Che gelida manina

"Che gelida manina" ([ke ˈd͡ʒɛ.li.da maˈni.na]; "What a frozen little hand")[1] is a tenor aria from the first act of Giacomo Puccini's opera, La bohème.

The scene takes place on Christmas Eve in the Latin Quarter of Paris.

Afterwards, with her candle lit, Mimì starts to leave, but finds her key missing.

[4] The song begins in a recitative manner with "Che gelida manina, se la lasci riscaldar" ("What a frozen little hand, let me warm it for you"), which quickly turns into an aria.

[6] The aria was composed by Puccini with libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.

[7] It contains an original feature that Puccini introduced – it has three distinct musical paragraphs that lack tonal balance but are nonetheless coherent as a whole.

The third part starts with Talor dal mio forziere, the beginning of the 'love' motif used in the opera.

"[12][13] Beniamino Gigli performed the aria in the 1936 film Ave Maria.

[16][17] Pavarotti made many notable recordings of the song in his performances of La bohème, including the 1979 La Scala performance and a 1973 recording conducted by Herbert von Karajan.

[18][19] Che gelida manina, se la lasci riscaldar.

In povertà mia lieta scialo da gran signore rime ed inni d'amore.

Per sogni e per chimere e per castelli in aria, l'anima ho milionaria.

Talor dal mio forziere ruban tutti i gioielli due ladri, gli occhi belli.

Ere long the light of the moon shall aid us, Yes, in the moonlight our search let us continue.

I've wit tho' wealth be wanting; Ladies of rank and fashion all inspire me with passion.

Bright eyes as yours, believe me, Steal my priceless jewels In Fancy's storehouse cherish'd.