Giorgio Lalov, Artistic Director
presents
Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
based on John Luther Long's story and David Belasco's play
| Artistic Director/Stage Director | Giorgio Lalov |
| Conductor | Markand Thakar |
| Chorus Master | Jo-Anne Herrero |
| Sets/Costumes | Giorgio Lalov |
| Lights | Giorgio Bajukliev |
| Super Titles | Maestro Internationale |
| CIO-CIO-SAN | Elena Razgylyaeva, Soprano |
| B. F. PINKERTON, LIEUTENANT, U.S. Navy | Orlin Goranov, Tenor |
| SHARPLESS, American Consul at Nagasaki | Gary Simpson, Baritone |
| SUZUKI, Maid to Cio-Cio-San | Viara Zhelezova, Mezzo Soprano |
| GORO, A marriage broker | Gueorgui Dinev Tenor |
| THE BONZE, Buddhist priest and the uncle of Cio-Cio-San | Vladimir Hristov, Basso |
| DOLORE, Child of Cio-Cio-San and Pinkerton | Victor Stoykov |
| PRINCE YAMADORI, Suitor or Cio-Cio-San | Hristo Sarafov, Baritone |
| KATE PINKERTON, American wife of Pinkerton | Annie Gill, Soprano |
| Chorus of relatives and companions of Cio-Cio-San, servants | |
Time and Place:
Japan, Early Twentieth Century
ELENA RAZGYLYAEVA (Cio-Cio-San): The young soprano is a principal soloist of Opera Rostov-na Dom, Russia, where she performs leading soprano roles in the lyric and spinto fach. Ms. Razgylyaeva has also performed many principal soprano roles in performances of opera in central Europe, and the United Kingdom. She made her U.S. debut in winter 2006 as Mimí in Puccini’s LA BOHÈME to outstanding critical acclaim at Boston’s historic Majestic Theatre. She has had major successes in the United States in operatic performances as Michaèla in CARMEN, Cio-Cio-San in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, the title role in AÏDA, Liù in TURANDOT, Nedda in I PAGLIACCI and Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI
As Mimí (LA BOHÈME), Elena Razgylyaeva was simply outstanding. She has a glorious voice that she can modulate to the exact tone appropriate to the scene. She is one of the few to play Mimi who leave no doubt about why Rodolfo should fall in love at first sight.
PORTLAND PRESS HERALD – Christopher Hyde – April 2006
Soprano Elena Razgylyaeva as Liù (TURANDOT) was fabulous. Her voice was of such clear purity and she sang with such immaculate phrasing, diction and superb control of her range that her two big arias didn’t seem enough! She was also a great actress…
SCHENECTADY GAZETTE – Geraldine Freedman – February 2007
The Liù of Elena Razgylyaeva was touching and rose to tragic grandeur in her Act II confrontation with Turandot.
BOSTON GLOBE – David Perkins – February 2007
Elena Razgylyaeva embodied the heroine Cio-Cio-San. Her gleaming lyrico-spinto soprano is effortlessly produced. Cio-Cio-San’s treacherously difficult entrance aria was capped by a fearless high C. A consummate singing actress, Razgylaeva turned Un bel di into a dramatic declaration of faith rather than mere vocal display. Her agitated death scene proved a final musico-dramatic tour de force. Razgylaeva encompassed the heroine's emotional spectrum in a radiant vocal palette that could ring out in fury and rhapsodize in romantic ecstasy.
SOUTH FLORIDA SUN SENTINEL – Lawrence Budmen – February 2008
ORLIN GORANOV (B. F. Pinkerton): A two-time GOLDEN ORPHEUS first-place winner of the International Festival in Bulgaria, Mr. Goranov is a laureate of several international opera festivals, including the DRESDEN FESTIVAL in Germany, BRATISLAVA LYRE International Slovakia Vocal Festival and the INTERTALENT FESTIVAL in Prague. He has been a principal soloist of the Sofia National Opera since 1990 and has toured with the company in the Far East and central Europe singing such roles as B. F. Pinketon in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Cavaradossi in TOSCA, Rodolfo in LA BOHÈME and Alfredo in LA TRAVIATA. Mr. Goranov has performed all of the major tenor roles in the most popular operettas throughout Europe and has participated in both the Christmas and New Year’s Berliner Symphoniker concerts since 1991. Mr. Goranov has made numerous recordings for both the BULGARIAN NATIONAL RADIO and BULGARIAN NATIONAL TELEVISION. In the United States Mr. Goranov has performed in opera productions to outstanding critical acclaim.
