The true story of Cio-Cio-San (photo). Madame Butterfly. My thoughts on Chii Chio San's opera

Cio-Cio-san and Pinkerton

In distant Japan, in the city of Nagasaki, spring came, sakura blossomed charmingly, in general - everything that could bloom bloomed. US Navy lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton has decided to marry a Japanese geyshu Chio-Cio-san, nicknamed Butterfly, that is, "Butterfly". He needs this in order to have fun, but he was not going to think about a serious relationship.

For the wedding, the lieutenant rented a hilltop house near Nagasaki overlooking the bay and city. Japanese Goro showed this house to Pinkerton. The house is more like a card house - prefabricated and very fragile. The wind will blow a little, and it will fall apart or it will simply be taken down from the hill. And to climb the hill along a narrow rocky path is not a pleasant pleasure. Pinkerton expressed all this to Goro, but nevertheless he doesn’t refuse the house - fresh air, flowering gardens around the house, a wonderful view from above on the bay and the city of Nagasaki. Yes, and he didn’t live here, but his Japanese wife - Butterfly.

Pinkerton asks Goro about Butterfly, what impression she makes. Goro describes it like this: "A garland of fresh flowers, a star exuding golden rays." Butterfly father died, but there is an elderly mother, cousins, uncle - a bonza (Buddhist monk, priest) and another distant relative. After the death of his father, he and his mother were in poverty, and Butterfly had to become a geisha. There were times when a family knew wealth. To become a geisha — to sing and dance to the joy of others — was offensive to the girl. She is very happy that she was asked to marry. Butterfly’s dowry is very modest: a fan, hair clips, combs, a belt, a jar with blush, a mirror. But she also has shrines, to which she treated with special trepidation. These are figures - the spirits of her ancestors - and the knife with which the father of Chio-Cio-san made himself a hara-kiri. Relatives Butterfly are not quite happy with the groom: “He is a foreigner, he will leave her!” For the sake of marriage, Cio-Cio-san is ready to give up her faith and adopt Christianity: after all, they must pray to God alone and go to the same church. She already secretly went to the missionary and converted to Christianity.

There were preparations in the house. Goro introduced Pinkerton to the servants of Cio-Cio-san. These are Suzuki and two other male servants. They came to the house before their mistress to furnish him, prepare him for the wedding and the first wedding night of Butterfly and Pinkerton.

The lieutenant paid with Goro, who was very pleased to leave, hiding paper money in his pocket.

One of the guests at the wedding was supposed to be the American consul in Japan, Sharples. He first appeared in the house where the celebration was to take place.

Pinkerton frankly confessed to the consul that he was going to have some fun with Butterfly. He generally considered himself lucky and invincible. Japan seems to him a wild country where the laws of civilized countries cannot be respected. And his marriage to Butterfly is a pure scam. He marries a girl, spends the night with her and disappears the next morning - the contract is broken and no one owes anything to anyone. The local wedding will not be an obstacle to his marriage in his country.

Sharpless vainly appealed to Pinkerton's conscience - begged him not to ruin the life of Butterfly: not to break off the wings of a butterfly and not to injure a gullible heart. But he replied that he was not going to break the wings of a butterfly, but wanted to send her to swim in the waves of love. The lieutenant invited Sharples to a table for a drink for his real future wedding with an American. The consul was never able to dissuade Pinkerton from his indecent marriage venture.

Soon the long-awaited Butterfly appeared with relatives and guests. Before appearing in the garden, they also climbed the hill for a long time, Pinkerton and Sharples heard her joyful and wonderful singing. The girl was dressed in a white kimono with long sleeves, and her hair, laid in classic Japanese boucle with hairpins, was decorated with white jasmine flowers. The handsome lieutenant was dressed in a white full dress uniform of the navy.

An official came and performed the wedding ceremony: “Today, the United States Navy lieutenant Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton and the young lady Butterfly from the Omar district of Nagasaki are married. He is of her own free will, she is with the consent of relatives. ” He called them "spouse" and "spouse." Guests congratulated the young.

But Uncle Butterfly, a bonza, came to the wedding. He learned that Cio-Cio-san went to the missionary and changed her religion. He was angry, hit Butterfly, the poor girl fell. He said that if Cio-Cio-san renounced their religion, then all relatives would renounce it. All guests are gone.

Pinkerton helped the crying Butterfly rise from the earth, comforted her in every way. He told her compliments, promised a happy life and eternal love. Chio-Cio-san melted at his compliments and calmed down. Suzuki's maid entered the room and said that Chio-Cio-san’s marital outfit was ready, and you could already go change. She helped her mistress take an even more seductive look. Pinkerton was delighted with her beauty, grabbed her in her arms and brought her into the house for night comforts.

The next morning, Pinkerton sailed on a warship to his place in America.

Three years have passed.

Cio-Cio-san still lived in this small house and dutifully waited for her husband to return home. Suzuki had long understood that Pinkerton would never return, and somehow she had to convince the lady to change her lifestyle so that she kicked this traitor from her heart and married someone else. Moreover, the money runs out - in a small wallet with a rope, only pennies remain, this is the last money. If Pinkerton does not return, then all of them will face poverty.

