November 15, 2008 Program Notes

Giacomo Puccini, 1858-1924, beloved composer of some of the most beautiful, dramatic, lyrical arias in the whole music repertoire, is best known as the composer of 12 operas, the most famous of which are "La Boheme," "Tosca," "Madame Butterfly," and "Turandot."

Besides being known for his ability to write dramatically for the human voice, Puccini was also a genius in creating moods through his use of various instruments in his orchestral overtures, accompaniments and interludes. And, like Wagner, he also introduced distinctive leitmotifs to introduce the various characters and themes.

The original story for this opera was written in 1898 by John Luther Long, an American lawyer and writer, whose sister had gone to Japan as the wife of a Methodist missionary and came home with various tales about life in Japan. In 1900, dramatist David Belasco collaborated with Long to create a one-act play, and then, later, Long actually helped Puccini with the libretto for the opera version. Puccini also brought elements from French fiction writer Pierre Loti's 1887 novel, "Madame Chrysanthème" into the story.

Like Puccini's other operas, "Madame Butterfly" has an intimate character, involving the deep personal emotions of a few people--in sharp contrast to public extravaganzas such as "Aida" or "Carmen." Amazingly, "Madama Butterfly" was not well received at its first performance at La Scala in February of 1904. Some say this was because of its setting in Japan, others because some of Puccini's jealous fellow composers arranged a kind of cabal against him.

In any case, Puccini reworked the opera, making the two acts more even in length, excluding some arias and adding others, and, when the revised version was performed in Brescia, Italy, just three months later, the audience demanded ten curtain calls for its composer. Interestingly enough, the opera is usually presented in two acts in Italy, but in three acts in America.

Naturally Puccini retained much of his Italian identity in this supposedly Japanese setting, but he did try to alter harmonies and even employ the Oriental pentatonic scale at times. The story, which involves the marriage of a Japanese geisha named Cio-Cio-san to an American naval officer named Lieutenant Pinkerton, is highly dramatic, including marriage, betrayal, and eventual suicide, calls for highly dramatic arias, the most famous being "Un Bel Di Vedremo."

The setting for the opera is Nagasaki, where even today you can find a statue of Puccini together with Miura Tamaki, Japan's best-known singer, who gained her fame for her performances as Cio-Cio-san herself back in the early 20th century The Japanese have embraced the opera as much as have Europeans and Americans, making it one of the most frequently performed operas in the world.