Verdi, Mozart, and Puccini are the triumvirate of surely the most beloved opera composers of all time. And Madame Butterfly is by most accounts on the top ten listed of most frequently performed operas. It, and Puccini’s other three evergreen works--La bohème, Tosca, and Turandot—are all central to the operatic repertoire.
Giacomo Puccini was born in 1858 in Lucca, Italy to a family long established in church music. They were a family of composers, with a few operas to their credit. Young Giacomo received a substantial musical education, first at the local music school, and then at the Milan Conservatory. After graduation he soon achieved success as a budding young composer. An opera was suggested, and his first work was of sufficient quality to be performed at La Scala in Milan. That led to a second, better known work, Edgar. It had a checkered reception, even with copious revisions. His third opera, Manon Lescaut (1893) was his first big success, and of course, has remained an opera favorite. That year was the date of Verdi’s last opera, the masterpiece, Falstaff, and it seems a propitious passing of the baton between Italian operatic geniuses. The next ten years saw the composition of three of his “big four,” culminating in 1904 with Madame Butterfly. The previous opera, Tosca (1900) was his first in what is known in opera parlance, verismo. That style, which loosely means “true,” became associated with important Italian opera composers of the time, including Giordano, Leoncavallo, Mascagni, and Puccini. Stemming from an Italian literary movement, it sought to address a greater naturalism in its subject matter, including the poor, the seamier side of life, even violence. There’s more, but that is the essence, and Madame Butterfly continued that atmosphere.
The story of Madame Butterfly, originally part of a novel, then a short story, and subsequently a New York play in 1900—which Puccini saw in London.
The libretto appealed for its dark tragedy and the worldwide fascination with “orientalism” that swept all the arts at the fin-de-siècle. But, things did not go well at first. The première was a disaster, and Puccini ended up by writing five different revisions. It nevertheless soon was a smash hit, garnering performances all over the world in the elite opera houses, including at the Metropolitan in New York City with Caruso and in Buenos Aires with Toscanini.
The story is a simple one of infatuation, hopeless dreams, betrayal, and profound, deadly cultural differences. Pinkerton, the dastardly American naval officer, marries the very young, naïve Cio-Cio-San (Japanese for butterfly), intending to divorce her easily as soon as he finds a suitable American wife.
Soon after the wedding night he leaves for America, leaving behind Butterfly expecting their child. Three years go by, Butterfly forlornly awaiting Pinkerton.
Attempts are made to dissuade her from her hope that he will return. But, mirabilis dictu, he does—but with his American wife. A profound coward, he can’t face Butterfly, leaving others to tell her of his cruel deceit. Crushed, she agrees to give the child to the American couple if her beloved Pinkerton will just come to see her. She bids goodbye to child, blindfolds him, pitifully putting a little American flag in his hands. She then exits and commits ritual suicide in traditional Japanese fashion. Pinkerton comes to see her, but of course, it's too late in every respect.
A dismal tale, sordid and tragic. “Un bel di, vedremo” (One fine day we shall see) is sung by Butterfly at the beginning of the second act. In it, despite the convictions of others, she dreams of Pinkerton’s long awaited return. She vividly imagines a thin wisp of smoke that will herald the arrival of his ship. And lo, in her fantasy he does arrive, to her unimaginable joy. But in the reality, the dénouement is devastatingly otherwise.
--Wm. E. Runyan
©2023 William E. Runyan