La bohème

Presentation

Exactly three years after the debut of Manon Lescaut, Giacomo Puccini returned to the Teatro Regio of Torino, presenting La bohème on 1 February 1896. The opera, on the libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, is based on Scènes de la vie de Bohème by Henri Murger.

On the progress of the opera, the newspapers of the period reported the fights between Puccini and Leoncavallo because they were both writing about the same subject (La bohème by Leoncavallo, which never became part of the standard repertoire, had its debut on 6 May 1897 at the Fenice in Venice).

The opera was a success with audiences, but the critics in Torino had their doubts: for Carlo Bersezio Bohème was «a momentary error»; Carlo D’Ormeville wrote in a telegram: «Bohème failed opera will not tour». Two opinions that have gone down in history because they contradict the extraordinary popularity that the opera continues to have all over the world.

Main data

Composer: Giacomo Puccini
Librettist: Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
Year of the first performance: 1896 Torino, Teatro Regio