Cio-Cio-san is horrified by the prospect of becoming a geisha again - singing and dancing for others. She is now a married woman, moreover, she is married to an American, therefore, she should not dishonor him with inappropriate behavior. Suzuki does not believe in Pinkerton's return: “Has anyone heard that foreign husbands are returning?”

Consul Sharples received a letter from Pinkerton, in which he said that he had been married to an American for three years and asked to announce Butterfly. Sharples came to her house, but she did not want to listen to him, she grieved that her husband had not been there for so long, but assured that she would wait forever. She showed the consul to the boy — her son and Pinkerton — blue-eyed and blond. After all, the Japanese are not with such a bright appearance. She firmly believed that when Pinkerton found out about the existence of her son, she would rush to him across the seas and oceans. And then she would not have to walk with the child in her arms in the streets, sing and dance for a piece of bread.

Sharples left and promised to inform Pinkerton about his son.

Pinkerton soon arrived in Japan with his wife. Chio-Cio-san found out when, when she heard a shot from the ship, she looked through a telescope and saw in the harbor the ship on which her husband had sailed. She excitedly decorated the house and, together with her son, expected Pinkerton. But Pinkerton never came to their house that day. Butterfly waited for him at the window almost until morning. Suzuki persuaded her to go to sleep, promising to wake her when Pinkerton arrives. The exhausted Butterfly fell asleep.

At this time, Sharpless and Pinkerton came to her house with their American wife. Sharpless and Pinkerton specially came at this early hour to catch Suzuki alone and tell her the truth about Pinkerton's marriage to an American.

Pinkerton was thrilled by the familiar atmosphere, the smell of flowers, shocked by the fact that Butterfly was waiting for him, and kept him faithful. He realized that she really loved him all this time, and he simply played with her. He did not dare, he simply did not have the guts or the conscience to meet Butterfly and look into her eyes. He left, instructing Sharpless to tell Butterfly everything - that he was married to another.

Pinkerton’s wife, meanwhile, persuaded Suzuki to give her son Chio-Cio-san so that he and Pinkerton would take him to America.

Awakened Butterfly on the face of an American and from the words of the consul understood everything. What a sorrow for a mother to part with her child, just take it and give it to her unfaithful husband and his second wife. But Butterfly is a Japanese woman, and she obeyed her husband's desire: she agreed to give him a son.

When everyone was gone, she curtained the room and began to prepare for death. The young woman tenderly said goodbye to her son: “Son! You are my God! Come to me, give me a hug. We will never see each other again, but you remember that I am your mother. Look at me - remember every line of my face and never forget! I love you very much, my baby. " She gave him toys and blindfolded, and herself behind the screen, she stabbed herself with a dagger, the very one with which her father had stabbed himself.

A minute later Pinkerton rushed into the room, but saw her already dead. He was shocked to the core, but late.

Investigation King Alan Pinkerton (August 25, 1819, Glasgow, Scotland - July 1, 1884, Chicago) In 1862, President A. Lincoln traveled on a special train from Philadelphia to Washington. The route ran through Baltimore, where the southerners were preparing an assassination attempt on just

Action one

Pinkerton, an American Navy lieutenant, became interested in a young Japanese woman, Cio-Cio-san, called Butterfly (in English, a butterfly), and decided to marry her. Mountain-professional Japanese matchmaker - shows him a house with a garden, shot for future spouses. Consul Sharples in vain warns his friend against a rash step. The lieutenant does not listen to persuasion: "Tearing flowers wherever possible," - such is his life philosophy. And Cio-Cio-san passionately loves her future husband. For his sake, she is ready to accept Christianity and go on a break with her family. In the presence of the imperial commissar, the wedding ceremony begins. She is interrupted by the angry voice of Bonza, Uncle Chio-Cio-san, who curses her niece. Left close, the girl weeps bitterly; Pinkerton consoles her.

Action two

3 years have passed since then. Pinkerton left shortly after the wedding; Cio-Cio-san is passionately awaiting his return. Abandoned by her husband, abandoned by her relatives, she lives with a servant and little son, whose existence Pinkerton does not even suspect. Cio-Cio-san suffers a need, but hope does not leave her. Goro and Sharpless come in, who received a letter from Pinkerton asking them to prepare Cio-Cio-san for hard news: he married an American. However, Sharples is unable to read the letter. Hearing that her husband is healthy and is due to arrive in Nagasaki, Chio-Chio-san interrupts him with a joyful exclamation. Prince Yamadori appears, for whom Goro intensively wooed Chio-Cio-san. Having received a polite refusal, he is forced to leave. Sharples advises her to accept Yamadori's offer; he hints that Pinkerton may not return, but the faith of the young woman is unshakable. A cannon shot is heard - this is a US ship entering the port where Pinkerton is supposed to arrive.

In joyful excitement, Cio-Cio-san decorates the house with flowers and, waiting for her husband, peers into the lights of an approaching ship.

