La Bohème

Giacomo Puccini perfectly captures the image of melodrama in his Bohemian portrayal of Paris in the 1830s by synthesizing “coups de theâter” and complex musical harmonies. With the assistance of Luigi Illica and Guiseppe Giacosa, authors of the libretto and verses respectively, Puccini was able to carefully depict the three major human emotions: comedy, romance, and sadness. La Bohème was his first “well-made play.”

Puccini got the idea for his opera from a series of short stories written by Henry Murger called, “Scènes de la vie de bohème” or “Scenes of Bohemian Lives.” “The 23 episodes recount the meager conditions of starving students on the Left bank in Paris” (Bass Performance Hall). Puccini could personally relate to the stories and felt it would be a perfect subject for an opera. Over a period of about four years, working together with Luigi Illica and Guiseppe Giacosa, Puccini created a classic account of love and life.

The cultural climate at the time the opera was written definitely influenced Puccini. “The opera is set sometime between the Parisian revolutions of 1830 and 1848, sometimes called the ‘July Monarchy,’ during which King Louis Philippe reigned” (West Bay Opera). However, as a young man in Lucca, a town in northern Italy, Puccini recalled playing piano in bars for food and evading bill collectors. Puccini also hated his landlord, who was the model for Beloit in La Bohème. His ability to relate to Murger’s Bohemians may have been the reason that he poured so much time and energy into making La Bohème. “Puccini was so obsessed about making the opera perfect that he made Illica and Giacosa rewrite the libretto and verses four times” (Bass Performance Hall). But it was Puccini’s love for theater that kept him devoted. “Puccini once said, ‘God once touched me and said, “Write only for the theater”’” (Bass Performance Hall).

When La Bohème first premiered, it was a disaster. Many critics saw it as a relative success that would...