48
49
CANADIAN INDUSTRY ONLINE - OCTOBER 2014
EIGHT THINGS TO KNOW:
GIACOMO PUCCINI’S MADAMA
BUTTERFLY
By Nikita Gourski
C/O the Canadian Opera Company
1.
IT’S A CLASSIC OPERA
Madama Butterfly is the story of
Cio-Cio San, a young Japanese geisha
who seeks to fulfil her dreams through
marriage to an American naval officer.
Her faith in their future is shattered by
his empty vows, and the loss she en-
dures makes the opera’s tragic ending
even more devastating. Butterfly is one
of the most popular, most performed
operas in the world.
2.
IT’S A CLASSIC PRODUCTION
An exquisite production by Ca-
nadian theatrical legend Brian Mac-
donald, designed by Susan Benson
with lighting by Michael Whitfield, the
COC’s Madama Butterfly has become
a Toronto favourite, playing to sold-
out audiences at its 1990 premiere and
subsequent revivals in 1994, 1998, 2003
and 2009.
3.
VARIED SOURCES
The opera is based on David Be-
lasco’s play Madame Butterfly, which
Puccini saw in 1900 in London, Eng-
land. Belasco’s play was itself based on
a short story of the same name by John
Luther Long, a Philadelphia lawyer,
who probably structured his narrative
on an even earlier French work, Pierre
Loti’s popular novel, Madame Chry-
santhème, published in 1887. The li-
bretto, by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe
Giacosa, is widely acknowledged as
a masterful synthesis, improving the
above sources through finely delin-
eated characters, sustained drama, and
a tightly structured narrative that lacks
anything inessential.
4.
AT FIRST, A FIASCO
The premiere at La Scala in 1904
was an unmitigated disaster. Boo-
ing, hissing, whistling, chirping, and
other disruptive noises from the audi-
ence derailed the performance almost
completely – the singers claimed they
could not hear the orchestra, and large
portions of the performance were al-
most certainly inaudible to anyone.
No definitive explanation exists as to
why the reaction was so strongly nega-
tive, but several factors might have
played a part: a prejudicial press corps
COC
