Editing Madama Butterfly

{{Short description|1904 opera by Giacomo Puccini}}
{{Redirect|Madame Butterfly}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox opera
| name              = Madama Butterfly
| genre_header      = [[Opera]]
| composer          = [[Giacomo Puccini]]
| image             = Hohenstein Madama Butterfly.jpg
| image_upright     = 1.3
| alt               =
| caption           = Original 1904 poster by [[Adolfo Hohenstein]]
| librettist        = {{Plainlist|
* [[Luigi Illica]]
* [[Giuseppe Giacosa]]
}}
| based_on          = [[John Luther Long]], "[[Madame Butterfly (short story)|Madame Butterfly]]"
| language          = Italian
| premiere_date     = {{Start date|1904|02|17|df=y}}
| premiere_location = [[La Scala]], Milan
}}

'''''Madama Butterfly''''' ({{IPA|it|maˈdaːma ˈbatterflai}}; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an [[opera]] in three acts (originally two) by [[Giacomo Puccini]], with an Italian [[libretto]] by [[Luigi Illica]] and [[Giuseppe Giacosa]].

It is based on the short story "[[Madame Butterfly (short story)|Madame Butterfly]]" (1898) by [[John Luther Long]], which in turn was based on stories told to Long by his sister Jennie Correll and on the semi-autobiographical 1887 French novel ''[[Madame Chrysanthème (novel)|Madame Chrysanthème]]'' by [[Pierre Loti]].<ref>Van Rij, Jan. [https://books.google.com/books?id=rV3VeiACJuYC ''Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, and the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San'']. Stone Bridge Press, Inc., 2001.</ref><ref>Lane Earns, [http://www.operatoday.com/content/2007/08/madame_butterfl.php "''Madame Butterfly'': The Search Continues"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190604082415/http://www.operatoday.com/content/2007/08/madame_butterfl.php |date=4 June 2019 }}, ''Opera Today'' 16 August 2007. Review of Van Rij's book on operatoday.com</ref><ref name=nyco>Chadwick Jenna, [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/NYCO/butterfly/luther.html "The Original Story: John Luther Long and David Belasco"]  {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130420230417/http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/NYCO/butterfly/luther.html |date=20 April 2013 }} on columbia.edu</ref> Long's version was dramatized by [[David Belasco]] as the one-act play ''[[Madame Butterfly (play)|Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan]]'', which, after premiering in New York in 1900, moved to London, where Puccini saw it in the summer of that year.<ref name=genesis>{{cite book|author1-link=Arthur Groos | last = Groos | first = Arthur | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nU-QyFiAm2kC&pg=PA169| title = The Puccini Companion, Lieutenant F. B. Pinkerton: Problems in the Genesis and Performance of ''Madama Butterfly'' | publisher = Norton | location = New York | year = 1994 | pages = 169–201 | isbn = 978-0-393-02930-7}}</ref>

The original version of the opera, in two acts, had its premiere on 17 February 1904 at [[La Scala]] in Milan. It was poorly received, despite having such notable singers as soprano [[Rosina Storchio]], tenor [[Giovanni Zenatello]] and baritone [[Giuseppe De Luca]] in lead roles. This was due in part to a late completion by Puccini, which gave inadequate time for rehearsals. Puccini revised the opera, splitting the second act in two, with the Humming Chorus as a bridge to what became Act III, and making other changes. Success ensued, starting with the first performance on 28 May 1904 in [[Brescia]].{{sfn|Carner|1979|page=[https://archive.org/details/madambutterflygu0000carn/page/21 21]}}

== Versions ==
[[File:Solomiya Krushelnytska Butterfly.jpg|thumb|right|[[Solomiya Krushelnytska]] as Butterfly, c. 1904]]
Puccini wrote five versions of the opera. The original two-act version,<ref>Richard S Bogart and Mark D Lew, (eds.) [http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_m.html Version 1: Cast of characters and libretto (in Italian)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200311060348/http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_m.html |date=11 March 2020 }}, 1904 [[Casa Ricordi|G. Ricordi & C.]] and [[Boosey & Hawkes|Boosey & Co.]] and Breyer Hermanos</ref> which was presented at the world premiere at [[La Scala]] on 17 February 1904, was withdrawn after the disastrous premiere. Puccini then substantially rewrote it, this time in three acts. This second version<ref>Richard S Bogart and Mark D Lew, (eds.) [http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_b.html Version 2 (Brescia, 1904): Cast of characters and libretto (in Italian)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171219204556/http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_b.html |date=19 December 2017 }}, 1904 G. Ricordi & C. and Boosey & Co.</ref> was performed on 28 May 1904 in [[Brescia]], where it was a great success, with [[Solomiya Krushelnytska]] as Cio-Cio-San. It was this second version that premiered in the United States in 1906, first in Washington, D.C., in October, and then in New York in November, performed by [[Henry Wilson Savage|Henry Savage]]'s New English Opera Company (so named because it performed in English-language translations).{{cn|date=February 2024}}