Tenor Orlin Goranov as Rodolfo (LA BOHÈME)…has an Italianate sound coupled with a smooth legato that could melt the heart of any soprano. The fact that he his is tall and slim also helps make him a believable young lover.
MUSIC AND VISION DAILY – October 2009
The tenor of Orlin Goranov (B.F. Pinkerton in MADAMA BUTTERFLY) is astoundingly melodic, powerful and emotional.
NAPLES DAILY NEWS – Harriet Heithaus – March 2008
As Pinkerton, tenor Orlin Goranov was vocally splendid. He cleaved the house with his high notes, and yet was capable of beautiful soft singing, too.
BOSTON GLOBE – David Perkins – October 2007
GARY SIMPSON (Sharpless): Recent engagements for Metropolitan Opera Baritone, Gary Simpson include Hollaender in DER FLIEGENDE HOLLAENDER and Scarpia in TOSCA with the Statni Opera Prague as well as Scarpia with the Seattle Opera. He has also recently performed in two productions as Sweeney in SWEENEY TODD and Cervantes/“Don Quixote” in MAN OF LA MANCHA. Mr. Simpson sang Hollaender with the Manaus Opera Festival in Brazil, directed by the film director Christoph Schlingensief and was heard as both Tonio and Alfio in the Stephen Lawless acclaimed production of the famous opera double bill: I PAGLIACCI/CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA with the Palm Beach Opera. Gary also performed the title role in Verdi’s FALSTAFF with the Stadt Theater Hagen, Germany, the live radio broadcast of Amfortas in PARSIFAL with the Seattle Opera, Donner in DAS RHEINGOLD with L’Opera Montreal, Kurvenal in TRISTAN UND ISOLDE and Hollaender with Hawaii Opera Theater.
Mr. Simpson made his debut with the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Scarpia in TOSCA and has performed the role with such opera divas as Diana Soviero, Deborah Voigt and Mara Zampieri. He also sang IAGO in the “Otello Project”. Other highlights for Mr. Simpson include NABUCCO with the Opera of Pretoria, South Africa, MACBETH with the Hong Kong Cultural Arts, China, and the Kansas City Lyric Opera, Posa in DON CARLOS, in Shanghai, China, Iago in OTELLO with Minnesota and Hawaii Operas, the title role in RIGOLETTO with Lyric Opera of Ottawa, Canada, Tulsa Opera, Guadalajara Opera, Hawaii Opera, State Theater Prague and even in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Amonasro in AIDA with Orlando Opera, Hawaii Opera, State Theater Prague, Roger in Verdi’s JERUSALEM with the Opera Orchestra of New York at Carnegie Hall, and the baritone soloist in CARMINA BURANA with the West Virginia Symphony. Gary is a graduate of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a native of Alexandria, VA.
GUEORGUI DINEV (Goro): The Bulgarian actor has worked professionally in his native country for more than 20 years, onstage as an actor, in film, and as a soloist in opera and operetta performances. He has performed secondary roles with Teatro Lirico D’Europa on tour in the United States since the winter 2000 in almost every single production and is always and audience favorite, and never left out by critics from Boston to Naples.
VLADIMIR HRISTOV (The Bonze): Bulgarian bass Vladimir Hristov graduated from the National Academy of Music in Sofia. He has been a soloist with Teatro Lirico D’Europa on its U.S. tours since winter 2003. Mr. Hristov is also a soloist with Sofia National Opera and is a frequent guest soloist with other regional opera companies throughout Bulgaria and Eastern Europe.
VICTOR STOYKOV (Dolore) was born in 2004 at Baltimore. He enjoys drawing and building cars and houses with LEGO. He loves to sing, especially and shows interest in learning to play piano. His other passions are swimming and diving.
This year Victor will be a Kindergarten student at Pot Spring Elementary and can’t wait to meet his new teachers and friends.
VIARA ZHELEZOVA (Suzuki): The young Bulgarian Mezzo Soprano graduated from the National Conservatory of Music in 1985 and joined the roster of the Bulgarian National Opera, where she has performed leading mezzo-soprano roles alongside such singers as Ghena Dimitrova, Nicolai Giuselev, Anna Tomova Sintova and others.
