Summary: "Leoncavallo: La Boheme (Acts 1 & 2)" Puccini wasn’t the only composer to attempt a work on Henri Murger's novel Scènes de la vie de bohème. In February 1893, two Milan newspapers announced that two operas were to be composed on the subject of La bohème, one by Leoncavallo and one by Puccini. Ruggero Leoncavallo, best known as the composer of Pagliacci, first considered composing the opera, and offered a libretto that he had written to Puccini, who refused because he supposedly was considering another subject. Puccini then employed Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa to provide him with their version, which reached the stage in 1896, while Leoncavallo’s version debuted in the following year. Although Leoncavallo’s version was well received at its premiere, it shortly was totally eclipsed by Puccini’s work. Details at our archive page @ https://archive.org/details/leoncavallo_la_boheme_mp_06_etc [First Time on our Podcasting Channel]