In 1906, Puccini wrote a third version,<ref>Richard S Bogart and Mark D Lew, (eds.), [http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_a.html Version 3: (American, 1906). Cast of characters and libretto in Italian and English] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180625082813/http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_a.html |date=25 June 2018 }}, 1906 Milano: G. Ricordi & C.</ref> which was performed at the [[Metropolitan Opera]] in New York on 11 February 1907. Later that year, Puccini made several changes in the orchestral and vocal scores, and this became the fourth version.<ref>Richard S Bogart and Mark D Lew, (eds.), [http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_p.html Version 4 (Paris, 1907): Cast of characters and libretto in Italian and English, with editors' notes] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180817104146/http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto_p.html |date=17 August 2018 }}, 1907 Milano: G. Ricordi & C.</ref>

Again in 1907, Puccini made his final revisions to the opera in a fifth version,<ref name=bogartlew5>Mark D Lew, [http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/lib/butterfly/index.htm Version 5: (The "Standard Version")] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100330193226/http://home.earthlink.net/~markdlew/lib/butterfly/index.htm |date=30 March 2010 }}, 1907 G. Ricordi & C.: New York – Milan – Rome – Naples – Palermo – London – Paris – Leipsig – Buenos Ayres – S. Paulo. 266 pp</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto.html|title=Madama Butterfly: Libretto|website=opera.stanford.edu|access-date=27 October 2004|archive-date=28 December 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191228153008/http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto.html|url-status=live}}</ref> which has become known as the "Standard Version" and is the one which is most often performed today. However, the original 1904 version is occasionally performed, such as for the opening of La Scala's 2016–17 season, on 7 December 2016, with [[Riccardo Chailly]] conducting.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.teatroallascala.org/it/stagione/2016-2017/opera/madama-butterfly.html|title=Madama Butterfly – Teatro alla Scala|website=www.teatroallascala.org|access-date=14 December 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161205064149/http://www.teatroallascala.org/it/stagione/2016-2017/opera/madama-butterfly.html|archive-date=5 December 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==Performance history==
Premieres of versions of ''Madama Butterfly'' in major opera houses throughout the world include the Teatro de la Opera de Buenos Aires on 7 July 1904, under [[Arturo Toscanini]], this being the first performance in the world outside Italy. As in the world premiere in Milan a few months earlier, the protagonist was [[Rosina Storchio]].<ref>Korn, Francis and Sigal, Silvia (2010), ''Buenos Aires antes del Centenario 1904-1909'', Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamericana, ISBN 978-950-07-3218-5</ref> Its first performance in Britain was in London on 10 July 1905 at the [[Royal Opera House]], Covent Garden, while the first US performance was presented in English on 15 October 1906, in Washington, D.C., at the Columbia Theater. The first performance in New York took place on 12 November of the same year at the [[Garden Theatre]].<ref>"The Savage Innocents", Part 2, ''The Opera Quarterly'', Vol. 19, no. 1</ref> The [[Metropolitan Opera]] first performed the opera on 11 February 1907 under the supervision of the composer with [[Geraldine Farrar]] as Cio-Cio-San, [[Enrico Caruso]] as Pinkerton, [[Louise Homer]] as Suzuki, [[Antonio Scotti]] as Sharpless, with [[Arturo Vigna]] conducting;{{sfn|Carner|1979|pages=[https://archive.org/details/madambutterflygu0000carn/page/79 79–80]}}  ''Madama Butterfly'' has since been heard virtually every season at the Met except for a hiatus during [[World War II]] from 1942 through 1945 due to the hostilities between the United States and Japan. The first Australian performance was presented at the [[Theatre Royal, Sydney|Theatre Royal in Sydney]] on 26 March 1910, starring [[Amy Eliza Castles]].<ref>{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|id2=castles-amy-eliza-5530|title=Castles, Amy Eliza (1880–1951)|first=Thérèse|last=Radic|year=1979|volume=7|access-date=2 January 2015|author-link=Thérèse Radic}}</ref>

Between 1915 and 1920, Japan's best-known opera singer [[Tamaki Miura]] won international fame for her performances as Cio-Cio-San. A memorial to this singer, along with one to Puccini, can be found in the [[Glover Garden]] in the port city of [[Nagasaki]], where the opera is set.{{sfn|Carner|1979|page=[https://archive.org/details/madambutterflygu0000carn/page/32 32]}}

