“La bohème” by Giacomo Puccini libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four

Translation: William Fense Weaver © Capitol Records, Inc., 1952

ACT THREE

The Barrière d'Enfer

(Beyond the tollgate is the main highway. At left, a
tavern. A small square flanked by plane trees. Some
customs officers are asleep around a brazier. Shouts
and laughter issue from the cabaret. Dawn. February.
The snow is everywhere. Some street-sweepers are
beyond the gate, stamping their feet in the cold.)

SWEEPERS
Hey, there! Guards! Open up!
We're the sweepers from Gentilly.
It's snowing. Hey! We're freezing here.

CUSTOMS OFFICER
(yawning)
I'm coming.

VOICES FROM THE TAVERN
Some find pleasure
in their cups,
and on ardent lips
find love.

VOICE OF MUSETTA
Ah! Pleasure is in the glass!
Love lies on young lips.

VOICES FROM THE TAVERN
Tra la la la
Eve and Noah.

VOICES FROM THE HIGHWAY
Houp-la! Giddap!

CUSTOMS OFFICER
Here come the milkmaids!
(He opens the gate. The milkmaids enter together with
a string of peasants' carts.)

MILKMAIDS
Good morning!

PEASANT WOMEN
Butter and cheese!
Chickens and eggs!
Which way are you going?
To Saint Michel!
Shall we meet later?
Yes, at noon.
(They go off. Enter Mimì. When she reaches the first
tree, she has a fit of coughing. Then recovering herself,
she says to the sergeant:)

MIMÌ
Excuse me, where's the tavern
where a painter is working?

SERGEANT
There it is.

MIMÌ
Thank you.
(A waitress comes out of the tavern. Mimì approaches her.)
Oh, good woman, please...
Be good enough to find me
Marcello, the painter.
I must see him quickly.
Tell him Mimì's waiting.

SERGEANT
(to someone coming in)
Hey! that basket!

CUSTOMS OFFICER
Empty!

SERGEANT
Let him through.
(Marcello comes out of the tavern.)

MARCELLO
Mimì?!

MIMÌ
I hoped I'd find you here.

MARCELLO
That's right. We've been here
a month, at the host's expense.
Musetta teaches
the guests singing.

And I paint those warriors
by the door there.
It's cold. Come inside.

MIMÌ
Is Rodolfo there?

MARCELLO
Yes.

MIMÌ
I can't go in. No, no!

MARCELLO
Why not?

MIMÌ
Oh! help me, good Marcello! Help me!

MARCELLO
What's happened?

MIMÌ
Rodolfo - he loves me
but flees from me, torn
by jealousy. A glance, a gesture,
a smile, a flower arouses
his suspicions, then anger, rage...
Sometimes at night I pretend
to sleep, and I feel his eyes
trying to spy on my dreams.
He shouts at me all the time:
"You're not for me.
Find another.

You're not for me."
I know it's his jealousy speaking,
but what can I answer, Marcello?

MARCELLO
When two people are like you two,
they can't live together.

MIMÌ
You're right. We should separate.
Help us, Marcello, help us.
We've tried
again and again, but in vain.

MARCELLO
I take Musetta lightly,
and she behaves like me.
We love light-heartedly.
Laughter and song - that's the secret
of a lasting love.

MIMÌ
You're right, you're right.
We should separate.
Do as you think best.

MARCELLO
All right. I'll wake him up.

MIMÌ
Is he sleeping?

MARCELLO
He stumbled in here
an hour before dawn

and fell asleep on a bench.
Look at him...
(Mimì coughs.)
What a cough!

MIMÌ
I've been aching all over since
yesterday. He fled during the night, saying:
"It's all over." I set out
at dawn and came here
to find you.

MARCELLO
(watching Rodolfo through the window)
He's waking up. He's looking
for me...Here he comes.

MIMÌ
He mustn't see me.

MARCELLO
Go home now, Mimì.
For God's sake, no scenes here.
(Mimì hides behind a tree, Rodolfo hastens out of the
tavern.)

RODOLFO
Marcello! At last!
No one can hear us here.
I've got to leave Mimì.

MARCELLO
Are you as fickle as that?

RODOLFO
Already once before I thought
my heart was dead.
But it revived at the gleam
of her blue eyes.
Now boredom assails it...

MARCELLO
And you'll bury it again?

RODOLFO
Forever!

MARCELLO
Change your ways!
Gloomy love is madness
and brews only tears.
If it doesn't laugh and glow
love has no strength or voice.
You're jealous.

RODOLFO
A little.

MARCELLO
You're raving mad,
a mass of suspicions,
a boor, a mule!

MIMÌ
(He'll make him angry.
Poor me!)

RODOLFO
Mimì's just a flirt
toying with them all.
A foppish Viscount eyes her
with longing. She shows him
her ankles, promising,
luring him on.

