David Nathan The Bohemians SNT

SANWAL

(4.5 stars; 2 reviews)

Saturday-Night Theatre: The Bohemians Sat 7th May 1983, 20:30 on BBC Radio 4 FM A play for radio by David Nathan based on Henri Murger's Scènes de la vie de bohème Music by David Timson Bohemia Is a district of Paris bordered on the north by cold, on the west by hunger, on the south by love and on the east by hope. It Is a stage in artistic life, a prologue to the Academy. the hospital or the morgue. Murger's book Is the source of Puccini's and Leoncavallo's operas La boheme. Musicians: David Timson (piano) Gustave Clarkson (viola)   Michael Hirst (flute)   Directed By Ian Cotterell Rudolf: -Clive Francis Schaunard: -David Timson Durand: -John Webb Mouton: -Clive Panto Musette: -Tina Marian Marcel: -Christopher Scoular Bernard: -Timothy Bateson Colline: -Christopher Good Henri Murger Born in Paris, France March 27, 1822 Died January 28, 1861 He is chiefly distinguished as the author of Scènes de la vie de bohème, from his own experiences as a desperately poor writer living in a Parisian attic, and member of a loose club of friends who called themselves "the water drinkers" (because they were too poor to afford wine). In his writing he combines instinct with pathos and humour, sadness his predominant tone. The book is the basis for the operas La bohème (Puccini) and La bohème (Leoncavallo), and, at greater removes, the zarzuela Bohemios (Amadeu Vives), the operetta Das Veilchen vom Montmartre (Kálmán) and the Broadway musical Rent. He wrote lyrics as well as novels and stories, the chief being La Chanson de Musette, "a tear," says Gautier, "which has become a pearl of poetry"

This recording is part of the Old Time Radio collection.