== Roles ==
{| class="wikitable"
|+{{sronly|Roles, voice types, premiere cast}}
!Role
![[Voice type]]
!Premiere cast, 17 February 1904<br />Conductor: [[Cleofonte Campanini]]<ref>{{Almanacco|dmy=17 February 1904|match=Madama Butterfly}}</ref>
!Brescia cast, 28 May 1904<br />Conductor: Cleofonte Campanini<ref>{{Almanacco|dmy=28 May 1904|match=Madama Butterfly}}</ref>
|-
|Cio-Cio-San (Madama Butterfly)
|[[soprano]]
|[[Rosina Storchio]]
|[[Solomiya Krushelnytska]]
|-
|Suzuki, her maid
|[[mezzo-soprano|mezzo]]
|Giuseppina Giaconia
|{{ill|Giovanna Lucaszewska|fr}}<br />
|-
|B.F. Pinkerton, Lt. in the U.S. Navy<ref name="CH">Hopkinson, Cecil. [https://archive.org/details/bwb_O8-DFP-784/page/75/mode/1up A Bibliography of the Works of Giacomo Puccini 1858–1924]. Broude Brothers, 1968.</ref>{{rp|73–4}}
|[[tenor]]
|[[Giovanni Zenatello]]
|Giovanni Zenatello
|-
|Sharpless, U.S. consul at Nagasaki
|[[baritone]]
|[[Giuseppe De Luca]]
|{{ill|Virgilio Bellatti|fr}}
|-
|Goro, a matchmaker
|tenor
|{{ill|Gaetano Pini-Corsi|fr}}
|Gaetano Pini-Corsi
|-
|Prince Yamadori
|baritone
|[[Emilio Venturini]]
|Fernando Gianoli Galletti
|-
|The [[Bhikkhu|Bonze]], Cio-Cio-san's uncle
|[[Bass (voice type)|bass]]
|{{ill|Paolo Wulman|fr}}
|Giuseppe Tisci-Rubini
|-
|Yakusidé, Cio-Cio-san's uncle
|bass
|Antonio Volponi
|Fernando Gianoli Galletti
|-
|The Imperial Commissioner
|bass
|Aurelio Viale
|Luigi Bolpagni
|-
|The Official Registrar
|bass
|Ettore Gennari
|Anselmo Ferrari
|-
|Cio-Cio-san's mother
|mezzo
|Tina Alasia
|Serena Pattini
|-
|The aunt
|soprano
| ?
|Adele Bergamasco
|-
|The cousin
|soprano
|Palmira Maggi
|Carla Grementieri
|-
|Kate Pinkerton
|mezzo
|Margherita Manfredi
|Emma Decima
|-
|Dolore ("Trouble", "Pain" in italian), Cio-Cio-san's son
|silent
|Ersilia Ghissoni
|Ersilia Ghissoni
|-
| colspan="4"|Cio-Cio-san's relatives and friends and servants
|}

==Synopsis==

===Act 1===
[[File:Collina presso Nagasaki, bozzetto di Alexandre Bailly, Marcel Jambon per Madama Butterfly (1906) - Archivio Storico Ricordi ICON000079 - Restoration.jpg|thumb|upright=1.3|Set design by Bailly and Jambon for Act I in the 1906 production]]

In 1904, a U.S. naval officer named Pinkerton rents a house on a hill in Nagasaki, Japan, for himself and his soon-to-be wife, "Butterfly". Her real name is Cio-Cio-San (from the Japanese word for {{nihongo|"butterfly"|蝶々|chōchō|{{IPA|ja|tɕoꜜːtɕoː|pron}}}}; ''[[Japanese honorifics#San|-san]]'' is a plain [[honorific]]). She is a 15-year-old Japanese girl whom he is marrying for convenience, and he intends to leave her once he finds a proper American wife, since Japanese divorce laws are very lenient. The wedding is to take place at the house. Butterfly had been so excited to marry an American that she had earlier secretly converted from Buddhism to Christianity. After the wedding ceremony, her uninvited uncle, a [[Bhikkhu|''bonze'']], who has found out about her conversion, comes to the house, curses her and orders all the guests to leave, which they do while renouncing her. Pinkerton and Butterfly sing a love duet and prepare to spend their first night together.

=== Act 2 ===
[[File:Puccini - Madama Butterfly - Butterfly and 'Trouble' - The Victrola book of the opera.jpg|thumb|upright|left|Butterfly and her son 'Trouble' (Dolore) in 1917]]

Pinkerton left shortly after the wedding, and three years later, Butterfly is still waiting for him to return. Her maid Suzuki keeps trying to convince her that he is not coming back, but Butterfly does not believe her. Goro, the marriage broker who arranged her marriage, keeps trying to marry her off again, but she does not listen to him either. The American consul, Sharpless, comes to the house with a letter which he has received from Pinkerton which asks him to break some news to Butterfly: that Pinkerton is not coming back to Japan, but Sharpless cannot bring himself to finish it. Sharpless asks Butterfly what she would do if Pinkerton were not to return. She then reveals that she gave birth to Pinkerton's son after he had left and asks Sharpless to tell him.

From the hill house, Butterfly sees Pinkerton's ship arriving in the harbour. She and Suzuki prepare for his arrival, and then they wait. Suzuki and the child fall asleep, but Butterfly stays up all night waiting for him to arrive.

=== Act 3 ===
Suzuki wakes up in the morning and Butterfly finally falls asleep. Sharpless and Pinkerton arrive at the house, along with Pinkerton's new American wife, Kate. They have come because Kate has agreed to raise the child. But, as Pinkerton sees how Butterfly has decorated the house for his return, he realizes he has made a huge mistake. He admits that he is a coward and cannot face her, leaving Suzuki, Sharpless, and Kate to break the news to Butterfly. Agreeing to give up her child if Pinkerton comes himself to see her, Butterfly prays to statues of her ancestral gods, says goodbye to her son, and blindfolds him. She places a small American flag in his hands and goes behind a screen, stabbing herself with her father's [[seppuku]][[tantō| knife]]. Pinkerton rushes in, but he is too late, and Butterfly dies.

