Confidence to love

03/14/11 13:23
(http://www.klassa.bg/)

by Petar PLAMENOV

18 March (Friday), 18:00

Madame Butterfly
Librettists: Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica
Source: Madame Butterfly, drama by David Belasco, based on the story Madame Butterfly by John Luther Long
First performance: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 17 February 1904

Varna Opera and Philharmonic Association
Address:
Varna, 1 Nezavisimost Square
Working time: mon-fri 10:00–13:00, 14:00–18:00, sat 11:00–18:00
Phone: 052 66 50 22

Conducted by: Leonardo Cuadrini, Italy
Cast: Mari Liu, China, Boika Vasileva, Arsenii Arsov, Blagovesta Stateva, Svilen Nikolov, Plamen Raikov, Svetoslav Metodiev, Lydmil Petrov, Rosen Rangeliov, Valentin Grandev, Valentina Shunelska, Antoaneta Marinova

Madame Butterfly is a curious blend of sublime romantic reverie, inchoate dramaturgy and trite Oriental caricature. The story is set in Nagasaki, Japan, in 1904, when an American naval officer marries a geisha who believes that this marriage will be a dream come true. The reality of the marriage, however, begins to unravel as she realizes that all is not well in the relationship with her husband.

Madame Butterfly originated in a story by John Luther Long and was adapted for the stage by David Belasco. The play premiered with great success in New York in 1900, then quickly crossed the Atlantic for a London production where it was seen by Giacomo Puccini. Puccini's first version of the opera failed at La Scala in 1904, but a revised version was successful the same year, the version that we hear today, one of the most frequently produced operas in the entire repertory.

When Puccini saw, in London, American playwright David Belasco’s drama dealing with the story of a Japanese geisha, he was moved to tears, despite his inability to understand a single English word. His subsequent choice of the subject matter implied that in the opera, Madama Butterfly, he had to master new forms of musical expression, a situation which was to repeat itself later on, with Turandot. He set out to study the customs and music of distant Japan, had a quantity of gramophone records sent in from Tokyo to become acquainted with Japanese folk music, and expended enormous efforts on capturing the Japanese local colour. Madama Butterfly is a masterpiece of atmospheric detail and poetry.

Its premiere, at Milan’s La Scala on February 17, 1904, ended with stamping, whistles and merciless critical panning: the composer was blamed notably for long-winded scenes, superfluous episodes in Act One, and overall lack of dramatic suspense. Puccini made changes in the opera, dividing it into three acts and adding a new tenor aria, “Addio, fiorito asil,” in which the American officer, Pinkerton, bids farewell to the places where he spent beautiful moments of fateful happiness with the charming fifteen-year-old geisha, Cio-Cio-San, known as Butterfly. The work’s new version was first presented in Brescia, on May 28, 1904, and scored a triumph. Its subsequent world conquest was set off by the premiere of a Covent Garden production starring Ema Destinn and Enrico Caruso, on July 10, 1905.

Madame Butterfly is different from many operas. It is intimate, devoid of spectacle, taking place completely within a house in Nagasaki. There is one straight plot line, without subplots. Girl wins boy, girl loses boy, girl commits hara kiri. What makes the piece work are the characterizations of Butterfly and her Captain Pinkerton, both in the drama and in the rich and luscious Puccini score.
Puccini's music is a stirring and successful example of heartbreak, a very rare achievement for a composer. Featuring one of the most beautiful arias in any soprano's repertoire, "Un be di" (One Beautiful Day), "Madame Butterfly" is a gorgeous opera that can not be missed.