Why is La Bohème so popular? If you're not sure of the answer, the performances at the Emirates Palace tonight and tomorrow will give first-time sceptics a chance to find out why its lush romanticism and catchy tunes still pack such a punch.
Mind you, the reason for La Bohème's status as the best-loved opera of them all is actually a no-brainer: it's the tunes, stupid. Gliding seamlessly from hit to hit, Puccini's score is packed with sumptuous, delightful melodies that give singers a chance to shine and breathe real warmth and feeling into the opera's familiar plot.
In Italy, arias such as Che gelida manina ("Your tiny hand is frozen") and Mi chiamano Mimi ("They call me Mimi") are as well-loved as show tunes are in America or Andrew Lloyd Webber in Britain - and for good reason. Add this beautiful, varied music to a plot whose characters inhabit a world that modern audiences still recognise (more than can be said for Wagner) and it's no wonder the public's love of La Bohème has never slackened in the 114 years since its premiere.
The storyline is simple, but it has a mythic, romantic quality that still resonates. A rose-tinted portrait of the gritty charms of urban slumming, it follows the fortunes of a group of bohemians starving photogenically in early 19th-century Paris. It was based on the work of the bohemian writer Henry Murger, who himself spent much of his life struggling to make a living with his pen in Paris's Latin Quarter.
Living a happy but hand-to-mouth life in a rundown garret, the opera's hero - the poet Rodolfo - meets his neighbour, the seamstress Mimi, when she comes to borrow a light for her candle one night. They fall in love, but when Rodolfo realises that Mimi is ill with tuberculosis, he cuts her off, hoping that she will find a wealthier suitor who can look after her properly.
The couple separate, and months pass before Mimi, worn down and abandoned by the wealthy lover she has found, finally returns to Rodolfo to reminisce about happier times - and die in his arms.
This classic plot, it must be admitted, is not without the occasional cliché. The starving poet Rodolfo's claim that he is "poor but happy" now seems a little pat, while even Mimi's poignant death from tuberculosis is already a familiar device from Verdi's earlier Italian opera hit, La Traviata. Matched with music of rich, shimmering beauty, however, this is easy to overlook.
Ecstatic and tender at the same time, the love songs at the opera's heart have a sincerity and freshness that makes watching the lovers' speedy courtship and subsequent wistful nostalgia a real heart-tugging, tissue soaker.
It's not just a pretty period piece, either. La Bohème's struggling but creative gaggle of characters might be set against the backdrop of 1830s Paris, but they are cultural archetypes whose modern day descendants are easily placed. Any major city still has its share of would-be writers, artists and musicians trying to make names for themselves with no money.
Likewise, they often live in gritty areas cheek by jowl with people like Mimi, members of the urban underclass just struggling to get by.
The continuing relevance of these characters keeps La Bohème fresh - and very responsive to imaginative updating. The Australian film director Baz Luhrmann's Broadway version of the opera set it successfully in the 1950s, while a recent London production staged in a pub theatre gave it an appropriately raw authenticity by portraying the cast as contemporary migrants.
Both of those approaches scored well with audiences, but by far the best-known update is the musical Rent, which took the plot's bare bones and transcribed them to Manhattan's Lower East Side in the Aids-stricken early 1990s.
La Bohème's portrait of these lives is of course rose-tinted. Rodolfo and his friends might be reduced to burning their own manuscripts to keep warm, but they seize every moment they can for pleasure, frittering away money with easy insouciance.
But the opera does not always romanticise poverty. Moments such as Mimi's pitiful wonder when she is bought a muff to warm her hands suggest a world of real want behind the froth of the libretto. This mute world of pain and fragile happiness rippling under the piece's graceful surface makes La Bohème that rarest of beasts - a mainstream romance with depth.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
The view from The National
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Almnssa
Started: August 2020
Founder: Areej Selmi
Based: Gaza
Sectors: Internet, e-commerce
Investments: Grants/private funding
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MATCH INFO
Manchester City 2 (Mahrez 04', Ake 84')
Leicester City 5 (Vardy 37' pen, 54', 58' pen, Maddison 77', Tielemans 88' pen)
Man of the match: Jamie Vardy (Leicester City)
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
If you go
Where to stay: Courtyard by Marriott Titusville Kennedy Space Centre has unparalleled views of the Indian River. Alligators can be spotted from hotel room balconies, as can several rocket launch sites. The hotel also boasts cool space-themed decor.
When to go: Florida is best experienced during the winter months, from November to May, before the humidity kicks in.