== Musical numbers ==
{{Listen
| type         = music
| header       = Music from ''Madama Butterfly''
| filename1    = Columbia-d14530-bx549.ogg
| title1       = No. 1: "E soffitto... e pareti..."
| filename2    = Columbia-d14530-bx533.ogg
| title2       = No. 2: "E son molti i parenti?"
| filename3    = Columbia-d14531-bx536.ogg
| title3       = No. 3: "Ed è bella la sposa?"
| filename4    = Columbia-d14531-bx538.ogg
| title4       = No. 4: "Ecco. Son giunte"/"Ancora un passo"|<!--DUPLICATE (with "Un bel dì" below) filename=Frances Alda, Ancora un passo (Madama Butterfly).ogg-->
| filename5    = Columbia-d14532-bx539.ogg
| title5       = No. 5: "Nessuno si confessa"
| filename6    = Columbia-d14532-bx551.ogg
| title6       = No. 6: "Vieni, amor mio"
| filename7    = Columbia-d14533-bx541.ogg
| title7       = No. 7: "Tutti zitti!"
| filename8    = Columbia-d14533-bx554.ogg
| title8       = No. 8: "Cio-Cio-San! Cio-Cio-San!"
| filename9    = Columbia-d14534-bx550.ogg
| title9       = No. 9: "Viene la sera"
| filename10   = Columbia-d14534-bx552.ogg
| title10      = No. 10: "Stolta paura ..."
| filename11   = Columbia-d14535-bx573.ogg
| title11      = No. 11: "Io t'ho ghermita"
| filename12   = Columbia-d14535-bx547.ogg
| title12      = No. 12: "E Izaghi ed Izanami"
| filename13   = Columbia-d14536-bx548.ogg
| title13      = No. 13: "Perché con tante cure"
| filename14   = Columbia-d14536-bx563.ogg
| title14      = No. 14: "Un bel dì vedremo"
| filename     = Columbia-7340-49571.ogg
| title        = "Un bel dì" (One fine day)
| description  = Recorded in 1919, performed by [[Rosa Ponselle]] with orchestra
| filename15   = Columbia-d14537-bx534.ogg
| title15      = No. 15: "C'è. Entrate."
| filename16   = Columbia-d14537-bx542.ogg
| title16      = No. 16: "Yamadori ancor le pene ..."
| filename17   = Columbia-d14538-bx535.ogg
| title17      = No. 17: "Ora a noi. Sedete qui"
| filename18   = Columbia-d14538-bx543.ogg
| title18      = No. 18: "E questo?... e questo?..."
| filename19   = Columbia-d14539-bx546.ogg
| title19      = No. 19: "Io scendo al piano"
| filename20   = Columbia-d14539-bx560.ogg
| title20      = No. 20: "Una nave da guerra..."
| filename21   = Columbia-d14540-bx561.ogg
| title21      = No. 21: "Spoglio è l'orto"
| filename22   = Columbia-d14540-bx553.ogg
| title22      = No. 22: "Nello shosi or farem"
| filename23   = Columbia-d14541-bx565.ogg
| title23      = No. 23: "Intermezzo"
| filename24   = Columbia-d14541-bx555.ogg
| title24      = No. 24: "Oh eh! oh eh!"
| filename25   = Columbia-d14542-bx540.ogg
| title25      = No. 25: "Chi sia?"
| filename26   = Columbia-d14542-bx544.ogg
| title26      = No. 26: "Sì, tutto in un istante"
| filename27   = Columbia-d14543-bx545.ogg
| title27      = No. 27: "Tu Suzuki ..."
| filename28   = Columbia-d14543-bx559.ogg
| title28      = No. 28: "Il bimbo ove sia?"
| description28 = Performed in 1929 by [[La Scala]] Orchestra and Chorus, conducted by [[Lorenzo Molajoli]]
| help         = no
| image        = none
}}

=== Act 1 ===
:1. Orchestral prelude.
:2. ''E soffitto e pareti'' ("And ceiling and walls"). 
:3. ''Dovunque al mondo'' ("Throughout the world"). 
:4. ''Amore o grillo'' ("Love or fancy"). 
:5. ''Ancora un passo'' ("One step more"). 
:6. ''Gran ventura'' ("May good fortune attend you"). 
:7. ''L'Imperial Commissario'' ("The Imperial Commissioner"). 
:8. ''Vieni, amor mio!'' ("Come, my love!"). 
:9. ''Ieri son salita tutta sola'' ("Yesterday, I went all alone"). 
:10. ''Tutti zitti'' ("Quiet everyone"). 
:11. ''Madama Butterfly''. 
:12. ''Cio-Cio-san!''. 
:13. ''Bimba, Bimba, non piangere'' ("Sweetheart, sweetheart, do not weep"). 
:13A. ''Viene la sera'' ("Night is falling"). 
:14. ''Bimba dagli occhi'' ("Sweetheart, with eyes..."). (The long duet continues.) 
:15. ''Vogliatemi bene'' ("Love me, please.").