She has appeared as a guest artist with opera companies throughout Eastern Europe and has been a principal soloist with Teatro Lirico D’Europa since 1992, touring with the popular company throughout France, Belgium, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany and Denmark. In the USA Ms. Zhelezova has performed the title role of CARMEN, Suzuki in MADAMA BUTTERFLY, Rosina in IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA, Zerlina in DON GIOVANNI Prince Orlofsky in DIE FLEDERMAUS and Feodor in BORIS GODOUNOV in performances of opera at major theatres to outstanding critical acclaim.
Viara Zhelezova was a strong, supportive mezzo who played the loyal Suzuki with a blend of ferocity and wisdom.
NAPLES DAILY NEWS – Harriet Heithhaus – March 2008
The smaller roles were well sung, especially Viara Zhelezova's warm-voiced Suzuki.
BOSTON GLOBE – David Perkins – October 2007
A near-capacity crowd came to be entertained Friday night at Proctors Theatre by Bizet’s “Carmen.” It was not disappointed. Almost single-handedly, mezzo-soprano Viara Zhelezova as Carmen captured the hearts of the audience and all the men on stage. Carmen is one of those kinds of roles that require a singer to be as much an actress as she is a vocalist. Zhelezova inhabited the role with a brazen, feline seductiveness that spelled danger in big letters. She taunted her victims with relish and abandon
Even better, she sang to these men with an unusual degree of nuance that was almost conversational. She caressed the tones and enunciated the French words with clarity. There was no mistaking her intention.
Daily Gazette – Geraldine Freedman – February 2009
HRISTO SARAFOV (Yamadori): Mr. Sarafov has been active on the stage for his entire adult life as a soloist in operetta, opera and as an actor. The talented baritone graduated from the National Academy of Music in Sofia and was immediately engaged by the Sofia National Opera for the role of Bartolo in Rossini's IL BARBIERE DI SIVIGLIA. He has performed numerous roles for Teatro Lirico D'Europa on tour in Europe and the United States since 1990.
ANNIE GILL (Kate Pinkerton): The young American soprano recently graduated from the Peabody Conservatory, and has sung over twenty roles in opera, operetta and musical theater. Career highlights include the title role in Massenet’s MANON, Lady Billows in ALBERT HERRING, Mimí and Musetta in LA BOHÈME, LeÏla in LES PÊCHEURS DE PERLES, Fiordiligi in COSí FAN TUTTE, Donna Anna and Donna Elvira in DON GIOVANNI, Micaëla in CARMEN, Lauretta in GIANNI SCHICCHI, and others. Ms. Gill has sung with several Young Artist Programs and professional companies, including Opera in the Ozarks, Emerald City Opera Artist Institute, the Janiec Opera Company of the Brevard Summer Music Festival, and the Washington Savoyards.
Concert highlights include the soprano soloist in Bruckner’s TE DEUM with the Friday Morning Music Club Chorale in Washington, D.C. and soprano soloist in the MOZART REQUIEM with the Neponset Choral Society in Boston, Massachusetts. Upcoming engagements include the roles of The Fairy and First Stepsister in Opera Theater of Northern Virginia’s production of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST in February and March of 2011.
Child actor TBA (Dolore)
MARKAND THAKAR (Conductor): Markand Thakar, music director of the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and principal conductor of the Duluth Festival Opera, has earned a wide reputation for orchestra building and innovative programming. He was cited by SYMPHONY magazine for "creative programming and rising artistic standards [that] fill the house," by New Yorker critic Alex Ross, who says, "On the subject of brilliant programming see this season’s programs by the Duluth Superior Symphony Orchestra," and by the Baltimore Sun, which praises his "novel programming concepts" for the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, and "one of the most successful examples of thematic programming heard around here in some time.” With the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Thakar has recorded three CD’s for the Naxos label, including disks of concertos by Classical Era masters Stamitz, Hoffmeister and Pleyel, and music by Jonathan Leshnoff on the American Classics imprint. In December of 2010 the BCO travels to China to perform a series of Viennese New Year’s concerts.