How to get there: Emirates currently flies from Dubai to Orlando five times a week.
RESULT
Leeds United 1 Manchester City 1
Leeds: Rodrigo (59')
Man City: Sterling (17')
Man of the Match: Rodrigo Moreno (Leeds)
History's medical milestones
1799 - First small pox vaccine administered
1846 - First public demonstration of anaesthesia in surgery
1861 - Louis Pasteur published his germ theory which proved that bacteria caused diseases
1895 - Discovery of x-rays
1923 - Heart valve surgery performed successfully for first time
1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
1953 - Structure of DNA discovered
1952 - First organ transplant - a kidney - takes place
1954 - Clinical trials of birth control pill
1979 - MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, scanned used to diagnose illness and injury.
1998 - The first adult live-donor liver transplant is carried out
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Three ways to limit your social media use
Clinical psychologist, Dr Saliha Afridi at The Lighthouse Arabia suggests three easy things you can do every day to cut back on the time you spend online.
1. Put the social media app in a folder on the second or third screen of your phone so it has to remain a conscious decision to open, rather than something your fingers gravitate towards without consideration.
2. Schedule a time to use social media instead of consistently throughout the day. I recommend setting aside certain times of the day or week when you upload pictures or share information.
3. Take a mental snapshot rather than a photo on your phone. Instead of sharing it with your social world, try to absorb the moment, connect with your feeling, experience the moment with all five of your senses. You will have a memory of that moment more vividly and for far longer than if you take a picture of it.
Tips for SMEs to cope
- Adapt your business model. Make changes that are future-proof to the new normal
- Make sure you have an online presence
- Open communication with suppliers, especially if they are international. Look for local suppliers to avoid delivery delays
- Open communication with customers to see how they are coping and be flexible about extending terms, etc
Courtesy: Craig Moore, founder and CEO of Beehive, which provides term finance and working capital finance to SMEs. Only SMEs that have been trading for two years are eligible for funding from Beehive.
FIGHT CARD
1. Featherweight 66kg
Ben Lucas (AUS) v Ibrahim Kendil (EGY)
2. Lightweight 70kg
Mohammed Kareem Aljnan (SYR) v Alphonse Besala (CMR)
3. Welterweight 77kg
Marcos Costa (BRA) v Abdelhakim Wahid (MAR)
4. Lightweight 70kg
Omar Ramadan (EGY) v Abdimitalipov Atabek (KGZ)
5. Featherweight 66kg
Ahmed Al Darmaki (UAE) v Kagimu Kigga (UGA)
6. Catchweight 85kg
Ibrahim El Sawi (EGY) v Iuri Fraga (BRA)
7. Featherweight 66kg
Yousef Al Husani (UAE) v Mohamed Allam (EGY)
8. Catchweight 73kg
Mostafa Radi (PAL) v Abdipatta Abdizhali (KGZ)
9. Featherweight 66kg
Jaures Dea (CMR) v Andre Pinheiro (BRA)
10. Catchweight 90kg
Tarek Suleiman (SYR) v Juscelino Ferreira (BRA)
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
Matador
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When Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi
Known as The Lady of Arabic Song, Umm Kulthum performed in Abu Dhabi on November 28, 1971, as part of celebrations for the fifth anniversary of the accession of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as Ruler of Abu Dhabi. A concert hall was constructed for the event on land that is now Al Nahyan Stadium, behind Al Wahda Mall. The audience were treated to many of Kulthum's most well-known songs as part of the sold-out show, including Aghadan Alqak and Enta Omri.
HUNGARIAN GRAND PRIX RESULT
1. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari 1:39:46.713
2. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari 00:00.908
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes-GP 00:12.462
4. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes-GP 00:12.885
5. Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing 00:13.276
6. Fernando Alonso, McLaren 01:11.223
7. Carlos Sainz Jr, Toro Rosso 1 lap
8. Sergio Perez, Force India 1 lap
9. Esteban Ocon, Force India 1 lap
10. Stoffel Vandoorne, McLaren 1 lap
11. Daniil Kvyat, Toro Rosso 1 lap
12. Jolyon Palmer, Renault 1 lap
13. Kevin Magnussen, Haas 1 lap
14. Lance Stroll, Williams 1 lap
15. Pascal Wehrlein, Sauber 2 laps
16. Marcus Ericsson, Sauber 2 laps
17r. Nico Huelkenberg, Renault 3 laps
r. Paul Di Resta, Williams 10 laps
r. Romain Grosjean, Haas 50 laps
r. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull Racing 70 laps