Action Three

Night passed, but Cio-Cio-san waited in vain. Tired, she breaks away from the window and, rocking the child, falls asleep. There is a knock on the door. A happy servant sees Pinkerton accompanied by Sharpless, but with them is an unknown lady. Sharples reveals the truth to Suzuki: this is Pinkerton’s wife, Kat. Upon learning that he had a son, Pinkerton came to pick him up. Hearing voices, Cio-Cio-san runs out of his room. Finally she understood what had happened. Shocked to the core, Cio-Cio-san listens to the will of the child's father. She agrees to give up the boy, but cannot survive the collapse of all her hopes. Gently saying goodbye to his son, Cio-Cio-san kills himself with a dagger.

CHIO-CHIO-SAN (MADAME BUTTERFLY)

Opera in two acts (three scenes)

Libretto L. Illika and D. Jacoza

Characters:

Cio-Cio-san (Madame Butterfly) Suzuki, Chio-Cio-san's maid Pinkerton, Navy lieutenant Kat, his wife Sharples, American Consul Goro, matchmaker Prince Yamadori Bonze Commissioner Registry Officer Son Cio-Cio-san

soprano mezzo soprano tenor soprano baritone tenor tenor bass bass without speeches without speeches

Relatives, friends, girlfriends and servants of Cio-Cio-san.

The action takes place in Nagasaki (Japan) at the endXIX century.

HISTORY OF CREATION

The opera Cio-Cio-san (Madame Butterfly) is based on the short story by the American writer John L. Long, reworked by D. Belasco into a drama. After seeing the play during his stay in London, Puccini was thrilled by her life truthfulness. At his suggestion, the librettists L. Illika (1859-1919) and D. Jacoza (1847-1906) wrote an opera libretto based on the drama. Soon, music was created. At the first performance, held on February 17, 1904 in Milan, the opera, however, failed and was removed from the repertoire. The audience did not understand its content and was indignant at the excessive duration of the second act. Puccini reduced some numbers, divided the second act into two independent actions. Performed with these minor changes three months later, the opera was a triumphal success and quickly gained a strong reputation as one of the most popular modern operas.

The appeal to the plot from the life of distant Japan corresponded to the end common in European artXIX and early XX centuries of gravitation towards exoticism, the desire of artists to enrich their palette with new colors. But Puccini did not set himself the special task of reproducing the national Japanese flavor in music. The main thing for him was the image of touching human drama. In its embodiment, the composer was able not only to preserve, but also to deepen the content of the literary source.

MUSIC

The opera "Cio-Cio-san" is a lyrical drama, fully and multifaceted revealing the image of the main character. The alternation of singing cantilated arias and expressive recitations, united into wide scenes, which is generally characteristic of Puccini's opera style, is especially characteristic of Cio-Cio-san. In the music of the opera, several authentic Japanese melodies are used, organically woven into the musical fabric.

The first act opens with an energetic introduction. Pinkerton’s aria “The Yankee Wanderer” is marked by courageous, strong-willed features. The lyric melody of Arioso Pinkerton's “Caprice il Passion” sounds fervently and enthusiastically. Arioso Chio-Cio-san is piercing with a rapture of love. The large ensemble with the choir conveys the contrasting feelings of the participants: Sharpless’s fears and Pinkerton’s declaration of love, admiration or disappointment of the others. Humility and humility are heard in the arioso Chio-Cio-san. “Yes, before your fate.” With the advent of Bonza, music takes on the shade of an ominous threat. Pinkerton and Cio-Cio-san breathe languid bliss.

The beginning of the first picture of the second act is full of anxiety and anxiety. Woefully agitated mournful music accompanies the dialogue Butterfly and Suzuki. Aria Butterfly Fulfilled Passion Dream"On a clear day welcome." The sad appeal to my son, “What will I have to take you on hand” is replaced by the sincere arioso “Let the flowers be your petals”. The final choir, singing without words, conveys the silence of the night.

The orchestral introduction to the second picture (second act) 1 by its drama anticipates the fateful denouement. The next bright and calm orchestral episode depicts the sunrise. Terzet’s music captures Sharples’s perseverance, Suzuki’s fright and despair, Pinkerton’s remorse. Sadness filled Arioso Pinkerton "Farewell, my peaceful haven." The following scene is saturated with a sense of alertness and anxious expectation. The last arioso Butterfly “And I, I go far” is imbued with calm determination. The final chords of the opera sound mournfully and majestically.

1 This picture is usually given as an independent third act.

ACTION I

Japan, the beginning of the XX century. US Navy lieutenant B.F. Pinkerton inspects a hilltop house overlooking Nagasaki Harbor, which he rents from Goro's mating broker. Goro also signed a contract with him for the young geisha Chio-Cio-san, nicknamed Madame Butterfly. The American Consul Sharpless arrives at the wedding, and Pinkerton describes his philosophy of the fearless Yankee wandering the world in search of pleasures. He is not sure whether he loves a young geisha, or is it just a whim, but agrees to a marriage ceremony. Sharples warns him that the girl may take this seriously, but Pinkerton dismisses and says that one day he will take a real, American wife.