Thakar’s appearances in recent seasons include concerts and a national radio broadcast with the New York Philharmonic, and concerts with the National, San Antonio, Columbus, Alabama, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Charlotte, Knoxville, Richmond, Colorado Springs, Greensboro, Illinois, Kalamazoo, Windsor, Flint, Maryland, Ann Arbor, Waterbury, Annapolis, and Florida West Coast symphony orchestras; the Calgary and Long Island philharmonics; and the Boston Pro Arte, National and Cleveland chamber orchestras. A frequent guest conductor at the Aspen Music Festival, Mr. Thakar has appeared with Yo-Yo Ma and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and with Itzhak Perlman and the Boulder Philharmonic, and is a winner of the Geraldine C. and Emory M. Ford Foundation Award. Familiar to national radio audiences as a frequent commentator for National Public Radio’s Performance Today, he has appeared on CBS This Morning and CNN conducting the Colorado Symphony.
Formerly associate conductor of the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and conductor of the Eugene Symphony’s NIGHTMUSIC pops series, Mr. Thakar was music director and conductor of the Amadeus Chamber Orchestra in New York City, the Barnard-Columbia Philharmonia, the Classical Symphony of Cincinnati, the Penn’s Woods Philharmonia, and the National Festival Orchestra of the Great Lakes Festival of Musical Arts.
Thakar was awarded a Fulbright fellowship for study of orchestral conducting in Europe, and is a past winner of the national Exxon Conductors Program auditions. He earned a bachelor’s degree in composition and violin performance from The Juilliard School, a master’s degree in music theory from Columbia University, and a doctorate in orchestral conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory, and he undertook special studies in orchestral conducting at the Curtis Institute and the Ciprian Porumbescu Conservatory in Bucharest, Romania. Other conducting studies were with Gustav Meier, Max Rudolf and Peter Perret.
Most significant was his work conducting the Munich Philharmonic under the mentorship of Sergiu Celibidache. “From Celibidache I came to understand that the ’magic moments’ that we all experience from time to time can extend –even possibly from the very first sound of a movement through the very last. In such an extended ’magic moment’ we experience a remarkable transcendence: we accept the sound, we absorb the sound, we become the sound, and in so doing we transcend everyday consciousness of time and space; we touch our conscious soul in a most remarkable way. My driving interest hasbeen an exploration of the conditions – from the composer, from us performers, and from the listener – that allow this most profoundly exquisite, life-affirming experience.”
Thakar, who writes the entertaining monthly “Maestro’s Musings” column in Duluth Superior Magazine, is the author two seminal books. Counterpoint: Fundamentals of Music Making (published in English by Yale University Press and in Italian by Rugginenti Editore) uses species counterpoint to promote an understanding of how both composer and performer contribute to this experience of musical beauty. And, described as a musical “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance,” the forthcoming Searching for the “Harp” Quartet, (University of Rochester Press, 2010) is a comprehensive philosophical romp through the experience of musical beauty from the standpoint of the composer, performer and listener. Thakar is co-director of the Graduate Conducting Program at the Peabody Conservatory with Gustav Meier, and lives in Baltimore with his wife, violist Victoria Chiang, and their son Oliver.
JO-ANNE HERRERO (Chorus Director) received her bachelor of music degree in voice performance from the Puerto Rico Conservatory of Music. She distinguished herself as a soloist in productions for the Conservatory Opera Workshop in roles such as the Second Lady from THE MAGIC FLUTE, the Mother from AMAHL AND THE NIGHT VISITORS, Mrs. Nolan from THE MEDIUM, Dido from DIDO AND AENEAS and Mimi in LA BOHÈME. She has been soloist with the Puerto Rico Conservatory Orchestra and the Puerto Rico Symphony Orchestra. Ms. Herrero also performed the role of The Second Lady in THE MAGIC FLUTE and Santuzza in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA, while studying for her master’s degree at the University of Nevada, Reno.
Ms. Herrero made her professional debut as Annina in Verdi’s LA TRAVIATA with Opera de Puerto Rico and has also performed the role of Giovanna in RIGOLETTO, Bertha in THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, Ines in IL TROVATORE and Mamma Lucia in CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA.
With Teatro de la Opera, she has sung the parts of Giannetta from L’ELISIR D’AMORE, Antonia’s mother in THE TALES OF HOFFMAN, Alisa in LUCIA DI LAMMERMOOR, Gertrude in ROMEO AND JULIETTE, Martha in FAUST, Clotilde in NORMA, Marcellina in THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO, and la Ciesca in GIANNI SCHICCHI.
