La Bohème

“La bohème” is one of the most famous operas of all time, so it is in the repertoire of almost every opera house in the world. “La boheme” was staged in Lviv Opera a year after its opening (at that time – the Great City Theatre), so its Lviv premiere took place in 1901.
Giacomo Puccini began to write the opera, inspired by the tremendous success of his previous opera “Manon Lescaut”. The literary source of the new opera was the novel of French writer Henri Murger “Scenes of Bohemian Life” (1851), about the lives of French artists – residents of the Latin Quarter, a well-known bohemian area in the centre of Paris. The main characters, four friends – the poet Rodolfo, the painter Marcello, the philosopher Colline and the musician Schaunard suffer financial hardship, but they do not lose their sense of humour and do not give up joys of life. Interestingly, all the main characters had prototypes in real life, and therefore their characters, brilliantly embodied in Puccini’s music, were depicted as perfectly genuine and evoked empathy from the spectators.
Well-known librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa were invited to write the libretto based on the plot of Murger’s novel. Such cooperation helped Puccini create the most famous triad – the operas “La bohème”, “Tosca” and “Madama Butterfly”.
On the way to creating one of his great masterpieces, the composer constantly faced tough challenges. One was the bitter rivalry and destruction of Puccini’s friendship with famous composer Ruggero Leoncavallo. A month after the great premiere of “Manon Lescaut”, the composers met in Milan and accidentally discovered they were interested in the same subject. Leoncavallo and his publisher Eduardo Sonzogno decided to outrun Puccini and announced in the press that the composer intended to write “La boheme”. In his letter to the chief manager of the “Corriere della Sera”, Puccini wrote: “…Certainly, if Maestro Leoncavallo, with whom we are close friends, had told me earlier about what he unexpectedly announced yesterday, I would not have thought about Murger’s “Bohemian Life”… Let him write the music, and I will write too. Let the audience judge.” And the audience announced the verdict. A year after the premiere of “La bohème”, Leoncavallo left the stage and now his works are rarely performed, while Puccini’s masterpiece retains its popularity even a century later.
The next problem for the composer was the death of the author of the literary source, Henri Murger, and considering certain copyright issues. The joint work of Puccini, Illika and Giacosa on the libretto was also challenging and tiring. Due to numerous edits and disputes, it continued for more than two years.
But the première performance of “La bohème”, which took place in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio, was a serious challenge for the composer. “La bohème” received a lukewarm response from the spectators and critics, especially after the remarkable success of Puccini’s previous opera “Manon Lescaut”. The composer was accused of self-quoting, creating a secondary, commonplace opera. The most bitter were the local critics, who wrote that “La boheme” did not touch the hearts and minds of the audience, so it will not leave its mark in the history of our lyric theatre…” (La gazzetta piemontese); “The music of “La boheme” is a real music for the instant pleasure… and in this statement, there is both praise and criticism” (La gazzetta di Torino).
The great conductor Arturo Toscanini, who Puccini invited to conduct the premiere of “La boheme”, explained the reason for a lukewarm response. Maestro Toscanini suggested that a similar reaction from the public and critics was influenced by another premiere of the season – Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung”. Under the impression of Wagner’s operas’ orchestral massiveness and scale, the audience could not switch to a completely different figurative world – the world of sensual drama and sentiments.
However, Puccini’s publisher and patron, Giulio Ricordi, continued to believe that his protégé had created another masterpiece and that the spectators would surely appreciate “La boheme” in the future. And he was not mistaken. Although every opera lover knows all the arias and scenes by heart, Puccini’s masterpiece is played to the full house, making the audience sympathize with the story of close friendship and doomed love.

Alina Plakhtiienko
Musicologist