Butterfly rises to the hill with friends. Having officially introduced herself to her fiancé, she says that she is 15 years old, her family once occupied an important position, but now she has become impoverished, and Butterfly is forced to earn her living by the craft of a geisha. Her relatives come and start a conversation about the wedding. Cio-Cio-san shows Pinkerton his few things and in an undertone says that she was on a Christian mission and will accept the religion of her husband. The imperial commission agent announces the marriage contract, relatives congratulate the young. Suddenly a menacing voice is heard: this is Uncle Butterfly, a bonza priest. He curses the girl for converting to Christianity and rejecting the religion of her ancestors. Pinkerton orders everyone to leave, shocked relatives take the side of the bonza and renounce Chio-Cio-san. Pinkerton tries to console Butterfly with gentle words. Suzuki's maid helps her put on her wedding kimono, and Butterfly goes to Pinkerton's garden, where they marry under a starry sky.

ACTION II, PART I

Three years have passed, and Butterfly awaits the return of her husband. Sharpless brings a letter from Pinkerton, but he does not have time to read it, as Goro appears with another bridegroom for Butterfly, the rich prince of Yamadori. Butterfly politely gives guests tea, but insists that she is not free - her American husband did not leave her, but temporarily left. She refuses Goro and Yamadori.

Sharpless is about to read the letter, but Butterfly interrupts him all the time, excitedly asking about her husband. Finally, the consul asks what she will do if Pinkerton never returns. The shocked Butterfly responds that in this case she has two choices - either to become a geisha again, or - which is preferable - to die. Sharples says that maybe she should still consider Yamadori’s proposal. “But what about this?” - exclaims the angry Butterfly, showing the consul of his little son. Sharpless does not find the strength to tell her about the contents of the letter and leaves, promising to inform Pinkerton about the child.

From the port comes a cannon shot announcing the arrival of the ship. Butterfly and Suzuki look through a telescope and see the name of Pinkerton's ship. Happy Butterfly along with Suzuki decorates the house with flowers plucked in the garden. The night is coming. Butterfly with his son and Suzuki look at the harbor and wait.

ACTION II, PART II

At dawn, Suzuki persuades Butterfly to sleep. Butterfly takes the child to another room. Sharpless and Pinkerton come with their new wife Kate. Suzuki understands who this American is and agrees to tell everything Butterfly. Pinkerton is tormented by guilty feelings and hastily leaves, remembering the days spent in a small house. Chio-Cio-san runs in, expecting to see Pinkerton, but Kate meets her instead. Understanding what happened, Cio-Cio-san agrees to give up the child, but insists that Pinkerton himself come for his son. She tells everyone to leave and takes out a dagger, which her father committed suicide, preferring to die with honor than to live in disgrace. The run-in child interrupts her intention, but she says goodbye to him and blindfolds him. Pinkerton calls Butterfly, and at that moment she stabs herself.

Japanese tragedy in two acts
Giacomo Puccini on the libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica
based on the play by David Belasco's "Madame Butterfly" - based, in turn, on the story of John Luther Long - the latter, however, borrowed something from Pierre Loti's novel "Madame Chrysanthemum."

Premiere: Milan, La Scala, February 17, 1904 (edited version: Brescia, Teatro Grande, May 28, 1904).
Cio Cio San (Madame Butterfly) soprano
Suzuki, her servant mezzo-soprano
F. B. Pinkerton, US Navy lieutenant tenor
Sharpless, Consul of the United States at Nagasaki Baritone
Goro, a tenor marriage agent
Prince Yamadori Tenor
Bonza Uncle Cio Cio San Bass
Yakushida
Imperial commissioner bass
Bass recorder
Mother Cio Cio San Mezzo Soprano
Aunt soprano
Cousin soprano
Kate Pinkerton Mezzo Soprano
Dolore ("Sorrow"), son of Cio-Cio-San role without singing

Relatives, friends and acquaintances of Cio-Cio-San, a servant.
The action takes place in Nagasaki in the early twentieth century.

The story of Madame Butterfly, put by Puccini at the base of the opera of the same name, has its roots in a rather deep past. In 1816, the Italian traveler Carletti wrote that as soon as foreign sailors molested the Japanese coast, "mediators and pimps who controlled all these processes called their wards and asked the sailors whether they would like to rent, buy, or whatever then get a woman in a different way - for the time that they will spend in the harbor "; then a contract was concluded with the intermediary or the girl’s family. A similar practice continued with Dutch merchants: for two hundred and fifty years, they, as the only foreigners in Japan at that time, could live on the tiny artificial island of Dejma in Nagasaki harbor, using the services of the above "service". When the French navigator and writer Pierre Loti arrived in the Land of the Rising Sun in 1885, this tradition did not change at all - as evidenced by his detailed and rather popular novel, which narrated about his six-week “marriage” with a certain “Madame Chrysanthemum”.

Thus, it is not surprising that when the missionaries of the American Methodist Church, Irvine and Jenny Corrella, arrived in Japan in 1892, this practice first attracted their attention.
At first they were not in a hurry with stories on this subject; only much later did Jenny tell one incident - which, according to her, was told to her by the owner of a local store somewhere in 1895, and the story itself had happened more than twenty years earlier.