As a chorus director, Ms. Herrera has worked for the San Juan Children’s Chorus and for the two major opera companies in Puerto Rico in productions such as TOSCA, CAVALLERIA RUSTICANA, I PAGLIACCI, LA TRAVIATA, NORMA, LA BOHEME, MADAMA BUTTERFLY, RIGOLETTO, BARBER OF SEVILLE, AIDA AND IL TRITTICO. Besides directing opera choruses, she also prepares the choruses for the Casals Festival. In 2009, Jo-Anne started her collaboration with Teatro Lirico D’Europa and Baltimore Opera Theatre as a singer and chorus director.
GIORGIO LALOV (Artistic Director/Stage Director/Set, Costumes):
Gueorgui (Giorgio) Lalov was born in Telesh, Bulgaria in June 1958. His father, “Lalo,” a doctor, and his mother, Stoiyanka, an elementary school teacher and Bulgarian folk singer, were educated patrons of the arts. When Lalo Lalov died, Giorgio was only nine years old, but because he was an excellent student, he entered an elite boarding school in the capital city of Bulgaria that taught all lessons in French. When he graduated from high school in 1976, he was fluent in French and English. That fall he entered the Bulgarian National Academy of Music and went on tour throughout Italy with a choir from the university. While in Milan, he auditioned for the famous International School for Young Opera Singers at La Scala, was accepted and went on to make his operatic debut at La Scala at the age of 25.
After living in Italy for a short time, Mr. Lalov became fluent in Italian. In 1986, while on tour with an opera company in France, he met Yves Josse, a former ballet dancer who was booking opera and ballet tours. They became business partners. Mr. Lalov had many resources: He spoke several languages, was able organize the creation of sets and costumes in Bulgaria and put together an excellent orchestra and chorus. He also knew many fine opera singers in Bulgaria, central Europe and the United States.
By 1988, Messrs. Josse and Lalov were collaborating on what was to become the most successful opera touring company in Europe. At the time of Mr. Josse’s death in 1995, Teatro Lirico presented over 250 performances a season throughout Europe at 180 different venues. These included performances for Opera Dijon and at other major European theatres, such Palais des Festival, (Biarritz), Théâtre Alexandre Dumas and Pavillon Baltard, (Region Paris), Théâtre de Grenoble, Théâtre Molière, (Sete), Théâtre Municipal, (St. Maur des Fosses), Théâtre de Cognac, Théâtre Municipal Armand, (Salon de Provence), Salle Pleyel, (Paris), Scene Nationale, (Cherbourg), Odyssud, (Blagnac), La Scene Municipal (Lyon) and Quartz, (Brest) in France.
Teatro Lirico performance also include those presented at l’Atrium Theatre in Martinique, Théâtre du Grand Casino (Geneve), Congresshaus, (Zurich) and Théâtre de BeauLiùe (Lausanne) in Switzerland, Théâtre Municipal (Hasselt) and Le Cirque Royale (Brussels) in Belgium. City Hall (Gotingen) and Théâtre Carre (Amsterdam) in Holland hosted other performances. Teatro also performed at Theatre Margharita, (Trapani) in Sicily, at Italian Summer Festivals such as Festival Busetto, Festival San Giovanne Valdarn, and open-air festival in such cities in Italy as Spello, Montecatini Terme, Siena., Chianciano Terme, Cortona, Aenzzo, Padova and Aimini.
Shows were also presented for Okinawa Performing Arts Center in Japan, Tivoli Gardens (Copenhagen), in Denmark, Forum Cultural Do Seixal, (Lisboa) Academia Almadense, (Lisboa), and Theatre Trinidade, (Lisboa) in Portugal, Kuppelsaal, (Hanover), Gurzenith, (Koln), CCH-I, (Hamburg,), MUK, (Lubeck), Liederhalle, (Stuttgart), Schwarzwaldhalle (Karlsruhe), and Rosengarten, (Mannheim) in Germany.