MARCELLO
Must I tell you?
You aren't being honest.

RODOLFO
All right, then. I'm not.
I try in vain to hide
what really torments me.
I love Mimì more than the world.
I love her! But I'm afraid...
Mimì is terribly ill,
weaker every day.
The poor little thing
is doomed...

MARCELLO
Mimì?

MIMÌ
(What does he mean?)

RODOLFO
A horrible coughing
racks her fragile chest...
Her pale cheeks
are flushed...

MARCELLO
Poor Mimì!

MIMÌ
(Am I dying? Alas!)

RODOLFO
My room's like a cave.
The fire has gone out.
The wind, the winter wind
roars through it.
She laughs and sings;
I'm seized with remorse.
I'm the cause of the illness
that's killing her.

MARCELLO
What's to be done?

MIMÌ
(Oh! my life! It's over!
Alas! To die! etc.)

RODOLFO
Mimì's a hothouse flower,
blighted by poverty.
To bring her back to life
love's not enough.

MARCELLO
Poor thing. Poor Mimì!
(Mimì sobs and coughs.)

RODOLFO
What, Mimì? You here!
You heard me?

MARCELLO
She was listening then.

RODOLFO
I'm easily frightened,
worked up over nothing.
Come inside where it's warm.
(He tries to lead her inside.)

MIMÌ
No. It's so close. I'd suffocate.
(Musetta's laughter comes from inside.)

RODOLFO
Ah, Mimì!

MARCELLO
That's Musetta laughing.
And with whom?
The flirt! I'll teach her.
(Marcello runs into the tavern.)

MIMÌ
(to Rodolfo)
Goodbye.

RODOLFO
What? You're going?

MIMÌ
Back to the place I left
at the call of your love,

I'm going back alone
to my lonely nest
to make false flowers.
Goodbye...no hard feelings.
But listen.
Please gather up the few things
I've left behind. In the trunk
there's the little bracelet
and my prayer book. Wrap them
in an apron and I'll send
someone for them...
Wait! Under the pillow
there's my pink bonnet.
If you want...keep it in memory
of our love. Goodbye, no hard feelings.

RODOLFO
So it's really over.
You're leaving, my little one?
Goodbye to our dreams of love.

MIMÌ
Goodbye to our sweet wakening.

RODOLFO
Goodbye, life in a dream.

MIMÌ
Goodbye, doubts and jealousies...

RODOLFO
...That one smile of yours could dispel.

MIMÌ
Goodbye, suspicions...

RODOLFO
Kisses...

MIMÌ
...Poignant bitterness...

RODOLFO
...That, like a poet,
I made rhyme with caress.

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
To be alone in winter is death!

MIMÌ
Alone...

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
But when the spring comes
the sun is our companion.

MIMÌ
The sun is our companion.
(Marcello and Musetta come out, quarrelling.)

MARCELLO
What were you doing and saying
by the fire with that man?

MUSETTA
What do you mean? What do you mean?

MIMÌ
Nobody's lonely in April.

MARCELLO
When I came in
you blushed suddenly.

MUSETTA
The man was asking me...
"Do you like dancing, Miss?"

RODOLFO
One can speak to roses and lilies.

MIMÌ
Birds twitter softly in their nests.

MARCELLO
Vain, empty-headed flirt!

MUSETTA
I blushed and answered:
"I could dance day and night!"

MARCELLO
That speech conceals
infamous desires.

MUSETTA
I want complete freedom.

MARCELLO
I'll teach you a thing or two...

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
With the coming of spring,
the sun is our companion!

MUSETTA
What do you think
you're saying?
We're not married, after all.

MARCELLO
...If I catch you flirting!
Keep in mind, no horns
will grow under my hat.

MUSETTA
I can't stand lovers
who act just like husbands.

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
The fountains whisper,
the evening breeze heals the pain
of human creatures...

MARCELLO
I won't be laughed at
by some young upstart.
Vain, empty-headed flirt!
You're leaving? I thank you,
I'll be a rich man then.

MUSETTA
I'll flirt with whom I please.
You don't like it?
I'll flirt with whom I please.
Musetta goes her way.

MARCELLO and MUSETTA
Goodbye.

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
Shall we wait
until spring comes again?

MUSETTA
I bid you, sir,
farewell - with pleasure!

MARCELLO
Your servant, and I'm off!

MUSETTA
(leaving)
You house-painter!

MARCELLO
Viper!

MUSETTA
Toad!

MARCELLO
(re-entering the tavern)
Witch!

MIMÌ
Always yours...all my life.

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
We'll part when the flowers bloom!

MIMÌ
I wish that winter
would last forever!

RODOLFO and MIMÌ
We'll part when the flowers bloom!

libretto by William Fense Weaver

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three; Act Four