the vocal line soars and blossoms like the flowers she embroiders. Then she becomes embarrassed and self conscious and abruptly ends the aria in an apologetic patter.

Rodolfo’s roommates call to him from the street below and urge him to come and join in the Christmas Eve revelries. He tells them that he’s not alone and agrees to meet them at Café Momus.

Rodolfo and Mimi sing their duet O soave fanciulla (O lovely girl). The two are flirtatious, excited, perhaps a little nervous, and passionate as they declare their love for one another. They make their way down the stairs to join Rodolfo’s friends at the café.

The bohemians are together at the café when Marcello’s ex-girlfriend Musetta walks in with her current admirer, the rich and elderly Alcindoro.

Musetta creates a scene, trying to get Marcello’s attention. She begins a seductive waltz song that captures the attention of everyone in the café, Quando men’ vo soletta per la via (When I walk alone down the street), in which she says that everyone stops and looks at her, admiring her beauty. The more she sings, the more she and Marcello realize that they are still in love. By the end of the scene she’s dumped her sugar daddy and she and Marcello are in each other’s arms again.

Winter has arrived on the next CD track and Mimi is getter progressively sicker. In D’onde lieta usci (Back to the place I left), Mimi says goodbye to a rather shocked Rodolfo. She sings poignantly, as if this was the most difficult decision she’s ever had to make, yet the most inevitable. She asks that it ends with no hard feelings, without rancor.

Rodolfo asks her Dunque è proprio finita?

(Then it’s really over). The two lovers reminisce about the little ups and downs of their relationship and lament how horrible it is to be alone during the cold winter. Musetta and Marcello storm out of a tavern, arguing about Musetta’s constant flirting.

The quarreling duo trade insults and break up. Mimi and Rodolfo decide to stay together for now, at least until the spring. Mimi consoles Rodolfo throughout this scene as he doesn’t believe that they will ever be apart. Mimi tragically wishes that winter would never end.

The fourth act opens with the Marcello and Rodolfo, now bachelors, trying to work. Marcello is at his painting easel as Rodolfo writes at his desk.

Rodolfo says that he ran into Musetta, in un coupe (in a coupe) with horse and carriage. Marcello says he saw Mimi, dressed like a queen. The roommates sing of their broken hearts and wish that their loves would return.

Musetta arrives, surprising the Bohemians with the news that Mimi is at the apartment, but is too ill and weak to climb all the stairs. The men bring her into the room. Mimi is dying. Colline decides to sell his overcoat to help get money for a doctor for Mimi. He says goodbye to the coat, and to youthful innocence and frivolity in his aria Vecchia zimarra, senti (Venerable coat, listen). He and the other friends leave the garret on their quest to find a doctor and leave Mimi and Rodolfo alone together.

In the final excerpt on the CD, Oh Dio! Mimi!

(Oh, God! Mimi!), the friends have returned. Musetta has pawned her earrings to buy a muff to warm Mimi’s cold hands. Mimi is extremely weak and drifts off to sleep. Musetta prays that Mimi will find her way to heaven. The Bohemians come to the realization that Mimi has passed away as Rodolfo sobs desperately.

Puccini makes it very clear when Mimi actually passes with a startlingly somber chord in the orchestra right after Mimi drifts off to sleep.

Discussion Topics 1. Do you think that Puccini accurately reflects the emotions that the characters experience?

2. It’s interesting that Puccini has Rodolfo speak his final lines rather than sing them. Why do you think he set it that way?

3. If you could play any of these roles, which one would you want to perform and why?

27

Musetta gets a flashy dress to celebrate Christmas Eve for Act II in this costume design by Richard St. Clair.

La bohème:

Synopsis

28

Rodolfo, a poet (tenor) Marcello, a painter (baritone) Schaunard, a musician (baritone) Colline, a philosopher (bass-baritone) Benoit, a landlord (bass) Alcindoro, Councilor of State (bass) Mimi, a seamstress (soprano) Musetta, a coquette (soprano) Parpignol, a toy vendor (tenor) Students, citizens, shopkeepers, street vendors, soldiers, waiters, boys and girls, townspeople, etc.

The action takes place in Paris around 1830.

Their departure is delayed by a surprise visit from the landlord Benoit, who presents them with a bill for overdue rent. Puzzled by their flattery (and several glasses of wine), the old fellow begins to boast of his exploits as a ladies man, but when he lets it slip that he is married, the others, in a fine display of moral outrage, show him forcibly to the door.

Rodolfo’s friends leave for Café Momus, while he stays to finish an article he has been writing, but he is soon interrupted by a knock at the door; it is a pretty girl from a neighboring apartment, come to ask him to relight her candle, which has gone out on the steps. In fragile health and exhausted by climbing the stairs, she faints in his arms. Revived by a sip of wine, Rodolfo relights her candle. She is about to go when she realizes that her door key has fallen somewhere in the room. A draft puts out both candles. As they hunt in the darkness for the key, their fingers touch.

Gently taking her hand, Rodolfo marvels at how cold and delicate it is. Warming it in his own, he assures her that the rising moon will soon help them in their search. Meanwhile he offers to entertain her with an account of his life as an aspiring artist – poor in worldly things, but rich in poetic inspiration.

Her beauty has now added the precious gift of hope to his riches.

Set design for Act II.

Act I On Christmas Eve, in an attic in the Latin Quarter of Paris, Rodolfo, a poet, and Marcello, a painter, are kept from working by cold and hunger. As Rodolfo fires up the stove with the manuscript of his five-act tragedy, Colline, a philosophy student, returns from a futile attempt to pawn his books. The three young men crowd around the stove for warmth, but the paper blaze soon dwindles into ashes.

The musician Schaunard triumphantly appears with firewood, food and money. As he explains his unusual wealth (earned by playing the piano for an eccentric Englishman), the others fall greedily upon the provisions. But Schaunard suggests that they celebrate by going out to dinner in the Latin Quarter.

At his urging, she shyly tells him something of herself. Her name is Mimi, and her life, though solitary, is a happy one. She lives in the attic where she makes artificial flowers. It is work and pleasure for her, but her greatest joy comes when the springtime sun makes the real flowers bloom.

From the courtyard below, Rodolfo’s friends call for him impatiently, but he tells them that he and a companion will join them soon at Momus.

As the moonlight floods through the attic window, Rodolfo and Mimi go off together, arm in arm, expressing their newfound rapture.

Act II The streets of the Latin Quarter are filled with a holiday throng of passersby and vendors. Amid the shouts of vendors selling their wares, Rodolfo buys Mimi a bonnet at a gift shop. The toy vendor, Parpignol, passes by, besieged by a group of eager children. Marcello and his friends seize a table at the

crowded Café Momus where they are soon joined by Rodolfo and Mimi. The poet presents her as his newfound muse, and she proudly displays the bonnet.

As they settle down to a festive meal, Musetta, a beautiful woman who was once Marcello’s sweetheart, arrives with her latest admirer in tow, the rich and elderly Alcindoro. Distracted by her flighty behavior, the old man is unaware that Musetta, while elaborately snubbing her former flame, is doing her best to win him back. She sings a waltz about how popular she is wherever she goes. Although he feigns indifference to the seductive waltz she sings, Marcello gradually succumbs. Sure of her victory, Musetta pretends that one of her new shoes is painfully tight and sends the gullible Alcindoro to have it fixed. Free at last, she falls into the painter's open arms, and as the crowd cheers the passing of a regimental band, the young people make their escape, telling the waiter that Alcindoro will pay the bill. A detachment of soldiers march by the café and the Bohemians fall behind just as Alcindoro rushes back with Musetta’s new shoes and finds the bill.