=== Act 2 ===
:16. ''E Izaghi ed Izanami'' ("And Izanagi and Izanami").
:17. ''[[Un bel dì, vedremo]]'' ("One fine day we shall see"). 
:18. ''C'e. Entrate.'' ("She is there. Go in."). 
:19. ''Yamadori, ancor le pene'' ("Yamadori, are you not yet...").
:20. ''Ora a noi.'' ("Now for us."). 
:21. ''Due cose potrei far'' ("Two things I could do").
:22. ''Ah! M'ha scordata?'' ("Ah! He has forgotten me?"). 
:23. ''Io scendo al piano.'' ("I will go now.") 
:24. ''Il cannone del porto!'' ("The cannon at the harbor!", often known as The Flower Duet). 
:25. ''Tutti i fior?'' ("All the flowers?"). 
:26. ''Or vienmi ad adornar'' ("Now come to adorn me"). 
:27. ''Coro a bocca chiusa'' ("Humming Chorus").

=== Act 3 ===
:28. ''Oh eh! Oh eh!'' ("Heave-ho! Heave-ho!").
:29. ''Già il sole!'' ("The Sun's come up!"). 
:30. ''Io so che alle sue pene'' ("I know that her pain"). 
:31. ''Addio, fiorito asil'' ("Farewell, flowery refuge"). 
:32. ''Suzuki! Suzuki!'' ("Suzuki! Suzuki!"). 
:33. ''Come una mosca'' ("Like a little fly").
:34. ''Con onor muore'' ("To die with honor"). 
:35. ''Tu? Tu? Piccolo iddio!'' ("You? You? My little god!").

==Instrumentation==
''Madama Butterfly'' is scored for three [[Western concert flute|flutes]] (the third doubling [[piccolo]]); two [[oboe]]s, [[Cor anglais|English horn]]; two [[clarinet]]s in [[soprano clarinet|B-flat]]; [[bass clarinet]] in B-flat, two [[bassoon]]s; four [[French horn]]s in F; three [[trumpet]]s in F; three [[Trombone#Tenor trombone|tenor trombones]]; [[bass trombone]]; a percussion section with [[timpani]], [[cymbal]]s, [[Triangle (musical instrument)|triangle]], [[snare drum]], [[bass drum]], [[bell]]s, [[Gong|tam-tam]], Japanese [[gong]], and 4 "Japanese Bells"; [[keyboard glockenspiel]]; onstage "little [[bell]]"; onstage [[tubular bells]]; onstage [[viola d'amore]]; onstage bird whistles; onstage [[Gong|tam-tam]]; onstage bass [[gong|tam-tam]]; [[harp]]; and [[string section|strings]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oocities.org/airepuccini_english/MADAMABUTTERFLY.html|title=Madama Butterfly|access-date=27 February 2021|archive-date=11 August 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220811084710/https://www.oocities.org/airepuccini_english/MADAMABUTTERFLY.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Reception ==
The premiere in Milan was a fiasco, as Puccini's sister, Ramelde, wrote in a letter to her husband:<ref>{{Cite web|date=2015-12-07|title=Scala, le 11 cose da sapere sul 'Teatro dei milanesi'|url=https://www.corriere.it/prima-teatro-scala-milano/cards/scala-11-cose-sapere-teatro-milanesi/fiasco-giacomo-puccini.shtml|access-date=2022-01-14|website=Corriere della Sera|language=it|archive-date=14 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114224405/https://www.corriere.it/prima-teatro-scala-milano/cards/scala-11-cose-sapere-teatro-milanesi/fiasco-giacomo-puccini.shtml|url-status=live}}</ref>

{{blockquote|At two o'clock we went to bed and I can't sleep one bit; and to say that we were all so sure! Giacomo, poor thing, we never saw him because we couldn't go on the stage. We got to the end of it and I don't know how. The second act I didn't hear at all, and before the opera was over, we ran out of the theater.}}

Called "one of the most terrible flops in Italian opera history", the premiere was beset by several bad staging decisions, including the lack of an intermission during the second act. Worst of all was the idea to give audience plants [[nightingale]] whistles to deepen the sense of sunrise in the final scene. The audience took the noise as a cue to make their own animal noises.<ref>Arruga, Lorenzo. ''[https://archive.org/details/lascala0000arru/page/153/mode/1up La Scala]''. Praeger Publishers, 1975. 153.</ref>

