Giuseppe Giacosa - La Boheme

M AR.: All my fingers are frozen Just as if theyd been touching that iceberg, Touching that block of marble, the heart of false Musetta. (Heaves a long sigh, laying aside his palette and brushes, and ceases painting) R UD.: Ah! loves a stove consuming a deal of fuel! M AR.: Too quickly. R UD.: Where the man does the burning. M AR.: And the woman the lighting. R UD.: While the one turns to ashes. M AR.: So the other stands and watches.

R UD.: Meanwhile, in here were frozen. M AR.: And were dying of hunger. R UD.: A fire must be lighted. M AR.: (seizing a chair and about to break it up) I have it, This crazy chair shall save us! ( R UDOLPH energetically resists M ARCELS project) R UD.: (joyous at an idea that has seized him) Eureka! (Runs to the table and from below it lifts a bulky manuscript) M AR.: Youve found it? R UD.: Yes. When genius is roused ideas come fast in flashes. M AR.: (pointing to his picture) Lets burn up the Red Sea.

R UD.: No: think what a stench twould occasion! But my drama, my beautiful drama shall give us warmth. M AR.: (with comic terror) Intend you to read it? Twill chill us! R UD.: No. The paper in flame shall be burning, The soul to its heaven returning. (with tragic emphasis) Great loss! but the world yet must bear it, When Rome is in peril! M AR.: Great soul! R UD.: (giving M ARCEL a portion of the Ms.) Here, take the first act. M AR.: Well? R UD.: Tear it. ( R UDOLPH strikes a flint on steel, lights a candle, and goes to the stove with M ARCEL; together they set fire to a part of the M S. thrown into the fireplace; then both draw up their chairs and sit down, delightedly warming themselves) R UD.: How joyous the rays! M AR.: How cheerful the blaze! (The door at the back opens violently, and C OLLINE enters frozen and nipped up, stamping his feet, and throwing angrily on the table a bundle of books tied up in a handkerchief) C OL.: Surely miracles apocalyptic are dawning! For Christmas eve they honor by allowing no pawning! (Checks himself, seeing a fire in the stove) See I a fire here? R UD.: (to C OLLINE) Gently, it is my drama. thrown into the fireplace; then both draw up their chairs and sit down, delightedly warming themselves) R UD.: How joyous the rays! M AR.: How cheerful the blaze! (The door at the back opens violently, and C OLLINE enters frozen and nipped up, stamping his feet, and throwing angrily on the table a bundle of books tied up in a handkerchief) C OL.: Surely miracles apocalyptic are dawning! For Christmas eve they honor by allowing no pawning! (Checks himself, seeing a fire in the stove) See I a fire here? R UD.: (to C OLLINE) Gently, it is my drama.

C OL.: In blazes! I find it very sparkling. R UD.: Brilliant! (the fire languishes) C OL.: Too short its phrases. R UD.: Brevitys deemed a treasure. C OL.: (taking the chair from R UDOLPH) Your chair pray give me, author. M AR.: These foolish entractes merely make us shiver. Quickly! R UD.: (taking another portion of the M S.) Here is the next act.

M AR.: (to C OLLINE) Hush! not a whisper. ( R UDOLPH tears up the M S. and throws it into the fireplace; the flames revive. C OLLINE moves his chair nearer and warms his hands. R UDOLPH is standing near the two with the rest of the M S.) C OL.: How deep the thought is! M AR.: Color how true! R UD.: In that blue smoke my drama is dying Full of its love-scenes ardent and new. C OL.: A leaf see crackle! M AR.: Those were all the kisses. R UD.: (throwing the remaining M S. on the fire) Three acts at once I desire to hear.

C OL.: Only the daring can dream such visions. R UD., M AR. AND C OL.: Dreams that in flame soon disappear. (Applaud enthusiastically; the flame diminishes