Act III As a snowy February morning dawns on the outskirts of Paris, street sweepers and farm girls pass through the toll gates of the city on their way to work. Inside the tavern of a nearby inn (where Marcello and Musetta have been earning their room and board), a group of all-night revelers join in a drinking song.

Distraught and gravely ill, Mimi calls Marcello outside and begs for his help. She and Rodolfo are on the verge of separation, for although they love each other deeply, his jealous nature is a constant torment to both of them. Aware that Rodolfo has come to see Marcello, Mimi agrees to leave the two friends alone to talk, but when her lover emerges from the inn, she hides nearby and listens to their conversation.

Rodolfo complains bitterly that Mimi’s flirtatious ways have made him doubt her fidelity, but under Marcello’s prodding, he finally confesses the true reason for his anguish. He is desperately afraid that Mimi’s health will soon be broken by the wretched life they share, and although he loves her more than ever, he would rather part from her than cause her death.

Stricken by his words and sobbing helplessly, Mimi gives herself away, just as Marcello, suspicious at the sound of Musetta’s laughter, runs back into the inn. Struggling with her emotions, Mimi tells Rodolfo that she must leave him, and although she will send someone to get her few belongings from the attic, she offers him the bonnet that he bought her as a keepsake.

As the two of them recall the happiness they shared, Marcello and Musetta emerge from the inn quarreling violently. Realizing that they cannot bear the pain of separation, Rodolfo and Mimi decide to stay together – at least till springtime comes – and as their friends exchange a final round of insults, the reconciled lovers slowly head for home.

Act IV It is spring. Parted from their sweethearts, Rodolfo and Marcello have taken up their old life in the garret, seemingly unconcerned that the girls have left them for wealthier admirers. But although they try to work, Rodolfo’s thoughts keep turning to Mimi, and Marcello finds himself obsessively tracing and retracing Musetta's features.

Schaunard and Colline arrive with provisions for a meager meal. Making the best of it, the four young men pretend they are guests at an aristocratic supper, and when Schaunard threatens them with a performance of his latest composition, they quickly elect to “go dancing” instead. Their fun is disrupted when Colline, challenging Schaunard to a duel, touches off a noisy free-for-all.

As the battle rages, Musetta suddenly appears.

Mimi is with her. She is downstairs, deathly ill and longing only to be reunited with Rodolfo. Rodolfo runs downstairs to assist her. Well aware that she is dying, the others rally in support: Marcello and Musetta go out to find medicine and a doctor; Colline, bidding farewell to his treasured overcoat, leaves for the pawnshop; and when Schaunard tactfully withdraws, the lovers are finally alone.

They exchange assurances of their devotion, and when Rodolfo shows Mimi that he has kept and cherished the bonnet she left behind, they tenderly recall the cold and moonlit Christmas Eve when they met and fell in love. As Mimi is afflicted by a violent fit of coughing, the others return.

Musetta has brought Mimi a muff, generously pretending that it is a gift from Rodolfo. Warming her hands inside it, Mimi happily drifts off to sleep. As the others tip-toe about the room, Musetta heats some medicine and prays for Mimi’s recovery. But in a frightened whisper, Schaunard tells Marcello that Mimi has died already. Moments later, Rodolfo, too, realizes what has happened and throws himself despairingly onto her body, calling her name.

29

Meet the

Artists

30 Mimi Ermonela Jaho, Soprano Albania Opera Company Debut: Mimi, La bohème 2006

Musetta Sari Gruber, Soprano Massachusetts Opera Company Debut: Norina, Don Pasquale 2004

Colline Richard Bernstein, Bass-Baritone New York Opera Company Debut: Figaro, The Marriage of Figaro 1999

Benoit and Alcindoro Kevin Glavin, Bass Massachusetts Opera Company Debut: Dulcamara, The Elixir of Love 1989

Director Robert B. Driver Brazil Opera Company Debut: The Magic Flute 1994

Set Design Boyd Ostroff Missouri Opera Company Debut: The Magic Flute 1994

Rodolfo Roger Honeywell, Tenor Canada Opera Company Debut: Auctioneer, Margaret Garner 2006

Marcello Troy Cook, Baritone Kentucky Opera Company Debut: Marcello, La bohème 2006

Schaunard Alexander Tall, Baritone New Jersey Opera Company Debut: Sergeant, The Barber of Seville 2005

Conductor Corrado Rovaris Italy Opera Company Debut: The Marriage of Figaro 1999

Costume Design Richard St. Clair Pennsylvania Opera Company Debut: La bohème 1986

La bohème

62

Crossword Puzzle

Ardent

Giacomo

Paris

Aria

Grisette

Poignant

Aspire

Hasten

Pompous

Bonnet

Henri Murger

Puccini

Colline

Infinite

Rapture

Composer

Latin Quarter

Reconcile

Concoction

Librettist

Schaunard

Contemporary

Livid

Sublime

Corset

Marcello

Throng

Eccentric

Meager

Tuberculosis

Europe

Momus

Unappeased

Fickle

Muse

Utopia

Garret

Musetta

63

ACROSS

DOWN

7

The Bohemians go to this café on Christmas Eve.

1

On what continent is France?

8

Name of French author who wrote the novel Scenes de la Vie de Bohème, on which the opera La bohème is based.

2

The spirit or power regarded as inspiring and watching over poets, musicians, and artists; a source of inspiration.

9

3

Mimi has this disease, also known as TB.

The flirty girl in the group. She and Marcello are a couple.

4

Having no boundaries or limits.

11

To settle or resolve, as a dispute.

5

12

Changeable, especially with regard to affections or attachments; inconstant; capricious.

One who writes the music for the opera.

14

6

Departing or deviating from the conventional or established norm, model, or rule.

Conspicuously deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty.

16

7

Rodolfo’s painter roommate.

This bohemian sells his coat to help get medical attention for Mimi in the last act.

10

One who writes the libretto, or text of the opera.

18

Last name of La bohème’s composer.

13

Appealing to the emotions; touching.

21

Extremely angry; furious.

15

Belonging to the same period of time.

24

First name of La bohème’s composer.

17

25

La bohème is set in this area of Paris known as an artsy area (two words).

Something which is invented or devised.

26

19

To have great ambition or ultimate desire.

A room at the top floor of a house, typically under a pitched roof; an attic, a loft.

27

The state of being transported by a lofty emotion; rapture.

20

Characterized by an exaggerated show of dignity or self-importance.

29

Move swiftly.

22

This bohemian friend of Rodolfo is a musician.

32

Any condition, place, or situation of social or political perfection.

23

Unsatisfied; not at peace.

35

28

Of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth.

In Act II, Rodolfo buys Mimi a pink ________.

36

30

A French working-class girl or young woman.

Expressing or characterized by warmth of passion or desire.

37

A close-fitting woman’s undergarment, worn to narrow and shape the waistline.

31

A large group of people gathered or crowded closely together.