''Madama Butterfly'' has been criticized by some American individuals<ref>{{Cite news|last=Hu|first=Katherine|date=2019-12-19|title=Classical Opera Has a Racism Problem|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/opinion/opera-racism-puccini.html|access-date=2021-12-15|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=15 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211215105003/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/19/opinion/opera-racism-puccini.html|url-status=live}}</ref> for [[orientalism]]. Despite these opinions, ''Madama Butterfly'' has been successfully performed in Japan in various adaptions from 1914.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Groos|first=Arthur|date=July 1989|title=Return of the native: Japan in Madama Butterfly/Madama Butterfly in Japan|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-opera-journal/article/abs/return-of-the-native-japan-in-madama-butterflymadama-butterfly-in-japan/8C58016E033B3786F28D72244198A864|journal=Cambridge Opera Journal|language=en|volume=1|issue=2|pages=167–194|doi=10.1017/S0954586700002950|s2cid=191590132|issn=1474-0621|archive-date=14 January 2022|access-date=14 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220114224405/https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/cambridge-opera-journal/article/abs/return-of-the-native-japan-in-madama-butterflymadama-butterfly-in-japan/8C58016E033B3786F28D72244198A864|url-status=live}}</ref> 

Today ''Madama Butterfly'' is the sixth most performed opera in the world<ref>{{Cite web|title=Madama Butterfly|website=The Opera 101|url=https://theopera101.com/operas/butterfly/|access-date=2022-01-14|archive-date=15 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115062802/https://theopera101.com/operas/butterfly/|url-status=live}}</ref> and considered a masterpiece, with Puccini's orchestration praised as limpid, fluent and refined.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia |title=Giacomo Puccini |encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-Puccini |access-date=2022-01-14 |language=en |archive-date=2 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191002173305/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Giacomo-Puccini |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Studi pucciniani. Rassegna sulla musica e sul teatro musicale nell'epoca di Giacomo Puccini. Vol. 5: Dalla genesi delle opere alla ricezione nel film. – Centro studi Giacomo Puccini – Libro – Olschki – Centro studi Giacomo Puccini. Atti |language=it |work=IBS |url=https://www.ibs.it/studi-pucciniani-rassegna-sulla-musica-libro-vari/e/9788822265722 |access-date=2022-01-14 |archive-date=15 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220115062740/https://www.ibs.it/studi-pucciniani-rassegna-sulla-musica-libro-vari/e/9788822265722 |url-status=live }}</ref>

==Recordings==
{{Main|Madama Butterfly discography{{!}}''Madama Butterfly'' discography}}

