Is "Madama Butterfly" a worth watching opera ?!


Question: I've seen La Fille Du Regiment and Lucia (and mostly other Donizetti's) and was absolutely enchanted. I wonder, however, if I should see Madama Butterfly, you know, whether its plot is interesting or the music is as great as the other two's ?


Answers: I've seen La Fille Du Regiment and Lucia (and mostly other Donizetti's) and was absolutely enchanted. I wonder, however, if I should see Madama Butterfly, you know, whether its plot is interesting or the music is as great as the other two's ?

Just as an excess of scruple - you're surely aware that Madama Butterfly, one of Puccini's masterpieces, is quite far from Donizetti and the titles you cited, so, watching-worth or not, don't expect the 9 high C's of La Fille or the madness scene of Lucia.

Madama was release and staged in 1904 in Milan, 4 years after Tosca and 6 years before Fanciulla (Girl of the Wild West), which debuted in NY in 1910. Half-way between a solid, passionate italian singer (Floria Tosca) and a stubborn girl coping with rough mine-workers and bandits, Puccini placed another type of loving female character. Cio Cio San refuses her gods and her background to follow an american dream, superficially seeded into her life and taking the form of a baby (a 'piccolo iddio', a small god). At first, you can feel just a sympathy for her youth and naiveness, but in the tragic finale you appreciate the firmness and the depth of her deceived feelings.
Puccini puts a lot of clever items into the story: a continuity of musical elements, avoiding the frequent stand-out arias (like in Tosca) and caring more for the overall climate (the oriental themes, the close-mouth choir), depicting the other characters in growing distance from Cio Cio San: Pinkerton, Suzuki and Sharpless are there to complete her portrait, not to tell their truth.
The climax of the 'Un bel dì vedremo' scene, requiring a strong soprano with lungs, throat, heart and brains, gets to the core of the tragedy. Waiting to the final doom, not to the everlasting happiness: but that was clear - to all - from the very beginning. That was her life, Puccini seems to say, and what about yours ?

Personally, not my fav. But I wouldn't let a ticket go.

I don't believe you just asked that.

If you can find the production on video starring Mirella Freni and Placido Domingo and conducted by von Karajan, snatch it up. It is magnificent. (Interestingly enough, Karajan used Domingo for the video, but Pavarotti for the audio recording. In both cases, it was the right choice.)

As Sergei noted, it is a "jewel" of the operatic repertoire. Truly, one of the most beautiful - and I do mean beautiful - operas ever written: lush full orchestra, glorious vocal writing and a very intriguing, though tragic, story line.

But better take a couple of boxes of "Kleenex". Talk about sad, your eyes will be red from all the crying, when you exit the opera-house.

Alberich

For my 12 favorite operas, it is a 12-way tie between Puccini's 12 operas.
I am loyal to Puccini because of his skill in combining motifs, lyrical melodies, and various other elements.

You asked about the plot.
The plot is not as eventful as Tosca.
Besides, if you have feminist convictions, you may be somewhat puzzled. After siring the child and abandoning him for 3 years, the father comes back to take the child home.
(Besides, how could anyone sensible fall in love with such a jerk?)

In the original short story, the father and stepmother ask for child, Butterfly says come back tomorrow, and the couple comes back the next day, only to find that she skipped out on them.



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