La bohème was the first libretto for Puccini on which Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa collaborated. By , Puccini was considering composing an opera on Henri Murger's novel Scènes de la vie de bohème. Murger's work, originally published () as a series of stories in a French journal, led an intermediary existence as a stage play.

There are many fine recordings of Puccini's "La Bohème." For purely idiosyncratic reasons, my own favorite is the pre-World War II version with Beniamino Gigli. Many swear by the Karajan studio recording with Pavarotti and Freni, while others hold that the classic Beecham-Björling-De los Angeles version from the s is unbeatable/5(52).

View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the CD release of Jussi Björling Edition: Studio Recordings on Discogs.5/5(1).