Source

David Belasco's play Madame Butterfly, itself based on a short story by John Luther Long, in turn based partly on a story by Pierre Loti, Madame Chrysanthème.

First Night

Feb. 17, 1904 at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan.

A revised version premiered at the Teatro Grande, Brescia, on May 28, 1904. The final version premiered at the Opéra-Comique in Paris on Dec. 28, 1906.

Reception

The opening-night performance was disastrously received by an audience peppered with hecklers who shouted insults and jeered at what they saw on stage.

Some of the disruption was possibly organized by Sonzogno, the main rival of Ricordi, Puccini's publisher. Puccini was accused of having plagiarized his own music and that of other composers.

To save the work, which he believed to be his finest, Puccini cancelled the remaining performances and made some refinements to the piece. When Madama Butterfly opened again in Brescia, it was a triumph.

Historical Background

With the success of Manon Lescaut, his first big hit, Puccini established himself as a verismo operatic composer.

Verismo refers to style of literature and drama that emerged from Italy in the late nineteenth century. These are full-blooded stories that depict ordinary people who communicate in everyday language. The music is emotionally powerful, expressive, immediate, and theatrical.

As Puccini's career progressed, so his composing style evolved. Madama Butterfly illustrates some of his shifts towards the modern, which were to be more fully realized in La Fanciulla del West and finally Turandot: the use of melodic motifs, harmonic dissonance, long melodic lines and sophisticated orchestration.

Legends, News and Gossip

Completion of Madama Butterfly was delayed when Puccini, a car fanatic, was in a serious automobile accident. His recovery was slow and painful, hindered by his recently diagnosed diabetic condition.

The ravishing love duet that ends Act I is the longest that Puccini wrote.

Madama Butterfly was written at the height of the Art Nouveau period, one of the roots of which was japonaiserie, or Japanese style seen through Western eyes. Puccini's use of Japanese folk tunes and the exoticism of the story and the setting would have been of great fascination to audiences at the turn of the century.

A scene from the COC's production of Madama Butterfly. Photo: Michael Cooper © 2009