33

La bohème takes place in what city in France?

34

A solo song in an opera is called an _______.

Sequence of the Story

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The sequence of a story or play is very important for understanding the content. The sequence of events explains how things happen and when they happen.

After reading the libretto, place the following events in order. Re-number the events from one to ten in the order that they occur in the opera. Write the act in which you find that event.

_____

5.

Rodolfo stops to buy Mimi a bonnet on the way to meet his friends at Café Momus.

Act ___

_____

6.

With Rodolfo at her side, Mimi has a coughing fit and then falls asleep.

Act ___

_____

1.

Musetta wins back Marcello by singing a seductive waltz.

Act ___

_____

7.

Mimi confides in Marcello, she wishes Rodolfo would stop his jealousy.

Act ___

_____

2.

By springtime, Rodolfo and Marcello are separated from Mimi and Musetta.

Act ___

_____

8.

When Schaunard returns with money, the four decide to dine at Café Momus.

Act ___

_____

3.

On Christmas Eve, Rodolfo, Marcello, and Colline are burning Rodolfo’s manuscript to keep warm.

Act ___

_____

9.

Rodolfo claims that he would rather part from Mimi than cause her death.

Act ___

_____

4.

Mimi, deathly ill, sends Musetta to find Rodolfo.

Act ___

_____

10. Mimi asks her neighbor, Rodolfo, to relight a candle that has blown out.

Act ___

Active Learning Choose what you feel is the most important event in the sequence above and explain how, if changed, it would affect the other events. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Use additional paper if needed.)

Illustrate the most important event you have chosen or ask your teacher if you can act out the scene with your classmates.

Discuss why you feel this scene is important with your classmates. How could you cause a change in this scene and affect the rest of the story’s plot? Discuss this new view of the opera with your classmates or write a new ending to the opera. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Use additional paper if needed.)

Make Your Own Synopsis A synopsis is a concise summary or brief statement of events. In writing a synopsis, the main points or ideas are written and the supporting details are left out. To do this successfully, we must make judgments on what are the most important facts or details.

Often you are asked after a day of school, “How was your day?” or “What did you learn today?”

You know how to answer these questions because you know what the important things you did were.

Characters

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1. In a small group, examine the main characters of La bohème. How did the actions of the characters move the plot forward? What were the most important things which happened?

2. Make a word bank of the main characters. List important adjectives which describe their character traits. Then list the verbs or action words which highlight their actions.

Descriptive Adjectives

Actions

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

___________________________

Now write a brief account of Act I of the opera. Check it against the actual synopsis found on pages 28-29 of this activity book.

See which member of your group wrote the most comprehensive synopsis. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ (Use additional paper if needed.)

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What Happen’s Next?/Alternate Endings Using the space below, write what you think will happen next to the characters in La bohème. Alternatively, you could write a new ending for the libretto based on what you would have liked to see.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Recognizing Facts and Opinions 1.

Read the following statements. Before each statement, write whether it is a fact or an opinion.

1. Rodolfo is a poet and Marcello is a painter. _____ 2. Although separated for a period of time, Mimi and Rodolfo love each other. _____ 3. Musetta is frivolous. _____ 4. Mimi and Rodolfo should have never separated. _____ 5. Mimi wants to be reunited with Rodolfo as her last dying wish. _____ 6. Rodolfo should have bought the muff for Mimi himself. _____

2.

Write an opinion about each of the following topics. Support each opinion with two facts.

Rodolfo ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Love ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Musetta ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Anguish ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Jealousy ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

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Supporting Your Opinions

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1. Write “I believe” or “I think” four times. Then complete each phrase with a different statement regarding the opera La bohème. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. Identify which statements are fact and opinion by placing an ‘F’ or ‘O’ next to each one. Then combine the two statements to make a sentence using the following connectives: since, because, therefore, thus.

The first one has been done for you.

F _____ O _____

1a. Musetta buys Mimi a muff.

1b. Musetta is generous.

Sentence: Musetta is generous because she buys Mimi a muff.

_____ _____

2a. Schaunard shares his profits with Rodolfo and Marcello.

2b. Schaunard is a kind person.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ _____

3a. Benoit is a horrible person.

3b. Benoit likes young women even though he is married.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ _____

4a. Mimi makes artificial flowers.

4b. Mimi is very creative.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ _____

5a. Musetta is a very bold person.

5b. Musetta sings a waltz to win back Marcello.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____ _____

6a. Rodolfo must be nuts.

6b. Rodolfo burns his manuscript which he worked many long hours on.

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Etymology and Word Comparison in Other Languages Have you ever wondered how different words evolved? Etymology studies the origin of words, and how those words developed. The words selected below come directly from the libretto. The origin of the English word or phrase has been given along with its etymological root as well as a translation of the word into Italian, French, German and Spanish. Do you notice any similarities with the words or any differences?

English

Italian

French

German

Spanish

Courage – c. 1300 O.Fr. corage L. cor ‘heart;’ coeur

Coraggio

Courage

Courage

Valor

Dine – c. 1297 O.F. disner originally ‘take the first meal of the day’

Pranzare

Diner

Essen

Cenar

Addio usually said to the departing person who replied goodbye

Au revoir

Auf Wiedersehn

Adios

Flower c. 1200 O.F. flor; L. florem

Fiore (m)

Fleur (f)

Blümen

Flor (f)

Love – O.E. lufu; love affection, friendliness

Amor

Amour

Liebe

Amor

Quiet – c. 1300 O.Fr. quiete; L. quies

Zitto

Silence

Sei still

Silencio

Spring – M.E. springan Primavera Printemps Implying rapid or sudden emerging as in first season of year

Frühling

Primavera

Street – O.E. stret; L. strata

Rue

Straße

Calle

Chiamare to give a name other than one’s given name

Appeler

Geheissen

Llamarse

To sleep – O.E. slaepan

Dormire

Dormir

Schlafen

Dormir

Aspetare

Attendre

Erwarten

Esperar

Volere

Vouloir

Wollen

Querer

Scrivere

Ecrire

Schreiben

Escribir

Tranquilla

Tranquilite

Ruhig

Tranquilo

Fanciulla (f)

Jeune femme

Mädchen

Nina, Chica

Inverno

Hiver (m)

Winter

Invierno

Farewell – c. 1374 M.E. faren wel

to blossom

rest, quiet, or silence

Via

lay down, spread out, pave, by way of

To be called – c. 1250 O.E. & L. nomen

to sleep

To wait – c. 1200 O.N.Fr. waitier O.H.G. wachten; to watch

To want – O.N. vanta to wish

To write – as in writer; O.E. writan to score, outline

Tranquil – c. 1200 O.F & L. tranquillus peaceful, calm

Young girl – O.E. maeden maiden

Winter – O.E. wentruz fourth season of the year

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1898 Newspaper Review of La bohème

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d r o c e R a i h p l e d a l i h P 98 ng, May 3, 18 Tuesday morni

ess c c u S e in F a d ,” Score lly worked-up climaxes of thyeiar ia m e h o B “ , a r el refu pe as almost entir been the ca Puccini’s O the third act w ians,” was So artet . em ts qu ac oh al B e nt tiv pu he respec contra a, “T

er d the fully written Puccini’s op conciled e in this city an g up to a skill tim in st ad le fir e lovers, the re th of e or s th (f le at ng up su ny co ly pa o tw of reunion ra Com admirab between the g a new hymn tto Italian Ope at in ge bl se ag ar B au w e pl i th ap im M .