== Adaptations ==
{{stack|[[File:Anna May Wong holds child in The Toll of the Sea.jpg|thumb|[[Anna May Wong]] holding the child in the 1922 film ''[[The Toll of the Sea]]'']]}}
* 1915: [[Madame Butterfly (1915 film)|A silent film version]] was directed by [[Sidney Olcott]] and starred [[Mary Pickford]].<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q610607|title=Madame Butterfly}}</ref>
* 1919: A silent (tinted) film version (titled ''[[Harakiri (1919 film)|Harakiri]]'') directed by [[Fritz Lang]] and starring Paul Biensfeldt, Lil Dagover, Georg John and Niels Prien.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://a-cinema-history.blogspot.com/2014/08/harakiri-1919-madame-butterfly.html|title=A cinema history|access-date=13 August 2014|archive-date=15 August 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140815141515/http://a-cinema-history.blogspot.com/2014/08/harakiri-1919-madame-butterfly.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1922: A silent color film, ''[[The Toll of the Sea]]'', based on the opera/play was released. This movie, which starred [[Anna May Wong]] in her first leading role, moved the storyline to China. It was the second [[Technicolor#Two-color Technicolor|two-color Technicolor]] motion picture ever released and the first film made using Technicolor Process 2.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/23968 |title=Film Screenings (June 7, 2015) |publisher=[[Museum of Modern Art]] |access-date=6 July 2015 |archive-date=4 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150804222835/http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/film_screenings/23968 |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 1931: ''Concise Chōchō-san'' by the [[Takarazuka Revue]]<ref>[http://apjjf.org/2016/14/Selden-4.html The Takarazuka Concise Madame Butterfly] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820162858/http://apjjf.org/2016/14/Selden-4.html |date=20 August 2016 }} tr. by K. and L. Selden, introduced by A. Groos in ''Japan Focus'' 14, 14, 7 (July 2016)</ref>
* 1932: ''[[Madame Butterfly (1932 film)|Madame Butterfly]]'', a non-singing drama (with ample portions of Puccini's score in the musical underscoring) made by [[Paramount Pictures|Paramount]] starring [[Sylvia Sidney]] and [[Cary Grant]] in black & white.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q1883152|title=Madame Butterfly (1932)}}</ref>
* 1940: {{Nihongo|''Ochō Fujin no Gensō''|お蝶夫人の幻想}} "[[Madame Butterfly's Illusion]]", a 12-minute Japanese [[silhouette animation]] film.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Madame Butterfly |last=Clements |first=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan Clements |author2=Helen McCarthy |author2-link=Helen McCarthy |encyclopedia=[[The Anime Encyclopedia|The Anime Encyclopedia, Revised & Expanded Edition: A Guide to Japanese Animation Since 1917]] |date=2006 |publisher=Stone Bridge Press |location=Berkeley, Cal. |isbn=978-1-933330-10-5 |oclc=71237342 |pages=387–388 (print) |edition=2nd |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rZg4AAAAQBAJ&pg=PT530 |access-date=17 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=134075 |title=お蝶夫人の幻想 |publisher=allcinema |access-date=18 July 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1940/bp002090.htm |title=お蝶夫人の幻想 |publisher=[[Japanese Movie Database]] |access-date=18 July 2014 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062901/http://www.jmdb.ne.jp/1940/bp002090.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 1954: ''[[Madame Butterfly (1954 film)|Madame Butterfly]]'', a screen adaptation of the opera, directed by [[Carmine Gallone]] jointly produced by Italy's [[Cineriz]] and Japan's [[Toho]]. The film was shot in Technicolor at [[Cinecittà]] in Rome, Italy. Starring Japanese actress [[Kaoru Yachigusa]] as Cio-Cio San and Italian tenor [[Nicola Filacuridi]] as Pinkerton, and with Japanese actors and Italian actors, dubbed by Italian opera singers.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q25209679|title=Madama Butterfly (1954)}}</ref>
* 1965: ''Sao Krua Fah'', a [[16 mm film|16 mm]] [[Cinema of Thailand|Thai film]] starred by [[Mitr Chaibancha]] and Pisamai Wilaisak.<ref>{{cite web|title=สาวเครือฟ้าและมิสไซ่ง่อน ผลผลิตจากละครเวทีแม่แบบ…มาดามบัตเตอร์ฟลาย|url=https://www.silpa-mag.com/history/article_23671|work=Art & Culture|date=2018-11-29|access-date=2021-08-23|first=Chutipong|last=Patase|language=Thai|trans-title=''Sao Krua Fah'' and ''Miss Saigon'' product from the original stage play ... ''Madame Butterfly''}}</ref> 
* 1974: ''Madama Butterfly'', a German television adaptation of the opera starring [[Mirella Freni]] and [[Plácido Domingo]], directed by [[Jean-Pierre Ponnelle]] and conducted by [[Herbert von Karajan]].<ref>{{Discogs release|id=7555026}}
</ref>
* 1988: The play ''[[M. Butterfly]]'' by [[David Henry Hwang]] is partially based on ''Madama Butterfly'' as well as the story of French diplomat [[Bernard Boursicot]] and the Beijing opera singer [[Shi Pei Pu]].<ref>{{Cite news|last=Rich|first=Frank|author-link=Frank Rich|date=1988-03-21|title=Review/Theater; ''M. Butterfly'', a Story of a Strange Love, Conflict and Betrayal|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/21/theater/review-theater-m-butterfly-a-story-of-a-strange-love-conflict-and-betrayal.html|access-date=2023-01-20|archive-date=15 November 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211115003117/https://www.nytimes.com/1988/03/21/theater/review-theater-m-butterfly-a-story-of-a-strange-love-conflict-and-betrayal.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Wadler|first=Joyce|author-link=Joyce Wadler|date=2009-07-02|title=Shi Pei Pu, Singer, Spy and 'M. Butterfly', Dies at 70|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/asia/02shi.html|access-date=2023-01-20|archive-date=1 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170201023459/http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/world/asia/02shi.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1989: ''[[Miss Saigon]]'', a musical by [[Claude-Michel Schönberg]] and [[Alain Boublil]], is inspired by the opera, focusing on a doomed romance between an American [[Marines|Marine]] and a Vietnamese [[bargirl]] and transporting the action to the end and aftermath of the [[Vietnam War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theatermania.com/news/metamorphosis-from-madama-butterfly-to-m-butterfly-and-miss-saigon_83073/|title=Metamorphosis From ''Madama Butterfly'' to ''M. Butterfly'' and ''Miss Saigon''|date=7 November 2017|website=TheaterMania|access-date=10 June 2024|archive-date=10 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240610145602/https://www.theatermania.com/news/metamorphosis-from-madama-butterfly-to-m-butterfly-and-miss-saigon_83073/|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 1995: [[Frédéric Mitterrand]] directed a film version of the opera, ''[[Madame Butterfly (1995 film)|Madame Butterfly]]'', in [[Tunisia]], North Africa, starring [[Richard Troxell]] and Chinese singer [[Ying Huang (soprano)|Ying Huang]] in the lead roles.<ref>{{IMDb title|qid=Q3275248}}</ref>
* 1995: Australian choreographer [[Stanton Welch]] created a ballet, inspired by the opera, for [[The Australian Ballet]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abt.org/education/archive/choreographers/welch_s.html|title=Stanton Welch – Credits and biography|website=abt.org|access-date=5 September 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304063358/http://www.abt.org/education/archive/choreographers/welch_s.html|archive-date=4 March 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>
* 1996: The album ''[[Pinkerton (album)|Pinkerton]]'' by the rock band [[Weezer]] was based loosely on the opera.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/9590-rivers-cuomo/ |title=Rivers Cuomo |work=[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]] |date=9 February 2015 |access-date=15 February 2015 |last=Cohen |first=Ian |archive-date=15 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150215115742/http://pitchfork.com/features/5-10-15-20/9590-rivers-cuomo/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
* 2004: On the 100th anniversary of ''Madama Butterfly'', [[Shigeaki Saegusa]] composed ''Jr. Butterfly'' to a libretto by [[Masahiko Shimada]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2004/4/News/Japanese_Composer_Writes_Sequel_to_Madama_Butterfly_Jr__Butterfly___no_joke_.html |title=Japanese Composer Writes Sequel to Madama Butterfly:Jr. Butterfly...no joke. > Opera News > The Met Opera Guild |date=1 April 2004 |work=Opera News |access-date=15 February 2018 |archive-date=20 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120144306/https://www.operanews.com/Opera_News_Magazine/2004/4/News/Japanese_Composer_Writes_Sequel_to_Madama_Butterfly_Jr__Butterfly___no_joke_.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* 2011: ''{{ill|Cho cho san (novel)|lt=Cho cho san|ja|蝶々さん (小説)}}'', Japanese novel, and TV drama series based on the novel, written by {{ill|Shinichi Ichikawa|ja|市川森一}}. Based on the original opera, the story depicts the sorrowful love and turbulent life of a samurai's daughter who loses her parents at a young age and becomes the apprentice of a geisha, set in the early Meiji era in Nagasaki, Japan. Starring Japanese actress [[Aoi Miyazaki]] as Cho Ito (Cho cho san).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www6.nhk.or.jp/drama/pastprog/detail.html?i=choucho2011|title=宮崎あおい主演で「蝶々夫人」をドラマ化...『蝶々さん』|work=[[NHK]] Drama|date=19 October 2011|access-date=9 September 2021|archive-date=9 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210909082252/https://www6.nhk.or.jp/drama/pastprog/detail.html?i=choucho2011|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2013: ''Cho Cho'', musical drama by [[Daniel Keene]], music by Cheng Jin, set in 1930s Shanghai.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre-review-cho-cho-20131003-2uxpa.html|title=Theatre review: ''Cho Cho''|author=Cameron Woodhead|date=4 October 2013|work=[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]|access-date=1 January 2019|archive-date=1 January 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190101193844/https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/theatre-review-cho-cho-20131003-2uxpa.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
* 2021: ''Mariposa'', an operatic dance-drama set in post-revolution Cuba where a local rent boy and a foreign sailor fall in love.<ref>{{Cite web|title=''Mariposa''|url=http://www.denada-dance.com/mariposa-1|access-date=2024-06-24|publisher=DeNada Dance Theatre, [[Birmingham Hippodrome]]|archive-date=24 June 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240624130004/http://www.denada-dance.com/mariposa-1|url-status=live}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* {{Cite book|last=Carner|first=Mosco|author-link=Mosco Carner|title=Madam Butterfly – A Guide to the Opera|series=Masterworks of Opera|year=1979|publisher=Barrie & Jenkins|location=London|isbn=0-214-20680-7|url=https://archive.org/details/madambutterflygu0000carn/|url-access=registration|others=Foreword by [[Victoria de los Ángeles]]}}

