Origins of the Characters in Puccini's La Bohème

Puccini's La Bohème is based on the writings of Henri Murger (1822-1861), a French author who is best known for describing the day-to-day life endured by struggling artists in Paris during the 1840s. Murger was the son of a Parisian concierge and he grew up among the artists who were his father's tenants, one of whom is purported to have been the great singer, Luigi Lablache.The young Murger went to work as the messenger for a lawyer, but soon lost the position because he spent too much of his time chatting with his artist friends. Instead of finding another job, he joined a group of young men who met daily in the cheapest cafe to eat and drink the minimum amount while discussing poetry, philosophy, painting, music and the other arts.Murger began to write stories about his bohemian friends and these tales were serialized in a periodical…