East) by oked stormy Rodolphe and l and Musette ening, and ev reling of Marce ar qu e Broad last ev th . t ce ns agai a large audien d mainly intervals from e acts consiste d to a re te th ea e tr es e th er w of r series But as each music-lovers ese acts in thei e first th th in so , Philadelphia g, ax in im en cl st ev ing lly for of its culminat at the Broad la lyric aration genera a ep lty ” pr ve e, e no m er le m hè a ub bo do “La to be Quarter proves really n of Puccini’s emian t in the Latin tio ac oh uc B od ng of pr di s l lu ca ne nc lo d co s “Sce paration the fourth an d on Murger’ Opera r her last se n te ia af al i, It o im tt M ge drama founde hich e Bag tressed, garret, to w d and love-dis the debut of th Milan. ar gg om fr ha il s, rn ha tu s Life;” and in , re nger d Illica from Rodolphe se principal si ists Glacosa an takable tt is re m lib un e an th t, ed Company, who ac red a scor to die. In this to have secu and the troupe unique y em rl se lia l cu al pe r e Both the opera se po som Murger’s and the com gh there were cidedly their theme… de on a up s p ha as triumph, althou gr pany ve effect. true dramatic th. The com motley with impressi a s ge ch er Su . em us ly features to bo en Quarter e chor Bohemia sudd , especially th oristers s of the Latin er ch te e ke al us m M fe Italian aspect ur e of ous and We see the Fo tic assemblag , the impecuni he cal stage, lp lo a do Ro on – d and unroman se us es r of the and Café Mom ever, been witn s repl, the painte ce pe ar ty M n ; ia et al It po y has seldom, if ked ctivel mposer of shabbily froc with the distin ulevard unard, the co bo ha Sc ch e; en ur Fr ct and together e pi , th Art,” and great Red Sea the principals aza, and ence of Blue in pl flu n In ila he M a “T resented by e on ld lik – enjoying the symphony garlic for all the wor philosopher of e g tin um rf un pe -h e scene looked ok t th bo fantastically Colline, the sistibly to scen d down ian fashion he er as ug w M i tt ue one began irre he tr spag ng, dance, themselves in se-sprinkled verty, with so ith Mimi w po et of du st id ve and the chee m lo e st ves Mimi, cheerful in th Rodolphe’s fir almost d contrast arri at sa d in an nd , A ul . with chianti… st tif d je beau ty hovers eloquence an is exquisitely ess and Over the jolli tn . ee ep st sw l or na do in his garret io e cept There is a fainting on th vealed the ex adow of death. r… There sh no te pt s ru a’ ab the outstart re in e st th go ohemians unexpectedly or Giuseppe A in last ch the four B hi er w lib in ca l y, ca ed power of Sign vo om l d medicine pitiful tragic-c singer of equa , tranquility, an achieved y th et m ar tir w en e id was no other its ov st in make shift to pr a grisette. ldom though the ca r butterfly of is only too se night’s cast, al tle as lit k g or in w dy ic e at th for oper nari, from the Linda Monta such all-round ly developed ers. Signora di go d ea aie st er rr s ca op ha d ic by simple talent an enjoyed Mimi’s mus nounced by a s real vocal an se e is es lik ss ce eill po an tr am i,… en r grisette. of the C the Mim start, where he the poor little y difficult role g sl ng tin ou si ri fit ea cu be cr r if in he mot nderness steadily through and naïve leitgradually in te lphe with a s do er ow H Ro gr g. of on tin si rt ac pres her splendor sweethea Her musical ex r lyricism as in sts of sudden he ur a in tb or m ou gn is Si al tle re lit of ith to that act…there dramatic and pathos, w ked contrast ). In the last t ar ng os m ri m sp in e d th as an e w love mad ory to method (thoughts of shing soprano, ing from mem tt da , fli a et l i, xt ca in se ic vo V ct -a tle lit e sweet, second Cleopatra is…a lifelike bitter now th the comical e th ss in le w e a no od r – is fo e ep r lif ish wells d beau of her memory of he r lover’s angu ches her adde he e at th es sp m di as co e st h ju sh at , de encore wherein splendor. and when her sextet won an crescendo of s n al hi ai tr T rt . es cu oe ch le sh or ub rb pinching earned a do forth in a supe he and Mimi to have id sa be duet of Rodolp ay m s these incident call. Each of

Compose Your Own Review of La bohème

c

Use this word bank for ideas when composing your own review of the opera. singing lighting props conductor acting

Rodolfo music orchestra plot Puccini

set designer Mimi chorus costumes set

Latin Quarter stage action Academy of Music love funny

________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

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The Café Momus and the Euro Rodolfo, Mimi and the other bohemians go to the Café Momus to celebrate Christmas Eve with all of Paris. In the 1880’s, when the opera was set, they would have paid for their bill in francs. In 2006 however, they would pay their bill with a different currency, the Euro. To learn about the Euro, we have to first look at the European Union.

The European Union was formally established in 1993 by the Treaty of Maastricht. Made up of 25 countries, the EU was formed to ensure peace among the member countries by removing the rivalry and animosity between them. United, the countries can enhance political, economic and social co-operation while giving the individual countries more strength in world markets. European citizens also have greater freedom to live, work, study, or travel to other Union states.

The Union breaks down their policies into three main pillars. The first pillar is European Communities, the second pillar is Common Foreign and Security Policy, and the third pillar is Police and Judicial Co-operation in Criminal Matters (PJCC).

One of the greatest achievements of the EU is the implementation of a single currency: the euro.

In 2002, 12 of the 25 member states adopted the euro ( ): Austria, Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal and Spain. The euro notes are identical in all countries but each country issues its own coins with one common side and one side displaying a distinctive national emblem. The euro is extremely practical because European citizens can travel easier without having to worry about exchanging currencies.

It also makes buying easier because citizens no longer need to convert their money. In July of 2006, then conversion rate was 1 euro for every 1.27 US dollars. This means that if you buy a candy bar for 1 in France, you would really be spending $1.28 in the United States.

It is easiest to understand the European Union when comparing it to the United States. First, there is no border control between US states and we do not need a passport to travel within the country.

Second, we do not need to change currencies whenever we cross a state line. We have one common currency that is accepted everywhere. Like the euro, our quarter has one common side and one side with

a state emblem on it. Third, states have more power and security when they are bonded as one. A state with few resources can thrive because there are 49 other states to support them. The European Union began as the integration of the coal and steel industries of Western Europe. Years later, the EU is looking to draft a constitution so that all of Europe may unite as one.

Active Learning 1. What are the benefits for the European countries engaged in the European Union?

2. If you were to travel to Europe today, what would one American dollar be worth, or its conversion rate, against the Euro? To look at global conversion rates, check out http://finance.yahoo.com/currency?u online to see what the latest rates are.

3. Chart the rates between the U.S. dollar, the Euro, and several other countries over one week’s time. How do those rates fluctuate? What do you think some of those causes are?

Active Learning in the Creative Arts Below are some art activities that you can do at home or in school. Think of using one of these for our art contest.

