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Madama Butterfly Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica Study Guide to the Opera

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Madama Butterfly Music by Giacomo Puccini Libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica Study Guide to the Opera Fascination with Japanese Culture Pittsburgh Opera The Evolution of an Opera Story by Jill Leahy by Jill Leahy Education thanks our In 1887, French novelist Pierre Loti published Madame Chrysanthème, a After Commodore Matthew Perry negotiated a treaty to generous supporters: semi-autobiographical journal of a naval officer who was married to a open Japan to the west in 1854, interest in Japan geisha while he was stationed in Nagasaki, Japan. The popular novel was blossomed in Europe and America. Puccini’s Madama Allegheny Regional Asset District American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. translated into many languages and likely influenced how westerners Butterfly provided some glimpses into Japanese culture, th Bayer USA Foundation viewed Japan in the early 20 century. Madame Chrysanthème, dress, and customs. The Berkman Charitable Trust transformed into an opera by the Benedum Foundation French composer André Messager, The Kimono is a traditional BRIDGES & Company, Inc. was first performed in Paris in 1893 garment worn by men, Jack Buncher Foundation Anne L. & George H. Clapp Charitable Trust and was widely performed for women, and children. The Chautauqua Opera Guild several years. word "kimono" literally Clearview Federal Credit Union means a "thing to wear" ( ki Dominion Foundation Eaton Corporation "wear" and mono "thing"). Eden Hall Foundation Kimonos are T-shaped, straight-lined robes worn so that the EQT Foundation hem falls to the ankle, with attached collars and long, wide First Commonwealth Financial sleeves. They’re traditionally made from a single bolt of FISA Foundation Fort Pitt Capital Group, Inc. fabric called a tan measuring about 14 inches wide and Frick Fund of The Buhl Foundation Opera Vancouver at Tim Matheson by Photo Production 12½ yards long; the entire Giant Eagle Foundation The Grable Foundation bolt is used to make one The Guilds of Pittsburgh Opera Around kimono. Kimonos are Puccini Giacomo Music by The Hearst Foundation this time, wrapped around the body, -11-21.jpg Hefren-Tillotson, Inc. American lawyer John Luther always with the left side The Heinz Endowments Madama Butterfly Long wrote a short story based over the right (except Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield Levin Furniture on his sister’s recollections of her time in Japan with her missionary opera when dressing the dead Illica Giuseppe Luigi Giacosa Librettoby and The Massaro Corporation husband. Long was probably familiar with Loti’s work and may have MadamaButterfly for burial) and secured by William V. & Catherine A. McKinney in 1898 • Blanche in Belasco’s Bates included some details in the novella titled Madame Butterfly, which was a sash called an obi , Charitable Foundation first published in 1898 in the popular quarterly Century Magazine . Long McCreery Fund of The Buhl Foundation which is tied at the back. asked David Belasco, a famous producer/playwright, to transform the The yukata kimono is a R. K. Mellon Foundation National Endowment for the Arts story into a play . It premiered in New York in 1900. Historians note that light cotton kimono worn Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Century Magazine when Giacomo Puccini saw the drama in London later that year, even during the summer and at Pennsylvania Department of Community & though he didn’t understand English, he believed that the story and tragic Economic Development http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Geisha-kyoto-2004 festivals. female character would work perfectly for his style of opera. Pennsylvania Department of Education The PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. Geisha are professional entertainers who attend to guests PPG Industries, Inc. Working with librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, Puccini used during meals, banquets, and other occasions. They are Bobby Rahal Motorcar Company in 1900 • byPoster Hohenstein Adolfo Puccini'sfor Long’s novella, Belasco’s play, and maybe even some of Loti’s journal to Reed Smith LLP trained in various traditional Japanese arts, such as dance, create what he considered one of his “best and technically advanced music, and games, as well as in the art of communication. The Techs Triangle Tech Group operas.” However, at Madama Butterfly’s premiere in Milan in February United States Steel Corporation Century Magazine 1904, the audience showed its dissatisfaction loudly and the opera was Seppuku (stomach cutting) artwork by, C. Abbott,Yarnall in published UPMC Health System deemed a fiasco. Puccini reworked the entire score and Madama is a form of male Japanese Butterfly opened to success in Brescia in May 1904; the enthusiastic ritual suicide, originally For more information on throng commanded that Puccini appear in front of the curtain ten times. reserved as an honorable Madame Butterfly