Opera Australia's La Bohème Captures The Romance Of Bohemian Paris With A Fresh Twist
Brian Long
MENAFN- The Conversation) Paris in the 1830s and 40s danced on the edge. Napoleon was dead. The Bourbon royals were back. Revolutions in 1830 and 1848 brought pitched battles to the streets. Glitzy wealth rubbed up against dire poverty.
Yet the city was a honey-pot for 20-something creatives; meet the bohemians. These brooding, passion-infused romantics dominated the art world. Chopin was there penning some of the most romantic piano music ever written. Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre-Dame came out in 1831.
Among these dreamers was Henry Murger, a jobbing writer living hand-to-mouth. In 1849, he penned a series of autobiographical sketches glamourising his friends, lovers and exploits.
Murger's tales were a runaway success. But it was Italian composer Giacomo Puccini who immortalised them with his 1896 opera La Bohème, based on Murger's 1851 novel Scènes de la vie de bohème (Scenes of Bohemian Life).
La Bohème sealed Puccini's fate as arguably the greatest opera composer of all time. Opera Australia now brings a fresh look to this eternally popular masterpiece.
Puccini's timeless taleR...