In 1897, Jenny went on vacation to America, where she stayed for a while in Philadelphia with her brother John Luther Long. The latter was a lawyer, however - considering himself a person who was not devoid of ability, he devoted a lot of time to literary works. Exactly one year after meeting with his sister, he published in the Century Illustrated Magazine a short story entitled Madame Butterfly, which was based on a real story from Nagasaki told by his sister.

Pretty soon, the story of Long awoke the imagination of playwright David Belasco - and turned into a play that Puccini saw in London in the summer of 1900; the composer was very impressed with the play "Madame Butterfly" and decided to write an opera on the same story.

The straightforward story and the few facts that Jenny Correll found out in Nagasaki were long and Belasco professionally crafted and structured into a novel and a dynamic one-act play - of course, by adding numerous "authentic" Japanese details (those, in turn, were largely borrowed from Loti’s novel “Madame Chrysanthemum.” Prototypes of characters such as Pinkerton, Goro and Suzuki clearly “emerged” from the above-mentioned novel); however, in the story of Long there are numerous real facts, for a long time unknown to the world, told by his sister.

She told her brother the following. Somewhere in the seventies of the XIX century, three Scottish brothers lived in Nagasaki: Thomas, Alex and Alfred Glovers. One of them (perhaps Alex - although it is impossible to say for sure, of course) had a romantic relationship with a Japanese woman named Kaga Maki, who entertained the audience in a local tea house under the name Cho-san, or Miss Butterfly. The fact that such relations with a foreigner at that time was perceived by others as a “temporary” marriage, we have already mentioned; such an union usually cost one hundred yen or twenty Mexican dollars, and a “marriage” could be easily dissolved at the behest of the “husband” at any time.

During a relationship with a Scot, Kaga Maki became pregnant, and on December 8, 1870, she gave birth to a son, calling him Shinsaburo. Father soon left the woman and the child, leaving Japan. After some time, the father's brother (Thomas) and Japanese Avaya Tsuru, with whom he lived in a civil marriage, took the child from Kag Maki; women of her profession were not allowed to raise children, and by a court decision they gave the child to Thomas and Avaya Tsuru - he became a member of the family in the house of his adoptive parents.
The name of the child was changed to Tomisaburo (in everyday life, calling him just Tom); he later became known as Tom Glover.
At the time when Jenny Correll lived in Nagasaki, Tom Glover, having completed his studies at the universities of Japan and America, returned to his hometown, where he settled, officially registering the new Japanese family of Gurab (this is the name of Glover in Japanese).

Those who knew that Tom Glover is the son of Butterfly remained silent, although John Luther Long acknowledged him in a private conversation. In the early thirties of the last century, Jenny Correll and the Japanese soprano Miura Tamaki (who sang the Butterfly lot many times, and a few years earlier discussed in private conversation with Long the real details of the whole story) were the only ones who could confirm this fact. In 1931, Tom Glover confirmed in an interview that his mother was Madame Butterfly; Japanese account registration studies have also confirmed this.

What happened to real people who served as prototypes for this drama? After her child was transferred to another family, Kaga Maki (Miss Cho-Cho-san) married the Japanese and left with him in another city. After some time, they divorced and she returned to Nagasaki, where she died in 1906.

Her son Tom Glover ("Dolore" in the opera) lived in Nagasaki, where he married a woman named Nakano Waka, the daughter of an English merchant; they had no children. Glover lost his wife during World War II.
The war years affected him hard: in August 1945, after the surrender of Japan, after the nightmare of the American atomic bombing of Nagasaki, he committed suicide.

Thus, the events of real life that formed the basis of Puccini's heartbreaking drama turned out to be almost more tragic than the opera itself. There is no evidence that Kaga Maki - the real Butterfly - has ever managed to see Tomisaburo again. Her son, whose name (Dolore, or Sorrow) in the opera was once supposed to change to Gioia (Joy), was haunted by misfortunes until his tragic death.

Having seen the staging of the Belasco play in London in June 1900, Puccini immediately sent the playwright a request for rights. However, for one reason or another, official issues were settled only by September next year. Meanwhile, the composer had already sent a copy of the story of Long Luigi Illike, who sketched a sketch of a two-act libretto. The first (originally planned as a Prologue), was entirely built according to the story of Long and showed the wedding of Pinkerton and Cho-Cho-san (which her friends called Butterfly); the second act was based on the events of the play of Belasco and was divided into three scenes, where the first and third took place in the Butterfly house, and the second in the American consulate.

When Giuseppe Giacosa began to put the libretto in poetic form, the Prologue developed into the First Act, and the first scene of the second part grew into the Second Act. Illika intended to leave the ending in agreement with Long's book (where Butterfly fails to commit suicide: her child suddenly runs in and Suzuki bandages her wounds) - but the final decision was made in favor of the terrible Belasco ending.
The libretto remained unfinished until November 1902 - and then Puccini, despite the passionate protests of Dzhakozy, decided to lower the stage at the American consulate, and with it the contrast between the atmosphere and culture of Japan and the West, which Illika so desired. Instead, the two remaining scenes were merged into one act, lasting an hour and a half.

