Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly (or sometimes Madame Butterfly in English) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, set in Japan. It is based on the book by John Luther Long and the drama by David Belasco. Text by Illica and Giacosa. First production, Milan, 1904.
Plot
The opera takes place in Nagasaki, Japan in 1904.
In the first act Lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton, a sailor aboard the USS Abrham Lincoln marries Cio-Cio-San, or Madama Butterfly, a fifteen year Japanese girl. Goro, a marriage broker, has arranged the match, and has rented a little house on the hillside for them to live in. The American consul, Sharpless, a kind-hearted man, begs Pinkerton to forego this plan, because the girl believes the marriage to be binding. The lieutenant laughs at him, and the bride appears with her friends, joyous and smiling. Sharpless finds that to show her trust in Pinkerton she has renounced the faith of her ancestors so that she can never return to her own people. (Butterfly: "Hear what I would tell you.") The marriage contract is signed and the guests are drinking a toast to the young couple, when the honour, when one can no longer live with honour."
References: Plot originally taken from The Opera Goer's Complete Guide by Leo Melitz, 1921 version.
The opera was made into a [[movie in 1915. It was directed by Sidney Olcott and starring Mary Pickford.
Malcolm McLaren based a 1984 U.K. top-20 single on the opera. The Broadway musical Miss Saigon was in part based on the Butterfly story. In the play M. Butterfly, Butterfly is denounced as a western stereotype of a timid, submissive Asian.
The second album by Weezer, "Pinkerton," takes its name from this opera. The last song on the album, "Butterfly" tells the story of the opera, and there are a few other mentions of it. (E.g. Cio-Cio San is referenced in "El Scorcho.")
On the 100th anniversary of Madama Butterfly, Shigeaki Saegusa composed Jr. Butterfly. The libretto was Masahiko Shimada and the conductor was Naoto Otomo. Tenor Shigehiro Sano performs Jr. Butterfly and soprano Shinobu Sato plays Naomi, his love. Jr. Butterfly is the story of what happens to the son of Madame Butterfly and Pinkerton. It is set before, during and after WWII. The half-Japanese half-American Jr. Butterfly is an intelligence officer for the Americans and falls in love with a Japanese girl. At the core of the story is the love story between Jr. Butterfly and the girl, but the opera covers a lot of ground such as the identity struggle of Jr. Butterfly's chanpon background and the intentions of the US vis a vis war with Japan before the war. With Madam Butterfly originally set in Nagasaki, the role of Nagasaki in the closure of the war ties it all together.
External links:
- "'; A Century Ago, Puccini's Tragic Heroine First Took the Stage". NPR.
