Which Boheme is better? Puccini's or Leoncavallo's?

I've listened to the Leoncavallo opera once.

I was disappointed, so I never listened to it again.

I remember the opera as having very little variety.

Most of it was loud with heavy harmony and heavy instrumentation.

The Puccini version, on the other hand, is full of variety.

La Boheme was Puccini's fourth opera, his third being Manon Lescaut.

Manon Lescaut was criticized on the grounds that Acts III and IIII were all gloomy.

Puccini learned from his mistake.

That is why we see the minuet and mock sword fight in Act IIII.

Besides, there wasn't as much contrast in character between Mimi and Musetta in the Leoncavallo version.

In Leoncavallo's version, Mimi isn't as innocent and Musetta isn't as wicked.

Whereas Puccini soft pedals Mimi's elopement with the count, and in fact doesn't even introduce us to the count, Leoncavallo shows us the event right before our very eyes.

Leoncavallo's version was interesting to study and listen to, though.

It was kinda fun studying an Italian opera without an English translation to fall back on.

Subjective answer: Puccini , sounds better

LOL