Giacosa found this so incredible stupidity that he insisted on printing the missing text in the libretto; however, Ricordi did not agree.

Work on the work was interrupted in February 1903: an avid motorist Puccini had an accident and was seriously injured: his right leg was broken, which began to grow together incorrectly, and had to be artificially broken again; he recovered for a long time.
The score was completed in December, and at the same time - the premiere was scheduled for February next year with the finest composition: Rosina Storkio (Butterfly), Giovanni Zenatello (Pinkerton) and Giuseppe de Luca - Charples; Conductor - Cleofonte Campanini.

Despite the fact that both the singers and the orchestra showed a lot of enthusiasm in working on the preparation of the opera, the premiere became a nightmare; Puccini was accused of self-repetition and imitation of other composers. The composer immediately recalled the opera; quite confident in the merits of Butterfly, he nevertheless made some changes to the score - before allowing it to be performed anywhere else. Puccini threw out some details regarding the relationship of Butterfly in the First Act, divided the long Second Act into two parts with an intermission, and added “Addio, fiorito asil” to Pinkerton's arietta.

The second performance took place on May 28 of the same year at the Teatro Grande in Brescia; the composition of the soloists remained the same, with the exception of Rosina Storkio - Butterfly was performed by Salome Krushelnitskaya. This time the opera was expected to triumph.

However, Puccini continued to work on the score - mainly changes related to the First Act. The composer's refinements ended with the Parisian premiere given at the Opera-Comic on December 28, 1906 - it was these performances that formed the basis of the final printed version of the score.

On the advice of Albert Carré, the theater director and husband of the prima donna, Puccini softened Pinkerton's character by eliminating his harsh statements of a xenophobic nature and also abandoned the confrontation between Butterfly and Kate - the latter, thus, acquired more attractive features. Be that as it may, at the beginning of this year, Ricordi had already published a clavier, in which you can find many original passages that were later discarded by the composer. Three of them - all from Act One - were restored for performances at the Milan Carcano Theater shortly after World War I with the approval of Puccini himself. Be that as it may, they were not reproduced in print again.

Part of the music from the manuscript was directed by Joachim Hertz in 1978, and the completely "early" version of Madame Butterfly was given at the La Fenice Theater in 1982 and at Leeds in 1991.

First act

Mountain near Nagasaki; in the foreground is a Japanese house with a terrace and a garden.

An orchestral fugato introduces the listener into a troublesome, fussy atmosphere; Goro shows the lieutenant Pinkerton the house in which, after marriage with Butterfly, he will have to settle with his chosen one, showing the lieutenant all the specific "bells and whistles" of the Japanese house, including sliding panels; Pinkerton finds them ridiculously fragile.
Pinkerton is introduced to the cook, the maid of Suzuki (the latter immediately begins to bother Pinkerton with her relentless crackling).
While Goro is expanding the list of wedding guests, a breathless Sharpless appears: he climbed the mountain from Nagasaki on foot. The characterizing motive draws its soft, not alien to good humor character.

By order of Goro, servants carry drinks and wicker chairs for Sharpless and Pinkerton. The latter explains that he bought the house for rent for ninety-nine years, but the contract can be broken at any time, notifying the intention for a month. In his solo "Dovunque al mondo" (he is surrounded by the initial bars of the American anthem "Star-Spangled Banner", which is later used as a leitmotif), Pinkerton expounds his (rather, simple, by the way) outlook on life. Like, a Yankee wandering the world should enjoy earthly joys wherever he finds them (“Not very complicated principles,” Sharpless notes to himself).

The lieutenant sends Goro to bring the bride, and he himself begins to spread, as they say, about the charms of her and her passionate passion for her. Sharpless recalls hearing her voice when she was visiting the consulate; his simple, sincere sounds touched him - and he hoped that Pinkerton would never bring suffering to the girl. (Hope, of course, is not harmful ...) Pinkerton chuckles at his doubts and torments - such, they say, typical of boring people of respectable age.

Both raise glasses of whiskey and toast - naturally, for America-mother! (The anthem motif reappears). The lieutenant immediately adds a small “trailer” to the patriotic toast: that day, they say, when he introduces his American wife.
Goro announces the imminent arrival of Butterfly and her friends; distant female voices are heard.

As the procession approaches, a brilliant theme unfolds in the orchestra, starting with a series of ascending sequences; each phrase ends with a solid chord, and then unfolds into a broad melody that subsides, turning into a sort of “ethnic-Japanese” pentatonic motif.
Butterfly, whose voice soared over the whole crowd of women, and - as it should be in all these Japanese ceremonies - bows to men. Sharpless will ask Butterfly about her family, about life. The girl says that she is fifteen years old (here Puccini must have grinned at his mustache while writing the opera, imagining the dimensions of the dramatic sopranos that will play this part ...); she was born in a prosperous and wealthy family, but hard times came, and she had to start earning her bread on her own (the story "Nessuno si confessa mai nato in poverta") - so Butterfly became a geisha. The touched Sharpless warns Pinkerton again that he takes care of the girl and does not cause her grief.

