Portal:Opera/Selected picture/121
Credit: Adolf Hohenstein, restored by Adam Cuerden
Advertisement for the music score of La bohème, with artwork by the costume designer for the première. La bohème is an opera in four acts composed by Giacomo Puccini between 1893 and 1895 to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème (1851) by Henri Murger. The story is set in Paris around 1830, and shows the Bohemian lifestyle (known in French as la bohème) of a poor seamstress and her artist friends, with a mixture of joy and tragedy.
The world premiere of La bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896. Since then, La bohème has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide.