La Bohéme [antikvár]

PucciniPuccini's Perennially Youthful OperaWilliam WeaverOn 19 March 1893 Ruggero Leoncavallo and Glacomo Puccini met, by chance, at a Milan café. Until this meeting, the two composers had been friends; after it they were life-long enemies. At that time, both were begi nn ing to taste the f i rst-f ru its of success, after years of struggle. Leoncavallo's Pagliacci had triumphed the previous May, and on 1 February 1893 Puccini's third opera, Manon Lescaut, had established him asa leader of the younger musical generation in Italy.Duringtheirconversation inthecafé, Puccini apparently mentioned that he was working on a new opera, with a libretto derived from Henry Murger's Scenes de la vie de Boheme, a loosely-linked series of autobiographical episodes already nearly half-a-century old (and hence in the public domain). Angrily, Leoncavallo reminded Puccini that he, Leoncaval lo, was already composing a Boheme and that, before setting to work on it, he had offered the libretto to Puccini, who had rejected it.From the café the quarrel moved to the newspapers. On the fol lowing day readers of il secolo (which belonged to Leoncavallo's publisher) were informed of the Leoncavallo project. On 21 Marc h th e Corriere c/e//asera re vealedPuccini's similar plans. Atthe close of a communication to the editor, Puccini said, in effect: Let Leoncavallo write his opera, and I shall write mine. Then the public will decide. And so itturned out. Though charming in many ways, Leoncavallo's La Boheme has never caught on; the public's choice was implacable.Puccini may very well have known of Leoncavallo's project in advance; but by the time of their stormy meeting, his own Bohemewas definitely in progress. A letter exists, dated 22 March 1893, from one of Puccini's librettists, Giuseppe Giacosa, to the other, Luigi lllica, discussingtheircommon enterprise, lllica, chiefly responsible for the dramatic architecture of the text (Giacosa was the poet, the 'I iterary' member of the13