In Spain, the venerable opera company also performed at Teatro Principal, (Alicante) Teatro Municipal Cervantes (Alicante), Teatro Del Carmen, (Malaga) Palacio de Congresos. (Granada), Teatro Municipal Enrique de la Cuevca, (Seville), Teatro Atlantida VIC, (Barcelona) Salida de La Compania, (Madrid) Auditorio Ferai de Muestras (Valladolid), Gran Teatro de Burgos, Teatro Juan Bravo (Segovia), Auditorio Municpal Maestro Padillain (Almeria) Gran Teatro Galla (Cadiz), Teatro Monumental (Barcelona) Teatro Principal (Zaragoza) Teatro Cervantes, (Madrid), Teatro Victoria Eugeniain, (San Sebastian), Teatro Vicente Espinel, (Malaga), Teatro Bueno Vallejo (Madrid) Teatro Cervantes (Malaga) and Teatro “Lope de Vega ” (Sevilla).
In 1990, Mr. Lalov established the Sofia Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Winter 2000 marked Teatro’s Lirico D’Europa’s first major American tour. The reviews from the 11 consecutive tours which include over 500 performances of full scale opera presented at 107 different theatres, (including many performances for 9 regional opera companies) speaks for the high quality and consistency of the company. The fact that the company is able to tour with many different productions is an indication of Mr. Lalov’s hard work, excellent organizational skills and unfailing dedication to the art of opera. For his performances in the USA, Mr. Lalov has engaged soloists from Opera Bolshoi, the Mariinsky Theatre, Ukrainian National Opera, Lithuanian National Opera, the Prague State Opera, Sofia National Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, the National Operas of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Mexico, and American soloists who have performed both nationally and internationally. In spring 2009, the impresario became the artistic director of Baltimore Opera Theatre.
“I’m not alone in hoping that Giorgio Lalov, the talented opera singer turned creator of Teatro Lirico D’Europa stays happy and healthy and continues to bring us such magnificent productions. We can only hope to see more from this company in years to come.”
Illinois Times – Ann Kerr
Japan, early twentieth century. On a flowering terrace above Nagasaki harbor, U.S. Navy Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton inspects the house he has leased from a marriage broker, Goro, who has just procured him three servants and a geisha wife, Cio-Cio-San, known as Madama Butterfly. To the American consul, Sharpless, who arrives breathless from climbing the hill, Pinkerton describes the carefree philosophy of a sailor roaming the world in search of pleasure. At the moment, he is enchanted with the fragile Cio-Cio-San, but his 999-year marriage contract contains a monthly renewal option. When Sharpless warns that the girl may not take her vows so lightly, Pinkerton brushes aside such scruples, saying he will one day marry a "real" American wife. Cio-Cio-San is heard in the distance joyously singing of her wedding. Entering surrounded by friends, she tells Pinkerton how, when her family fell on hard times, she had to earn her living as a geisha. Her relatives bustle in, noisily expressing their opinions on the marriage. In a quiet moment, Cio-Cio-San shows her bridegroom her few earthly treasures and tells him of her intention to embrace his Christian faith. The Imperial Commissioner performs the wedding ceremony, and the guests toast the couple. The celebration is interrupted by Cio-Cio-San's uncle, a Buddhist priest, who bursts in cursing the girl for having renounced her ancestors' religion. Pinkerton angrily sends the guests away. Alone with Cio-Cio-San in the moonlit garden, he dries her tears, and she joins him in singing of their love.
Years later, Cio-Cio-San still waits for her husband's return. As Suzuki prays to her gods for aid, her mistress stands by the doorway with her eyes fixed on the harbor. When the maid shows her how little money is left, Cio-Cio-San urges her to have faith: one fine day Pinkerton's ship will appear on the horizon. Sharpless brings a letter from the lieutenant, but before he can read it to Cio-Cio-San, Goro comes with a suitor, the wealthy Prince Yamadori. The girl dismisses both marriage broker and prince, insisting her American husband has not deserted her. When they are alone, Sharpless again starts to read the letter and suggests Pinkerton may not return. Cio-Cio-San proudly carries forth her child, Dolore (Trouble), saying that as soon as Pinkerton knows he has a son he surely will come back; if he does not, she would rather die than return to her former life. Moved by her devotion, Sharpless leaves, without having revealed the full contents of the letter. Cio-Cio-San, on the point of despair, hears a cannon report; seizing a spyglass, she discovers Pinkerton's ship entering the harbor. Now delirious with joy, she orders Suzuki to help her fill the house with flowers. As night falls, Cio-Cio-San, Suzuki and the child begin their vigil.
