La Bohème - San Francisco Opera

Librettists
Luigi Illica (9 May 1857 -, 16 December 1919) was a famous librettist who wrote for
Giacomo Puccini (usually with Giuseppe Giacosa), Alfredo Catalani, Umberto Giordano
and other important Italian composers. His most famous opera librettos are those for La
bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Andrea Chénier.
Illica's personal life sometimes imitated his libretti. The reason he is always photographed
with his head slightly turned is because he lost his right ear in a duel over a woman.
When silent films based on Illica's operas were made, his name appeared in large letters
on advertisements because distributors could only guarantee that his stories would be
used, and not that they would be accompanied by the music of the appropriate composer.
Giuseppe Giacosa (21 October 1847 – 1 September 1906) was an Italian poet,
playwright and librettist. He was born in Colleretto Parella, now Colleretto Giacosa, near
Turin. His father was a magistrate. Giuseppe went to the University of Turin and gained a
degree in law, but did not pursue this career. He gained initial fame for writing the poems
in Una Partita a Scacchi (a Game of Chess) in 1871. His main field was playwriting, which
he accomplished with both insight and simplicity, using subjects set in Piedmont and
themes addressing contemporary bourgeois values. He wrote La Dame de Challant for
noted French actress Sarah Bernhardt, which she produced in New York in 1891.
He also wrote the librettos used by Giacomo Puccini in La bohème, Tosca and Madama
Butterfly in conjunction with Luigi Illica.
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