Meanwhile, the guests are all arriving; Butterfly's mother, cousin, aunt and uncle Yakushida appear - the latter immediately requires a hefty portion of sake. Women exchange impressions of the bride's room - of course, not everyone likes her! - until, according to the Butterfly sign, they bow in a servile bow to Pinkerton and immediately dissolve without a trace.

Butterfly demonstrates to Pinkerton his touching “treasures” and souvenirs that she hides in the very capacious sleeves of her kimono: a clasp, clay pipe, belt, box of rouge (noticing Pinkerton’s mocking look, she throws it out right away), and the narrow sheath that she hurries brings in the house. Goro explains that a dagger is stored in these sheaths, with the help of which her father committed suicide on the orders of the emperor. Returning, she shows the figures in which the spirits of her ancestors live. However, Butterfly immediately adds that she has recently visited an American mission in order to abandon the faith of her ancestors and accept the religion of her beloved husband.

  ["Vieni, amor mio!" ] Goro calls for silence: the Imperial Commissioner announces the wedding, and everyone present makes a toast to the happiness of the young - "O Kami! O Kami!". (In the original version in this place was a hoppy arietta of the bitten sake Yakushida, who decided to punish the child for bad behavior). The holiday is interrupted by the appearance of Bonza; bursting in, he profusely curses Butterfly for renunciation of faith and conversion to Christianity. Bonza also curses her whole kin — apparently, for convincingness — no less thoroughly (Puccini embodies the terrible curse in a solid-toned motif of the orchestra).

Relatives and friends run away in horror; Pinkerton himself encourages those who are braver to the exit in a relative way with strong kicks.
Left alone with the bride, Pinkerton consoles her; you can hear Suzuki mumbling his evening prayers to these mysterious Japanese gods. The big, beautiful duet of the newlyweds “Viene la sera” follows, fancifully woven from several tunes - now ecstatic-enthusiastic, then touching-tender. Twice there is a “curse motive” - the first time Butterfly remembers how she broke up with her family, and the second - when she suddenly talks about how often the most beautiful butterflies are stitched with a collector's pin. The duet ends with a grandiose reprise of the theme that sounded in the orchestra at the time of the first Butterfly appearance.
[Listen to the duet (for convenience divided into three parts): "Viene la sera"; "Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia"; "Vogliatemi bene, un bene piccolino"]

Second act

First picture
In the Butterfly House; three years have passed.

Butterfly alone, with Suzuki - she prays to her mysterious Japanese gods that her mistress’s suffering will soon end. Butterfly sarcastically remarks that these gods are terribly lazy; the Pinkerton God is another matter! He will come soon and help her - if only he only knows how to find her!

All their money was almost over, and Suzuki doubts (surprisingly robust, by the way!) That Pinkerton will ever return.
The angry Butterfly reminds the maid how Pinkerton arranged payments for the house through the consul, how he put locks on the doors - and how he promised to return as soon as the "first swallows began to twist their nests."

In her famous aria "On a beautiful, long-awaited day" ["Un bel di vedremo"], she talks about the imminent return of the lieutenant and about her future joy.
But then Goro and Sharpless appear; in the last in his hands is a letter from Pinkerton. Butterfly joyfully and cordially invites them to the house, and then asks Sharpless if he knows how many times a year in this distant and mysterious America swallows make their nests? The consul is confused and somehow responds very vaguely ...

Prince Yamadori appears with a marriage proposal, but Butterfly mockingly rejects his courtship: she is a married woman according to the laws of America, where divorce (as she is sure) is a crime punishable by justice.
Yamadori leaves, and Sharpless begins reading the letter, in which Pinkerton says that he intends to leave Butterfly forever - however, she can not understand the contents of the letter, and Sharpless stops reading. He asks Butterfly what she would do if Pinkerton never returned to her - she replies that she could, of course, return to the profession of a geisha, but rather would have committed suicide.

Sharpless angered her with his advice to accept Yamadori's offer; she rushes into the next room and brings the child, whose father is Pinkerton. Amazed and moved to the depths of his soul, Sharpless promises to inform Pinkerton about this and leaves.

Suzuki drags by the scruff of the neck (or by the sleeve, much depends on the director) Goro; she "caught" one when he spread slanderous and insulting gossip about the possible paternity of a child. Butterfly threatens to kill him, but then lets him go, not hiding her contempt.
A gun shot in the harbor announces the arrival of the ship. At the "Un bel di" orchestral reprisal, Butterfly grabs a telescope and sees the name "Abraham Lincoln" on board the incoming vessel - this is Pinkerton’s warship! They, from Suzuki, winged, go out onto the veranda with the duo "Scuoti quella fronda di ciliegio".
Decorating himself as "on our wedding day", Butterfly prepares for a long night of waiting; Suzuki with a child are arranged side by side.
In the singing of an invisible choir (behind the scenes), a musical theme revives without words, on which Sharpless tried to read Pinkerton's letter. It's getting dark.