Opera Dioramas 1. You need a shoe box with lid, tissue box or milk carton,

Make Your Own Mask 1. You will need paper plates, paints, crayons or markers,

crayons, heavy paper (construction, tag or index), paste or glue, colored paper or paint for background.

glue, scissors, popsicle sticks, sequins, feathers, felt, pipecleaners, buttons, beads or anything else fun you have lying around.

2. Paint, color, or paste colored paper on the back and sides of the box to make a background for the characters.

3. Draw in the background scenery. For example, you can draw houses, trees, and grass.

4. Draw characters and other scenery on a separate piece of heavy paper. Cut them out, leaving an extra piece for a fold at the bottom.

5. Decide which end the scene will be viewed through.

2. Cut out the round bottom of the paper plate and discard the edge.

3. Cut your paper circle into the shape you want your mask to be (maybe a cat face, or just an oval...)

4. Cut out two holes where the eyes will be.

5. Glue a popsicle stick to one side of the plate, so that you can hold the mask up to your face.

Face the characters that way. Fold the bottom of each cut-out character to the back and paste or glue in place in the box.

6. Decorate your mask with anything you like. Use popsicle

6. Cut out the side of the box if it is an open-view diorama.

sticks for whiskers, feathers along the top, sequins around the eyeholes... Anything you can think of!

Cut out one end, put a peep-hole in the other end and put the lid on, if it is a peep-hole diorama.

7. Write the title and author on a separate piece of paper and then cut it out and glue it to the top or side of the box.

8. There are two ways the class may learn about the story you read: A. Show the box to the class and tell them a summary of what the characters are doing in the diorama.

B. Write a summary of what is happening in the diorama and attach it to the box for the class to read.

Make an Opera Mural 1. You need paint or crayons, butcher paper in rolls.

2. Cut a long piece of butcher paper from the roll.

3. Paint or draw a mural of an interesting part of the opera. You may want to ask some of your friends who have read the opera to help you.

4. Write the title of the opera at the top of the mural.

5. Tell the class about the part of the opera you painted or drew on the mural.

6. Hang your mural on a bulletin board or wall. Don’t forget to sign your name at the bottom of the mural.

Make an Opera Poster 1. Using markers and a large piece of paper, make your own poster for La bohème.

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Careers

in the Arts

74

Accompanist Actor/Actress Advertising Director Announcer Architect Architectural Model Builder Artist Artistic Director Art Festival Coordinator Art Teacher Arts Administrator Arts Consultant Arts Ed. Curriculum Writer Audio Engineer (recording) Band Director Book Designer Book Illuminator Box Office Director Business Manager Casting Director Choir Director Choreographer Cinematographer Clothing Designer Comedian Commercial Artist Composer Computer Graphic Design Computer IT Specialist Concert Singer Conductor Contract Specialist

Copyright Specialist Costume Buyer Costume and Mask Designer Creative Consultant Critic Cutter (costumes) Dancer Dialect Coach Dramaturg Draper (costumes) Dresser (theater) Extra (background actor) Fashion Designer First Hand (seamstress) Fundraiser (Development) Furniture Designer House Manager (theater) Illustrator (fashion, book, etc.)

Instrumentalist Librettist Lighting Designer Makeup Artist Manager (arts organizations) Master Electrician (stage) Model Builder Mold Maker Music Contractor Music Copyist and Transcriber Music Editor Music Librarian Music Teacher Musician

Musicologist Orchestrator Painter Producer (theater, TV, movies) Proofreader (music) Props Buyer Props Designer Public Relations Specialist Publicist Publisher Scene Painter Scenic Designer Sculptor Set Decorator Set Dresser Shop Foreman (stage) Singer Special Effects Coordinator Stage Carpenter Stage Director Stage Hand Stage Manager Stitcher (costumes) Stunt Coordinator Theater Director Ticketing Agent Translator TV Camera Operator Visa Coordinator Vocalist Wardrobe Mistress Wigmaker

Active Learning What career would you consider interesting? Where do you think you could go to learn more about it? ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________________________________________

Introducing Ermonela Jaho

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Singing the role of Mimi is Albanian soprano Ermonela Jaho (e˘r-mo¯-ne˘ l-la˘ ya˘-ho¯).

Ermonela was drawn to the opera when she and her big brother went to see the opera La traviata when she was 13. Ermonela said, “Together with my big brother I entered the theatre and my heart beat changed as the deep, sad and romantic sounds of the prelude began Even though I did not understand all the words I just knew everything that was being said somehow. The beautiful arias where music expresses all the emotion that words and story are trying to convey made me feel one with the music.

Somehow I wanted to sing out every feeling that I had, in front of everybody. No filters, no restraints, no self-control, nothing... Just let the heart follow the music and somehow touch other people’s hearts too.”

Ermonela grew up in a very musical home.

Her family would sing together at family parties and functions always a capella, or without accompaniment.

Her parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins would improvise and make up harmonies as they sang traditional Albanian folk songs, which always impressed her. She started to study the violin at the age of five but found it too difficult. So then she switched to singing which she thought was much easier! Learning to sing properly can take a long time, and Ermonela has been dedicated to learning the proper way to sing. She went to the Licieu Artistik in Tirana, Albania, and then continued to study at the Academy of Fine Arts, also in Tirana. While studying in Albania, she won a scholarship to study singing at the Academy of Mantova in Italy. Then she completed her studies at the Academy of Santa Cecilia in Rome, Italy, where she studied singing and how to play the piano. At the same time, she also completed a Diploma in Phoniatry at the Gemelli University in Rome, Italy.

Mimi in La bohème is one of Ermonela’s favorite roles. Ermonela feels that Mimi’s entrance aria, Mi chiamano Mimi (They call me Mimi) is “one of the most inspired parts of the entire opera. The challenge of it is not technical, rather an interpretative one... If you study the score meticulously you will understand that Puccini repeats the same musical theme but painted it with so many different colors in the orchestration, making it almost impossible to lose attraction.” Each time the theme appears she says it represents a different dimension of Mimi’s personality.

Ermonela Jaho sings Mimi in La bohème.

Here she is as another heroine, Violetta in La traviata.

When not singing in opera houses all over the world, Ermonela likes to study foreign languages, philosophy, and read material about future projects trying to analyze the roles historically and philologically. “I am very lucky in this direction because my husband shares the same passion when it comes to music. He has an interesting way of explaining the most abstract things in very concrete terms,” she said. Ermonela says that she has been very lucky to make a career in opera. But it could not have been possible without great mentors in her life like her big brother, her teachers, and her husband – who supports her all the time.