==Further reading==
* Burke-Gaffney, Brian, ''Starcrossed: A Biography of Madame Butterfly'', EastBridge, 2004 {{ISBN|1-891936-48-4}}.
* Groos, Arthur, "Madame Butterfly: The Story", ''Cambridge Opera Journal'', vol. 3, no. 2 (July 1991)
* {{ill|Leo Melitz|de|lt=Melitz, Leo}}, ''The Opera Goer's Complete Guide'', 1921 version, [https://archive.org/details/operagoerscompl00meligoog/page/n257/mode/2up pp. 238–240] (source of the plot)
* Mezzanotte, Riccardo (ed.), ''The Simon & Schuster Book of the Opera: A Complete Reference Guide – 1597 to the Present'', New York: Simon and Schuster, 1977. {{ISBN|0-671-24886-3}}.
* [[Charles Osborne (music writer)|Osborne, Charles]], ''The Complete Operas of Puccini'', New York: Da Capo Press, 1983.
* [[William Weaver|Weaver, William]], [[Simonetta Puccini]], (eds.), ''The Puccini Companion'', New York: W. W. Norton, 1994. {{ISBN|0-393-32052-9}}.

==External links==
{{Commons category|Madama Butterfly (Puccini)}}
* {{IMSLP|work=Madama Butterfly (Puccini, Giacomo)|cname=''Madama Butterfly''}}
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=YRU6AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA2 Libretto] at [[Google Books]].
* [http://www.columbia.edu/itc/music/opera/butterfly/ New York City Opera Project: ''Madama Butterfly''] – [[Columbia University]]
* [https://www.npr.org/display_pages/features/feature_1672482.html "''Madame Butterfly'' Turns 100; A Century Ago, Puccini's Tragic Heroine First Took the Stage"]. [[NPR]]
* [http://opera.stanford.edu/Puccini/Butterfly/libretto.html Libretto], [[Stanford University]]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130207011035/http://xroads.virginia.edu/~HYPER/LONG/cover.html John Luther Long, ''Madame Butterfly'', the original book]
* {{YouTube|1woH96ROG-c|Video}}, [[Renata Tebaldi]] sings "[[Un bel dì, vedremo]]"

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[[Category:Madama Butterfly| ]]
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