The second picture

Interlude (in the original, it was combined with the previous howls of the choir), paints Butterfly's disturbing thoughts. Under the distant cries of the sailors, the sun rises - Butterfly, Suzuki and the child are in exactly the same position and position as the sunset caught them.
Butterfly sings a lullaby and carries the child to the next room - where he almost instantly falls asleep.

Pinkerton and Sharpless appear; Suzuki notices some woman in the garden - and Sharpless reports that this is Kate, Pinkerton’s wife. They want, according to the consul, to pick up the child in order to give him a "good American upbringing." (We all know the price for him, right? ..)
At the same time, Sharpless reproaches the lieutenant for his heartlessness. Pinkerton pours out his remorse, confusion and repentance in the arietta "Addio, fiorito asil" (added by Puccini for staging in Brescia) - and then cowardly "molts", unable to look into the eyes of his wife and bride, whom he so cruelly betrayed.
Butterfly enters - and meets face to face with Sharpless, Suzuki, and Kate. When she finally understands everything that happens, in all ruthlessness - she asks those present to leave and return in half an hour. Then Butterfly forever says goodbye to the child - and retreating behind the screen, inflicts a mortal blow with a dagger - the very one that her father had once committed suicide. Pinkerton's voice is heard, desperately calling out her name.

In this opera, Puccini’s ability (so necessary for the opera composer) to convert a rather stilted (albeit pathetic) piece, cut according to sound stencils, into an impressive and large-scale musical drama was manifested with all its brightness.

Why Puccini, with rare exceptions, focused in his work on female suffering, why in most cases he “killed” his heroines in the finale of the opera is probably a topic for another study. But in Butterfly Puccini, along with his librettists (who, as always, worked under his supervision and dictatorship), brought out a tragic figure of an extraordinary scale, going through the opera during the cross way from almost childlike innocence to an “adult” understanding of the reality of this life, from resentment and protest - to the silent and noble acceptance of one's fate; and suicide Butterfly becomes not an act of despair of a weak girl, but the apotheosis of the affirmation by the person of his moral principles, his code of honor over the vain realities of both civilizations - eastern and western.

In many ways, Butterfly became the pinnacle of the gallery of the fragile and suffering Puccini heroines; perhaps the closest to her character was only one more heroine - slave Liu in Turandot.

Puccini used at least seven original Japanese folk tunes in Madame Butterfly. Thus, the composer not only recreated the "authentic Oriental atmosphere", but also expanded his own musical language, for Puccini did not quote any melody, but seemed to be woven, "implanted" in his sophisticated and whimsical own style.
The scale of musical images, the whimsicality of the musical language of Puccini in this opera significantly exceeds everything that he wrote before. The love duet in Act One, for example, is the longest and most fancifully finished of all duets ever written by Puccini.

Although the leitmotifs and “leitharmonies” still play an important role in this work of the composer, their use is no longer as straightforward as, say, in canonical Wagnerian opuses. In the already mentioned example (the second note example on this page), the theme of the “curse” is far from always connected with Bonza, but turns into the image of rock as such; and the theme that arises when Butterfly first appears is fully developed the moment she tells Pinkerton about her visit to the American mission in order to renounce her religion and accept her husband’s faith ("Io seguo il mio destino") - that is, at its first appearance, this motive did not yet bear the emotional and semantic load with which it begins to be associated with the development of the drama. In his later works, Puccini more and more used this technique - the use of “multilayer” and “multisense” motifs and harmonic sequences devoid of straightforward figurative associations or rigidly fixed personal characteristics.

As mentioned above, the premiere was greeted by the screeching and hooting of the public - this failure (as we well know from history, those operas that subsequently became recognized textbook masterpieces “failed” too were probably “directed” by rivals - the publisher Sondzonyo and those composers that were published with him.

The morning after the nightmarish premiere, Puccini wrote: “... It was just Lynch’s trial! These cannibals didn’t listen to a single note. What a terrifying orgy of crazy, intoxicated with hatred! However, my Butterfly remains what it was: the most deeply felt and artistic of all the operas I have written! "

Nevertheless, editing the opera to be presented at the Teatro Grande in Brescia on May 28, 1904, Puccini received an unprecedented success with almost the same composition of the soloists as in La Scala - with the exception of the main character, whose part was perfectly performed by Salomia Krushelnitskaya. The composer was bowed ten times.

Abroad, Madame Butterfly was first performed in Buenos Aires, with Arturo Toscanini at the console and Rosina Storkio in the title part. Other productions of 1904 took place in Montevideo and Alexandria. On June 10, 1905, the opera was delivered to Covent Garden (with Emma Destinn and Enrico Caruso) - since then, Butterfly has been held in Covent Garden more than three hundred times. This was followed by Cairo, Budapest, Washington and Paris. The opera was first staged at the Mariinsky Theater on January 4, 1913.

Puccini called Madame Butterfly his favorite opera, and did not miss a single opportunity to listen to her in theaters.
However, new ideas, images of a new, different “exotic”, gradually formed in his imagination: the next opera entitled “Girl from the Golden West” ...

Cyril Veselago