Scene I

A Garret

In an unheated garret Marcello, an artist, is working on his canvas “Crossing the Red Sea”. He has difficulty holding his brush because the cold has so cramped his fingers. His friend, the poet Rodolfo, enviously looks at the smoke emerging from the smokestacks of the well-heated Parisian houses. Marcello sadly muses over his flighty and unfaithful girl-friend Musetta. Rodolfo turns down Marcello’s offer to fire the stove with his unfinished “Red Sea” and decides to sacrifice the first act of his drama rather than break up the chair for this purpose.

Another friend, the philosopher Colline, returns with a bundle of books that he wanted to sell, but since this is Christmas eve the stores were closed. His bad mood is dispelled by the warmth of the heated stove.