Pittsburgh Opera's education way for a samurai to die, programs, please contact: There are differences in the characters in each of these evolutions. John rather than fall into the Luther Long wrote: “The people read it, and said and wrote things about Marilyn Michalka Egan, Ph.D. hands of an enemy. The it—some good, some bad. But, happily, they who liked Cho-Cho-San practice is also known Director of Education [email protected] were more than they who did not; and so she laughed and wept her way incorrectly as hara-kiri. 412-281-0912 ext 242 into some pretty hard hearts, and lived—not entirely in vain. And then she , artwork Ivanowski, by inSigismond published went upon the stage and made Miss Bates* and herself so famous that Jigai is the Japanese word for female ritual suicide, Pittsburgh Opera we had to write a bigger play for them. And they beckoned for her across performed by cutting the jugular vein with a sword. This is 2425 Liberty Avenue Study Guide to the Opera Study the sea, where, in London, Signore Puccini saw her, and when she what Cio-Cio-San traditionally chooses in Madama Butterfly . Pittsburgh, PA 15222 www.pittsburghopera.org Madame Butterfly comes back she will be a song! Sad, sad indeed, but yet a song!” Artwork Artwork L to R: Cover the of 1903 edition of Long's play * Blanche Bates depicted in center illustration. See citations at left. Madama Butterfly Synopsis Characters of the Opera Puccini’s Famous Fiasco by Jill Leahy ACT I. Nagasaki, around 1900. U.S. Navy Lieutenant B. F. Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly) Giacomo Puccini bequeathed us a [choh-choh-SAHN] soprano Pinkerton inspects the house he has leased for 999 years magnificent musical legacy, despite A 15-year-old geisha who marries the fact that many events during his from a marriage broker, Goro. Included with the house are Pinkerton. Their son is called Sorrow, three servants including Suzuki, the maid. They are Trouble, or Dolore [doh-LOH-reh]. lifetime didn’t go his way. None of expecting the bride, Cio-Cio-San, known as Madama his later operas was an immediate Butterfly, whom Pinkerton has purchased for 100 yen. To Benjamin Franklin success, including La bohème (1896), Tosca (1900), Madama the American Consul, Sharpless, Pinkerton describes the Pinkerton tenor carefree philosophy of a sailor roaming the world in search A lieutenant in the U.S. navy who Butterfly (1904), and Turandot (left of pleasure (Dovunque al mondo) . For the moment, he is marries Cio-Cio-San during his time unfinished when he died in 1924). enchanted with the fragile Butterfly, but when Sharpless in Nagasaki. He promises he will La bohème met with mixed reviews, warns that Butterfly may not take her vows so lightly, return to her “when the robins nest". while Tosca , though liked by audiences, was panned by critics. Pinkerton brushes aside such scruples, saying he will one How to tie an obi around a kimono Trouble day marry a “real” American wife. Butterfly is heard in the But the most often reported and Son of Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton. most richly described fiasco was Giacomo Antonio distance joyously singing of her wedding (Ancora un passo or via) . Entering surrounded by associated with the premiere of Domenico Michele friends and family, Pinkerton’s fifteen-year-old bride tells him how she had to earn her living as a Suzuki mezzo-soprano geisha when her family fell on hard times. In a quiet moment (Vieni, amor mio!) , Butterfly displays Madama Butterfly at La Scala Secondo Maria Puccini [soo-ZOO-kee] (1858—1924) her few possessions—including figures of her ancestors—and then reveals that she has converted Butterfly’s faithful servant and friend. theater in Milan in February 1904. to Christianity. The celebration is interrupted by Butterfly’s uncle, a Buddhist monk, who curses Music historians Chadwick Jenkins and John Rizzo describe the Butterfly for having renounced her ancestral religion. Pinkerton angrily sends the guests away. Sharpless baritone scene: 19 th -century Italian opera patrons took opera very U.S. Consul at Nagasaki and friend of Alone with the distraught Butterfly, he dries her tears (Viene la sera) and they proclaim their love seriously. Audiences were very familiar with the works of major under the immense starry sky (Vogliateme bene, un bene piccolino) . Pinkerton who warns him about the seriousness of marrying Cio-Cio-San. composers and had high expectations for new operas. When Intermission audience members didn't like ACT II. Scene 1 Three years later, Butterfly waits for her husband’s return. As Suzuki prays Giuseppe Verdi coined the Goro [GOH-roh] tenor something, they expressed their (E Izaghi ed Izanami) , her mistress stands with her eyes fixed on the harbor. When Suzuki shows word fiasco to describe a Arranges a marriage between feelings then and there—no waiting complete failure, especially her how little money is left, Butterfly urges her to have faith—one fine day Pinkerton’s ship will Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-San. for published reviews. Also it was appear on the horizon (Un bel dì vedremo) .
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