The story of Rodolfo the poet, Marcello the painter, Schaunard the musician and Colline the philosopher. Marcello is rather more tempestuous in love, with the fiery but ultimately devoted Musetta; Rodolfo is more the dreamy romantic who falls in love with the seamstress Mimi.
I was introduced to it through a video of the Covent Garden production directed by John Copley (I've met him, but that's another story), still being revived over 30 years later, and we'll look at some clips of that production to explore some of the more familiar music.
(A synopsis can be found here: http://www.metoperafamily.org/metopera/history/stories/synopsis.aspx?id=7 . A more detailed article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_boheme )