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Glossary accompany (@ -kum-p@ -ne¯) v. to go along with; join in company; to play a musical accompaniment. act (a˘kt) n. one of the main divisions of a play or opera. ad nauseam (a˘d nô-ze¯-@ m) n. to a sickening or disgusting extent. allegro (ä-leg-ro¯) adv. musical term for fast and lively. alma mater (älma mä-ter) n. a title used in reference to one’s university, college or school. alto (äl-to¯) n. the lowest female singing voice; also called contralto. andante (a˘n-da˘n-ta¯) adv. a musical term meaning in moderately slow time. ardent (är-de˘nt) adj. expressing or characterized by warmth of passion or desire. arouse (@ -rouz) v. to stir up; excite; stimulate. aria (a˘r-i-a˘) n. an operatic song for one voice. aspire (@ -spı¯r) v. to have a great ambition or ultimate desire. balustrade (ba˘l-@ -stra¯d) n. a row of short posts or pillars supporting a rail along a staircase or around a balcony. bar (ba˘r) n. a division of music, marked by two barlines, containing a set number of beats. baritone (ba˘r-ı˘. -to¯n) n. the range of the male voice between tenor and bass. bas-relief (bä-rı.˘-le¯f) n. sculpture relief that projects very little from background. bass (ba¯s) n. the lowest male singing voice. beat (be¯t) n. the basic pulse of a piece of music. besieged (bı˘. -se¯j) v. to crowd around with requests or questions. brazier (brä-zhe¯r) n. a metal pan for holding burning coals or charcoal. brevity (bre˘v-ı˘. -te¯) n. briefness of duration. chaste (cha¯st) adj. morally pure; decent; modest. chord (kôrd) n. a group of notes played at the same time in harmony. chorus (kôr-@ s) n. 1. a group of singers. 2. a piece of music for these. chronological (kro˘n-@ -lo˘j-i-k@ l) adj. a method of arrangement that puts events in order of occurrence. conception (ko˘n-se˘p-sh@ n) n. that which is mentally conceived; a concept, plan. concoction (ko˘n-kôk-sh@ n) n. something which is invented or devised. consume (k@ n-so¯o¯m) v. to use up; to destroy. contemplate (ko˘n-t@ m-pla¯t) v. 1. to consider thoughtfully. 2. to intend or anticipate. contemporary (k@ n-t@ m-p@ -re˘-re¯) adj. belonging to the same period of time. contralto (kon-tral-toh) n. the lowest female singing voice; also called alto. couplets (ku˘p-lı˘.t) n. two successive lines of verse that rhyme and have the same meter. coquette (ko¯-ke˘t) n. a woman who flirts. cue (kyo¯o¯) n. something said or done that serves as a signal for something else to be done, as for an actor to speak in a play. dawdle (dôd-l) v. to waste time, trifling or loitering, linger. decorum (dı˘. -kôr-@ m) n. appropriateness of behavior or conduct. discreet (dis-kre¯t) adj. lacking ostentation or pretension; unobtrusive; modest. duet (do¯o¯-e˘t) n. a musical composition for two performers. eccentric (ı˘. k-se˘n-trı˘. k) adj. unconcentional in apperance or behavior. embroider (e˘m-broi-d@ r) v. to ornament with needlework. et al. (et al) and others (abbr. for et alii: and other people, et alia: and other things.) exeunt (e˘k-se¯-@ nt) v. used as a stage direction to specify that all or certain named characters leave the stage. feign (fa¯n) v. to represent falsely; pretend to. fickle (fı˘. k-@ l) adj. changeable, especially with regard to affections or attachments; inconstant; capricious. flank (fla˘ngk) v. to be along the side; to be adjacent; border. flat (b) (fla˘t) adj. a half-step lower than the corresponding note or key of natural pitch.

foppish (fo˘p-ı˘.sh) adj. pertaining to, or characteristic of a vain man; dandified. forte (ƒ) (fôr-ta¯) adv. a musical term meaning loudly. fortissimo (ƒƒ) (for-te¯-se¯-mo¯) adv. a musical term for very loud. gall (gôl) n. something bitter to endure. garret (ga˘r-ı˘.t) n. a room on the top floor of a house, typically immediately under a pitched roof; an attic; a loft. grotto (gro˘t-o¯) n. a small cave or cavern. hasten (ha¯-s@ n) v. to move swiftly. homage (ho˘m-ı˘.j, o˘m-ı˘.j) n. things said as a mark of respect. hub (hu˘b) n. anything central. incarnate (ı˘n-kär-nı˘t) adj. embodied in human form. in extremis (ı˘n e˘k-stre¯-mı˘s) at the point of death; in very great difficulty. infinite (ı˘n-f@ n-ı˘t) adj. having no boundaries or limits. integrated (ı˘n-ta¯-gra¯t-@ d) v. made into a whole by bringing all pats together; unified. keepsake (ke¯p-sa¯k) n. a thing that is kept as a reminder of a person or an event. key (ke¯) n. the basic note of the main scale used in a piece of music. Music in the key of G, for example, has the sound of being based on the note G and often returns to G as a home note. largo (lär-go¯) adv. & adj. a musical term meaning in slow time and dignified style. libretto (lı˘.-bre˘t-o¯) n. the words of an opera or other long musical. livid (lı˘v-ı˘d) adj. extremely angry; furious. major (ma¯-j@ r) adj. music in a major key uses a major scale, in which the first three notes are the key note followed by intervals of a tone and then another tone (for example, A, B, C). It often has a cheerful, strong sound. manuscript (ma˘n-y@ -skrı˘pt) n. a typewritten or handwritten version of a book, article, document, or othe work, especially an author’s own copy, prepared and submitted for publication in print. meager (me¯-g@ r) adj. conspicuously deficient in quantity, fullness, or extent; scanty melodrama (mel-@ -dra˘-m@ ) n. a play full of suspense in a sensational and emotional style. minor (mı¯-n@ r) adj. Music in a minor key uses a minor scale, in which the first three notes are the key note followed by intervals of a tone and then a semitone (for example A, B, C). It often has a sad, melancholic sound. minx (mı˘ngks) n. a pert, impudent, or flirtatious young girl. muse (myo¯o¯z) n. a poet’s inspiring goddess, a poet's genius. natural (na˘ch-@ r-@ l) adj. a note that is neither flattened nor sharpened. nota bene (no¯-ta˘ ba¯-ne˘) observe what follows, note well. octave (o˘k-tı˘.v) n. a note that sounds twice as high in pitch as another is an octave above the other note, and has the same letter naming it. opera (o˘p-@ -r@ ) n. a play in which the words are sung to musical accompaniment. opinion (o¯-pı˘n-y@ n) n. 1. a belief or judgment that is held firmly but without actual proof of its truth. 2. what one thinks on a particular subject. opus (o¯ -p@ s) n. a musical compostion numbered as one of a composer's works (usually in order of publication). orchestra (or-kı˘-str@ ) n. a large body of people playing various musical instruments, including stringed and wind instruments. overture (o¯-v@ r-cho˘o˘r) n. an orchestral composition forming a prelude to an opera or ballet. pastime (pa˘s-tı¯m) n. an activity that occupies one’s time pleasantly; something that interests, amuses, or diverts. pawn (pôn) n. to give or deposit as security for the payment of money borrowed. pianissimo (pp) (pe¯-a˘-ne¯s-e¯-mo¯) adv. a musical term meaning very softly. piano (p) (pe¯-a˘n-o¯) adv. a musical term meaning softly. plot (plo˘t) n. the sequence of events in an opera, story, novel, etc. poignant (poin-y@ nt) adj. 1. appealing to the emotions; 2. keenly distressing to the mind; piercing; incisive. pompous (po˘m-p@ s) adj. full of ostentatious dignity and self-importance.

