La Boheme (dodo Press)

Giuseppe Giacosa (1847-1906) was an Italian poet, playwright and librettist. 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 Bohme, Tosca and Madama Butterfly in conjunction with Luigi Illica. Luigi Illica (1857-1919) 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 Bohme, Tosca, Madama Butterfly and Andrea Chnier. 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.