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When young geisha Cio-Cio-San marries the handsome American army lieutenant Pinkerton, she feels herself the luckiest girl alive. She has it all: love, marriage and a beautiful house on top of a hill overlooking the ocean. For Pinkerton she joins church, angering her family, who abandons her. Madama Butterfly, as Pinkerton lovingly calls her, does it all for love. Pinkerton on the other hand, sees her only as a beautiful distraction before he gets married to an American woman: Like the houses in Japan, also marriage is for rent. He leaves her behind and she never loses hope, that he returns. When Pinkerton finally returns, he doesn’t come alone: His wife Kate is with him to pick up the little boy, that Cio-Cio-San has born. Cio-Cio-San’s world lies in shambles.
It is hard to believe, that one of Puccini’s most famous and beloved operas, was a huge flop at it’s premiere.
It is hard to believe, that one of Puccini’s most famous and beloved operas, was a huge flop at it’s premiere in Milano 1904. Puccini was devastated but decided to rework his opera for following shows. This led subsequently to the opera’s belated success. The music is full of beauty – from Pinkerton’s heartfelt goodbye „Addio, mio fiorito asil“ to Madama Butterfly’s heartbreaking aria „Un bel di vedremo“: this opera is a succession of deeply emotional and hauntingly beautiful arias.
Henry Akina staging centers on Madama Butterfly’s personal relations and drama and focuses on the psychology of one of the most tragic one-sided love stories in opera history. The stark contrast between the first act – complete with a lavish Japanese wedding ceremony – and the loneliness of the second and third act underlines the catastrophic personal tragedy.
