BOHEME, La. Grand opera in four acts by Giacomo Puccini (libretto by Giacosa and Illica, founded on a tale by Henri Murger) first produced at Turin, Italy, 1 Feb. 1896. It was the composer's fourth opera and at once placed him at the head of the younger Italian school and gave him an international reputa tion. The plot is constructed out of four slightly connected scenes, each complete in itself, presenting, in admirably contrasted light and shade, a vivid picture of the Latin Quarter of Paris of the period of 1830. The four inseparables, Rodolphe, Marcel, Schaunard and Colline, poet, painter, musician and philosopher, Mimi, the frail grisette, and Musette, frivolous, but kind-hearted child of pleasure, form an appealing group, and the composer has, with unquestioned genius, given them a human touch unusual on the operatic stage. The music is melodious in the true Italian sense. There is a fine sincerity in the reflection of the pathos, ever near the surface, even when the charac ters are at their gayest, and there is usually a satisfying psychological fitness between the melody and the underlying sentiment. The composer's command of his medium is nowhere better shown than in the second act, the scene of the Cafe Momus with its rapid motion, colorful ensembles and kaleidoscopic contrasts.
The orchestra, in which modern influences are plainly felt, is handled skilfully throughout. Occasionally there are rude, uncontrolled out bursts of passion, hallmarks of the "verismoD school of which Mascagni's Rus ticana) is the type; but more generally the i music is softened and refined under the nflu ence of the later Verdi. The love scene in the first act, and even more, the duo in the last, contain moments of great lyric beauty, while there is dramatic intensity in the death scene and the brief succeeding orchestral finale. One of the most fluent numbers is Musette's Waltz Song in the second act.
Without any present indication of serious rivalry with Verdi, the greatest of the Italians, Puccini has, nevertheless, made a definite place for himself, not only with the general operatic public, but with the musically elite as well. (La Boheme) is one of the most popular operas in the repertory of European and American opera houses.