Bohemianism

Bohemianism is the practice of an unconventional lifestyle, often in the company of like-minded people, with few permanent ties, involving musical, artistic, or literary pursuits. In this context, Bohemians may be wanderers, adventurers, or vagabonds.

This use of the word bohemian first appeared in the English language in the nineteenth century to describe the non-traditional lifestyles of marginalized and impoverished artists, writers, journalists, musicians, and actors in major European cities.

Bohemians were associated with unorthodox or anti-establishment political or social viewpoints, which often were expressed through free love, frugality, and—in some cases—voluntary poverty. A more economically privileged, wealthy, or even aristocratic bohemian circle is sometimes referred to as haute bohème ("high bohemians").

The term Bohemianism emerged in France in the early nineteenth century when artists and creators began to concentrate in the lower-rent, lower class, Romani neighborhoods. Bohémien was a common term for the Romani people of France, who were mistakenly thought to have reached France in the 15th century via Bohemia, at that time a proto-protestant country and considered heretical by many Roman Catholics.

Freewinds

MV Freewinds is a cruise ship operated by International Shipping Partners and owned by San Donato Properties, which is a company affiliated with the Church of Scientology. It was built in 1968 by Wärtsilä Turku Shipyard in Turku, Finland for Wallenius Lines as MS Bohème for service with Commodore Cruise Line. It was the first cruise ship built in Finland. Its ownership passed to a Church of Scientology-controlled company in 1985. In April 2008, the Freewinds was sealed, and work stopped on refurbishments, due to "extensive contamination" with blue asbestos.

Concept and construction

The ship that eventually became known as the Freewinds was originally ordered by the Sweden-based Lion Ferry as the second in a pair of two car/passenger ferries for use on their new Bremerhaven (West Germany)–Harwich (United Kingdom) service, with provisions made for cruise service during the northern hemisphere winter season. The ships shared the same design as Finnhansa and Finnpartner, that were under construction for Finnlines at Wärtsilä Helsinki Shipyard at the time. The ships ordered by Lion Ferry were built at Wärtsilä's Turku Shipyard, and the first of them, Prins Hamlet, was delivered to her owners on 14 May 1966. However, the passenger demand on the Bremerhaven–Harwich route proved to be insufficient for two ships, and Lion Ferry cancelled the order for a second ship, which was to be named "Prins Albert".

La bohème

La bohème (French pronunciation: ​[la bɔ.ɛm], Italian: [la boˈɛm]) is an opera in four acts, composed by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger. The world premiere performance of La bohème was in Turin on 1 February 1896 at the Teatro Regio, conducted by the young Arturo Toscanini; its U.S. premiere took place the next year, 1897, in Los Angeles. Since then, La bohème has become part of the standard Italian opera repertory and is one of the most frequently performed operas worldwide.

In 1946, fifty years after the opera's premiere, Toscanini conducted a performance of it on radio with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. This performance was eventually released on records and on Compact Disc. It is the only recording of a Puccini opera by its original conductor (see Recordings below).

Origin of the story

According to its title page, the libretto of La bohème is based on Henri Murger's novel, Scènes de la vie de bohème, a collection of vignettes portraying young bohemians living in the Latin Quarter of Paris in the 1840s. Although usually called a novel, it has no unified plot. Like the 1849 play by Murger and Théodore Barrière, the opera's libretto focuses on the relationship between Rodolfo and Mimì, and ends with Mimì's death. Also like the play, the libretto combines two characters from the novel, Mimì and Francine, into a single Mimì character. Early in the composition stage Puccini was in dispute with the composer Leoncavallo, who said that he had offered Puccini a completed libretto and felt that Puccini should defer to him. Puccini responded that he had had no idea of Leoncavallo's interest and that having been working on his own version for some time, he felt that he could not oblige him by discontinuing with the opera. Leoncavallo completed his own version in which Marcello was sung by a tenor and Rodolfo by a baritone. It was unsuccessful and is now rarely performed.