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premiere (pri-mîr) n. the first public showing of a play, movie, or other performance. presto (pre˘s-to¯) adv. a musical term meaning very fast. profundity (pr@ -fu˘n-dı˘.-te¯) n. depth of intellect, feeling, or meaning; something profound. protagonist (pro¯-ta˘g-@ -nı˘.st) n. the leading character in an opera, play, story, etc. provender (pro˘v-@ n-d@ r) n. food or provisions. provisions (pr@ -vı˘zh-@ ns) n. a supply of food and drink. provoke (pr@ -vo¯k) v. to bring on by inticing. prudent (pro¯o¯-d@ nt) adj. showing carefulness and foresight. prudence, n. rallentando (räl-le˘n-ta˘n-do¯) adv. a musical direction term meaning getting slower. rally (ra˘l-le¯) v. to call together for a common purpose; assemble. rapture (ra˘p-ch@ r) n. the state of being transported by a lofty emotion, ecstasy. rash (ra˘sh) adj. acting or done without due consideration of the possible consequences or risks. reconcile (re˘k-@ n-sı¯l) v. to settle or resolve, as a dispute. remorse (re˘-mo¯rs) n. moral anguish arising from repentance for past misdeeds; bitter regret. rouse (rowz) v. (roused, rousing) 1. to cause a person to wake. 2. to cause to become active or excited. savor (sa¯-v@ r) tr. v. to taste or enjoy with zet; to relish. scale (ska¯l) n. a series of notes arranged in descending or ascending order of pitch. scurrilous (skûr-@ -l@ s) adj. given to the use of vulgar orlow abusive language; foul-mouthed. semitone (se˘m-e¯-to¯n) n. a half step or half tone, an interval midway between two whole tones. sharp (#) (shärp) n. any note a semitone higher than another note. also, slightly too high in pitch. snare (snâr) n. 1. a trapping device used for capturing birds and small animals; anything used to trap the unwary. solemn (so˘l-@ m) adj. not smiling or cheerful. sonata (s@ -nä-t@ ) n. a musical composition for one instrument or two, ususally with three or four movements. soprano (so¯-pra˘-no¯) n. the highest female or boy's singing voice. squander (skwo˘n-d@ r) v. to spend wastefully or extravagantly. stage (sta¯ j) n. a platform on which an opera, play, etc. are performed for an audience. staging (sta¯-jı˘.ng) n. the presentation or production on the stage. status quo (sta˘-t@ s kwo¯, sta¯t-tus) the state of affairs as it is or as it was before a change. sublime (s@ -blı¯m) adj. of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth. symphony (sı˘m-f@ -ne¯) n. a long elaborate musical composition (usually in several parts) for a full orchestra. synopsis (sı˘. -no˘p-sı˘.s) n. a summary, a brief general survey. tawny (tô-ne¯) adj. light brown to brownish-orange. tenor (te˘n-@ r) n. the highest male singing voice. theme (the¯m) n. the subject about which a person thinks or writes or speaks. throng (thrông) n. a crowded mass of people. tone (to¯n) n. 1. an interval equal to two semitones. 2. the sound quality of an instrument or voice. tranquil (tra˘ng-kw@ l) adj. free from agitation or other disturbance; calm; unruffled; serene. treachery (tre˘ch-@ -re¯) n. betrayal of a person or cause, an act of disloyalty. tribute (trı˘b-yo¯o¯t) n. something said or done or given as a mark of respect or admiration, etc. unappeased (un-@ -pe¯zd) tr.v. unsatisfied; not at peace. utopia (yo¯o¯- to¯ -pe¯@ ) n. any condition, place, or situation of social or political perfection. vanquish (va˘ng-kwı˘.sh) v. to defeat in any contest, conflict, or competition. venerable (ve˘n-@ r-@ -b@ l) adj. worthy of reverence or respect by virtue of dignity, character, position, or age. vengeful (ve˘nj-f@ l) adj. seeking retribution or vengeance. verismo (ve˘r-ı˘.z-mo¯ ) n. realism in opera. waft (wäft; wôft) v. to carry or cause to go gently and smoothly through the air or over water. wretched (re˘ch-ı˘. d) adj. 1. miserable, unhappy. 2. of poor quality, unsatisfactory. wretch, n.

Pennsylvania Department of Education Academic Standards Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student to realize his or her maximum potential and to acquire the knowledge and skills needed to: Academic Standards for Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening 1.1. Learning to Read Independently GRADE 5 D. Identify the basic ideas and facts in text using strategies (e.g., prior knowledge, illustrations and headings) and information from other sources to make predictions about text. 1.1.8. GRADE 8 E. Expand a reading vocabulary by identifying and correctly using idioms and words with literal and figurative meanings. Use a dictionary or related reference. 1.1.11. GRADE 11 H. Demonstrate fluency and comprehension in reading. Read a variety of genres and types of text. Demonstrate comprehension. 1.2. Reading Critically in All Content Areas GRADES 5, 8, 11. A. Read and understand essential content of informational texts and documents in all academic areas. 1.3. Reading, Analyzing and Interpreting Literature GRADE 5 E. Analyze drama as information source, entertainment, persuasion or transmitter of culture. 1.3.8. GRADE 8 E. Analyze drama to determine the reasons for a character’s actions, taking into account the situation and basic motivation of the character. 1.3.11. GRADE 11 E. Analyze how a scriptwriter’s use of words creates tone and mood, and how choice of words advances the theme or purpose of the work. 1.4.

Types of Writing GRADES 5, 8, 11. GRADE 5 A. Write poems, plays and multi-paragraph stories (GRADES 8 & 11 - and short stories). 1.4.5, 8, 11. C. Write persuasive pieces (Review of Opera Experience, p. 78). 1.5. Quality of Writing GRADES 5, 8, 11 A. Write with a sharp, distinct focus. 1.6. Speaking and Listening GRADES 5, 8, 11. B. Listen to selections of literature (fiction and/or nonfiction). C. Speak using skills appropriate to formal speech situations. E. Participate in small and large group discussions and presentations. F. Use media for learning purposes. 1.8. Research GRADES 5, 8, 11. A. Select and refine a topic for research. B. Locate information using appropriate sources and strategies. C. Organize, summarize and present the main ideas from research.

Academic Standards for Mathematics 2.1. Numbers, Number Systems and Number Relationships 2.1.8. GRADE 8 A. Represent and use numbers in equivalent forms (e.g., integers, fractions, decimals, percents, exponents, scientific notation, square roots). 2.2. Computation and Estimation 2.2.5. GRADE 5 A. Create and solve word problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication and division of whole numbers. 2.5 Mathematical Problem Solving and Communication 2.5.11. GRADE 11 A. Select and use appropriate mathematical concepts and techniques from different areas of mathematics and apply them to solving non-routine and multi-step problems.

Academic Standards for Science and Technology 3.1. Unifying Themes 3.1.10. GRADE 10 E. Describe patterns of change in nature, physical and man made systems. •Describe how fundamental science and technology concepts are used to solve practical problems (e. g., momentum, Newton’s laws of universal gravitation, tectonics, conservation of mass and energy, cell theory, theory of evolution, atomic theory, theory of relativity, Pasteur’s germ theory, relativity, heliocentric theory, gas laws, feedback systems).

