While there Marcello's former lover Musetta arrives with her new husband Alcindoro but distracting him falls into Marcello's arms. Rodolfo and Mimi sit in the dark talking and fall for each other. This Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa andLuigi Illica runs as follows:Rodolfo's neighbour in his garret Mimi knocks at the door saying her candle has gone out on the stairs. Puccini's 'La Boheme' is based on Henri Murger's novel 'Scènes de la vie de bohème' which draws it's inspiration from the Bohemian lifestyle which was somewhat in vogue in Paris at the time.

Puccini's musical imagery illuminates the different moments and moods of the story with a delicate yet intense lyrical quality just as therapid decline and death of Mimì subtle yet invincible remind us of the universal reality that all things must inevitably come to an end.On the cover: 'Al Quartiere Latino' sketch by Riccardo Salvadori as a variation on the sketch by Adolf Hohenstein for the world premiere in Turin of Bohème 1896 © Archivio Storico Ricordi The music is a surprisingly supple and sensitive medium for depicting a variety of emotions that animate the young: reckless living full of stop-gapexpedients erratic feelings and sudden explosions of noble sentiment the driving ambitions of one's art. It took Puccini only a fewmonths to complete a score brimming with wonderful melodic invention and orchestrational genius. Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica based their libretto for this opera on Scènes de la vie de Bohème by Henry Murger. Full Score-The premiere of La Bohème took place at the Teatro Regio in Turin on 1 February 1896.

La boheme opera completa