I had posted my little Bohème poem on a board near the musicians’ room at the hall. Someone crossed out the word “hat” and wrote “muff” instead.

First of all, the translation I’ve always read for “cuffietta” is not muff, although I don’t speak Italian so what do I know? But more to the point … who the heck would consider changing a poem written by someone else? I was just ticked off. I know it’s silly, but there you go. I took the poem down; it was no longer the one I wrote. Sigh.

And, really, if I read the libretto correctly, I am correct about the word, although I suspect a literal translation is “bonnet”. (I had originally written “Mimi gets her bonnet back” but then I wrote this during the Luhrmann gig and “hat” was more fitting. I actually prefer “bonnet back” for the alliteration, but “pink hat back” works fine what with the repeated soft “a” and “k” sounds.) The muff is given to Mimi by Musetta in the final act, to warm her cold hands. Mimi gets her hat/bonnet (cuffietta) back, before getting the muff, from Rodolfo, who had kept it when they split up.

But why would someone feel he or she had the right to change a poem anyway? Where does that come from?

I’m sure a singer was the culprit. 😉
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