3.2. Inquiry and Design GRADE 7 Apply process knowledge to make and interpret observations. GRADE 10 Apply process knowledge and organize scientific and technological phenomena in varied ways. GRADE 12 Evaluate experimental information for appropriateness and adherence to relevant science processes. 3.3. Biological Sciences 3.3.10. GRADE 10 D. Explain the mechanisms of the theory of evolution. 3.7. Technological Devices 3.7.7. GRADE 7 E. Explain basic computer communications systems. Describe the organization and functions of the basic parts that make up the World Wide Web. (Check operaphilly.com to see photos of the rehearsals and sets.) See Teacher’s Guide for additional science lessons.

Academic Standards for Civics and Government 5.2. Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship 5.2.12. GRADE 12 C. Interpret the causes of conflict in society and analyze techniques to resolve those conflicts.

Academic Standards for Economics 6.1. Economic Systems 6.1.6. GRADE 6 B. Explain the three basic questions that all economic systems attempt to answer What Goods and Services (G&S) should be produced? How will G&S be produced? Who will consume G&S? 6.4. Economic Interdependence 6.4.9 A. Explain why specialization may lead to increased production and consumption.

Academic Standards for Geography 7.1. Basic Geographic Literacy 7.1.6. GRADE 6 A. Describe geographic tools and their uses. • Basis on which maps, graphs and diagrams are created. 7.3. The Human Characteristics of Places and Regions 7.3.6.

GRADE 6 B. Explain the human characteristics of places and regions by their cultural characteristics.

Academic Standards for History 8.2. Pennsylvania History 8.2.9. GRADE 9 8.2.12. GRADE 12 Pennsylvania’s public schools shall teach, challenge and support every student... skills needed to analyze the interaction of cultural, economic, geographic, political and social relations to. A. Analyze the... cultural contributions of individuals... to Pennsylvania history from 1787 to 1914.

• Cultural and Commercial Leaders (e.g., Academy of Music architects Napoleon Le Brun & Gustav Rungé, opera star Marian Anderson). 8.3. U.S. History 8.3.9 GRADE 9 B. Identify and analyze primary documents, material artifacts and historic sites important in United States history from 1787 to 1914. • Historic Places (e. g., Academy of Music). 8.4. World History 8.4.6 GRADE 6 A. Identify and explain how individuals and groups made significant political and cultural contributions to world history. 8.4.12.

GRADE 12 C. Evaluate how continuity and change throughout history has impacted belief systems and religions since 1450 C.E. Academic Standards for the Arts and Humanities 9.1. Production, Performance and Exhibition of Dance, Music, Theatre and Visual Arts A. Know and use the elements and principles of each art form to create works in the arts and humanities. I. Know where arts events, performances and exhibitions occur and how to gain admission. 9.2. Historical and Cultural Contexts C. Relate works in the arts to varying styles and genre and to the periods in which they were created (e.g., Renaissance, Classical, Modern, Post-Modern, Contemporary...). D. Analyze a work of art from its historical and cultural perspective. E. Analyze how historical events and culture impact forms, techniques and purposes of works in the arts. F. Know and apply appropriate vocabulary used between social studies and the arts and humanities.

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State Standards Met

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State Standards met in La bohème Sounds of Learning™ Lessons:

Opera 101: Getting Ready for the Opera A Brief History of Western Opera Puccini’s Early Poverty and Political Beliefs Puccini Timeline

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 7.3, 8.4, 9.2 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.8, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 9.2 1.1, 1.2, 8.4, 9.2

Relating Opera to History: The Culture Connection Make Your Own Timeline A Time of Revolution in the Arts During Puccini’s Lifetime: Literature During Puccini’s Lifetime: Science A Woman’s Work: Women’s Issues in the 1850’s A Bohemian Named Mimi An Ancient Killer Returns: Tuberculosis (TB) The 1850’s: Health Care Issues

1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1,

1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.8, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2,

1.8, 1.8, 1.6, 3.1, 1.3, 1.3, 1.8, 1.8,

8.3, 8.4, 9.2 5.2, 7.3, 8.4, 9.1, 1.8, 7.3, 8.4, 9.2 3.2, 3.3 3.1, 5.2, 8.4, 9.1, 3.1, 5.2, 8.4, 9.1, 3.1, 5.2, 8.4, 9.1, 3.1, 5.2, 8.4, 9.1,

1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1,

9.2 1.2, 7.1, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 9.2

1.3, 7.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3,

7.3, 8.2, 8.3, 9.1, 9.2 8.2, 9.1, 9.2 1.6, 8.4, 9.2 8.4, 9.1, 9.2 9.2 9.2 1.6, 8.4, 9.2

1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.1, 1.2, 1.1, 1.4,

1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.2, 1.3, 1.2, 1.6,

1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.3, 1.4, 1.3, 9.1,

1.4, 1.5, 1.6 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 9.2 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 9.1, 9.2 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 1.4, 1.5, 1.6 1.6, 1.8, 7.3, 8.4, 9.2 1.5, 1.8, 9.1, 9.2 1.4, 1.5, 1.8, 9.1, 9.2 9.2

9.2

9.2 9.2 9.2 9.2

Inside the Opera: La bohème Game: Connect the Opera Terms Philadelphia’s Academy of Music Broad Street: Avenue of the Arts Acting the LIBRETTO La bohème: Inside the Music Synopsis Meet the Artists La bohème LIBRETTO Game: La bohème Crossword Puzzle

Lessons Sequence of the Story Make Your Own Synopsis What Happens Next?/Alternate Endings Recognizing Facts and Opinions Supporting Your Opinions Etymology and Word Comparison in Other Languages 1898 Newspaper Review of La bohème Compose Your Own Review Active Learning in the Creative Arts

Careers Careers in the Arts Introducing Ermonela Jaho

1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 1.4, 1.5, 1.6, 1.8, 6.1, 6.4, 9.2 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 6.1, 6.4, 7.1, 7.3, 9.2

Glossary

1.1, 9.2

Written and Produced by:

Special thanks to:

Opera Company of Philadelphia Education Department Š2006

Rose Muravchick Judy Williams The Teachers of Our Children EMI Records Academy of Music Ushers

1420 Locust Street, Suite 210 Philadelphia, PA, U.S.A. 19102 Tel: (215) 893-3600, ext. 246 Fax: (215) 893-7801

JoAnne E. Barry

www.operaphilly.com/education

Academy of Music Archives Department

Michael Bolton

Maureen Lynch

Community Programs Manager

Operations Manager

bolton@operaphilly.com

Academy of Music

Carolyn Grugan

Shannon Walsh

Intern

Operations Assistant Manager

Opera Company of Philadelphia

Academy of Music

Aileen Kennedy

Greg Buch

Volunteer

Production Manager

Opera Company of Philadelphia

Academy of Music

Juan F. Saa

Cornell Wood

Volunteer

Head Usher

Opera Company of Philadelphia

Academy of Music

Dr. Dennis W. Creedon

R. A. Friedman

Creator, Sounds of Learning TM Curriculum Consultant

The Historical Society of Pennsylvania

dwcreedon@phila.k12.pa.us

1420 Locust Street Suite 210 Philadelphia, PA 19102 T (215) 893-3600 F (215) 893-7801 www.operaphilly.com

2006 October 27, 29m, November 1, 3, 5m & 11

2006 November 8, 10, 12m, 15, 17 & 19m

2007 February 9, 11m, 14, 16, 18m & 24

2007 May 2, 4, 6m, 9, 11 & 13m