As dawn breaks, Suzuki insists that Cio-Cio-San rest. Humming a lullaby to her child, she carries him to another room. Before long, Sharpless enters with Pinkerton, followed by Kate, his new wife. When Suzuki realizes who the American woman is, she collapses in despair but agrees to aid in breaking the news to her mistress. Pinkerton, seized with remorse, bids an anguished farewell to the scene of his former happiness, then rushes away. When Cio-Cio-San comes forth expecting to find him, she finds Kate instead. Guessing the truth, the shattered Cio-Cio-San agrees to give up her child if his father will return for him. Then, sending even Suzuki away, she takes out the dagger with which her father committed suicide and bows before a statue of Buddha, choosing to die with honor rather than live in disgrace. As she raises the blade, Suzuki pushes the child into the room. Sobbing farewell, Cio-Cio-San sends him into the garden to play, then stabs herself. As she dies, Pinkerton is heard calling her name.
by Javier Fuentes
The romantic period was a revolutionary cultural movement that broke away with many aesthetic expectations giving artists the power to freely express their emotions, imagination and individualism during most of the nineteenth century. The world of the inner mind sparked artists’ interest in fantasy and brought the unconscious, the irrational, the world of dreams, the past, the far-away and the long-ago to their creations. The French Revolution had given rise to nationalism and together with the romantic ideals of individuality it became an important political movement that in music used folk songs, dances, legends and each country’s history to express a musical national language. But since the imagination has no boundaries, this fascination with national identity instilled artistic minds with ideas of foreign lands. That attraction for things and places remote, picturesque and mysterious became a trend in their art known as exoticism. People were leisurely traveling all over the world and sharing the experience of their explorations with the rest of the western world. The emergence of photography was showcased together with the greatest innovations of the 19th century in the first World’s Fair, The Great Exhibition of 1851. The rise of the “Second British Empire ” (1783 –1815) began an exploration of the Pacific and this added to the exoticism and sensualism of the Victorian era. In 1854 Commodore Perry finalized his treaty with Japan and that became one of the last foreign places to be opened to the western culture.
“Japanisme” became a new fashion trend in the late 19th and early 20th century with Japanese gardens and interior design being much in vogue. A sense of romance and intrigue had become part of the common ideas about foreign countries and certain Japanese customs like mixed-bathing and Geisha-houses picked the erotic minds of western men with sensual fantasies of conquering Japanese girls.
In France Julien Viaud (1850 – 1923), better known as Pierre Loti, wrote the novel Madame Chrysanthème in 1887. Loti had actually been in Japan engaged as a naval officer and understood the culture better than most writers of the time trying to portray Japanese culture in literature. The plot inspired André Messager (1853 –1929) to write a comédie lyrique in 1893 that was successful for some time. Later in the 20th century curiosity led Sir Frederick Ashton (1904 –1988) to choreograph a ballet based on this story in 1955 with music by Alan Rawsthorne (1905 –1971).
Irvin and Jennie Correll were missionaries of the American Methodist Mission and in 1892 their mission took them to Nagasaki in Japan. Though Jennie was always very discreet about it, in 1895 she learned from a shopkeeper of some events that had happened more than twenty years before. One of three Scottish brothers, believed to be Alex Glover, had an affair with an entertainer called Kaga Maki who used Cho-San (Miss Butterfly) as a stage name in a local teahouse. The affair was considered a temporary marriage in those days for which the “bride” was usually paid 100 yen or 20 Mexican dollars, and the “husband ” had the right to end the marriage at any time he desired. On December 8, 1870 the couple had a baby boy who was named Shinsaburo. The man abandoned both the woman and the child and left Japan. His brother Thomas and his wife Awajiya Tsuru claimed the boy and adopted him. Shinsaburo was renamed Tomisaburo, but was called Tom for short: Tom Glover. Kaga Maki married a Japanese man whom she later divorced and died in Nagasaki in 1906. Much later Jennie learned of Kaga Maki’s death and about Tom Glover, but history has it that Tom finished his education at universities in Japan and the United States and went back to Nagasaki where he married a British merchant’s daughter named Nakano Waka. During World War II Nakano Waka died and during the hard years after the atomic bombing of Nagasaki and the subsequent surrender of Japan in 1945, Tom Glover committed suicide.
In 1897 Jennie Correll took a leave and stayed at her brother’s place in Philadelphia where she shared Kaga Maki’s story with her brother. John Luther Long (1861 –1927) was a lawyer, but had aspirations to become a writer and seeing the potential of the story his sister had told him he began work on a short story. Madame Butterfly was published in the 1898 January edition of the Century Illustrated Magazine and soon caught the eye of the American playwright David Belasco (1853 –1931). Collaboration was made between Belasco and Long to turn the story into a play. Loti’s Madame Chrysanthème was used as a source of information to substantiate the story with cultural details and on March 5, 1900 the one act play debuted in New York at the Herald Square Theatre. The play was revised into a three act version and brought to London by Belasco. This second version was staged at the Duke of York’s Theatre only seven weeks after the premiere of the first version in New York and this time it was seen on the opening night by Giacomo Puccini (1858 –1924) who was in London for the premiere of his Tosca in Covent Garden. Puccini couldn’t fully understand the dialogue because of the language, but was so moved by the story that he rushed backstage to meet Belasco and state his desire to write an opera based on the play. Puccini wrote five versions of Madame Butterfly with a libretto by Luigi Illica (1857 –1919) and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847 –1906). But the first version had a failed premiere at la Scala in 1904. Pietro Mascagni (1863 –1945) had given Italian audiences in Rome a powerful image of Japan with his opera Iris in 1898 and though history has given us no proof, it’s believed that the premiere of Madame Butterfly was deliberately subverted by either the Sonzogno publisher, who was a rival of Ricordi, or by supporters of Mascagni who believed Puccini was trying to imitate Mascagni’s success with Iris. Unfortunately Illica’s libretto for Iris was dramatically weak because of its heavy use of symbolism and history was hard on it making it rarely performed nowadays.
Images, sounds and recreations of nature are found in almost all romantic creations and Butterfly is no exception. We get a glimpse of Butterfly in deep thought waiting for her lover all through the night; and the music makes a portrayal of the night, the rising Sun and the morning with its colors and sounds. Trying to portray nature as closely as possible, Puccini used sounds that resembled real birds and those in the audience who wanted to ruin the performance, found in that moment their chance to do so by answering the bird sounds with cats, dogs, cows and goat sounds. Composer and librettists immediately withdrew the opera from la Scala.
For a second version in Brescia (also in 1904) Puccini and his collaborators made many revisions and cuts to the score and libretto. A third version was made for the Metropolitan Opera in 1906 and revisions for a fourth version were made for performance in Paris in 1907. The Paris edition was revised for a fifth and final version that was published as the “standard version ” of the opera. But in modern times curiosity has brought the original 1904 version to the stage and the recording studio as more people become intrigued by Puccini’s original vision of Cio-Cio-San.
The big screen brought Madame Butterfly several times to 20th century audiences. In 1932 Belasco’s play was filmed with Sylvia Sidney and Cary Grant. In 1955 a co-production between Italy and Japan brought the opera to the cinema. And in 1995 another film of the opera was directed by Frédéric Mitterand with Ying Huang and Richard Troxell as the leads.
The allure of Butterfly also inspired Claude-Michel Schönberg (born in 1944) and Alain Boublil (born in 1941) in 1989 to write the musical Miss Saigon. In 1988 a play was written by David Henry Hwang (born in 1957) titled M. Butterfly and in 1987 director Adrian Lyne made the movie Fatal Attraction in which an erotomaniac with borderline personality disorder is obsessed with a married man and Puccini’s opera and even commits suicide while listening to the opera on an alternate ending.
Madame Butterfly has survived the test of time through an entire century being the most performed opera in the United States and one of the top five in the rest of the world. Audiences seem never to get tired of her and opera companies could not survive without her. Her secret might be her power to have people identify with her feelings. The entire opera is set from her point of view and the audience can do nothing but sit and watch her suffer knowing what is really happening and not being able to help or advise her. It’s a real person’s life with everyday problems and hopes of a better life and true love. The drama is accompanied by one of the most gorgeous musical scores ever composed with authentic national themes such as The Star Spangled Banner (American national anthem), the Kimigayo (Japanese national anthem) and other original Japanese themes like the Miyasama, more familiar in Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Mikado, that give even more authenticity to the story. This is an enduring and audacious woman of whom we’ll hear of for many years. And we’re happy we will.