Madama Butterfly is an opera written by an Italian (Giacomo Puccini) about a fifteen year old Japanese girl (Butterfly) and an American navel officer (Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton). This opera has become one of the most widely watched and popular operas in the world since it was created more than one-hundred years ago. While the story is filled with profound sadness, it is perhaps as relevant today as it was when it was first performed.
Butterfly’s overwhelming loyalty to Pinkerton costs her the family ties that she had before she met him. When her family learns that Butterfly is marrying Pinkerton, her violent uncle disowns her. She becomes isolated from her family, from her culture, for her love for a foreigner. She is a lovesick girl yearning for her husband when he leaves back to America with the intention of marrying an American woman.
When he returns, she inevitably sees his new wife, and does what, to her, is the honorable thing, by killing herself with the same knife her father used to kill himself to save his honor. The play displays the immense differences between Asian and Western culture and thought. The points of view of the principals couldn’t be more different, especially in the areas of love and marriage, honor and hope, loyalty and trust. Puccini created a timeless classic with this story. Do yourself a favor and see it if you get the chance. It will make you stop and think about what different cultures value.
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Madama Butterfly
10/20/2008 01:04 PM
#1
Madama Butterfly
The version of Madame Butterfly that is currently at the Music Center is a very non-traditional staging of the opera. The set is minimalist and the singers perform without elaborate costumes or excessive movement. In using this staging, the director was trying to copy Japanese theatre which uses very little movement and stylized poses for the actors. This staging enables the audience to concentrate on the music and drama of the story.
I love this opera. I have seen it almost 20 times and it always makes me cry. Although the story of the beautiful Geisha who marries Lieutenant Pinkerton to save her family from poverty is very sad, it is the music which always haunts me. This story was written about the opening of Japan to foreigners, specifically Americans, at the end of the 1800's. Although purportedly about Japan, it is wise to remember that this is a European opera looking at Japan with Western eyes. Puccini evokes the American spirit through using The Star Spangled Banneras a theme and a five tone scale to evoke Eastern music for Japan.
In a unit on storytelling through music, I share pieces of this opera to show how music can help determine setting. If I were working with older students (mine are 6th graders), I would go deeper into the comparison between this opera and a true depiction of life in Jpan and Geisha customs.
Susan Dubin
Valley Beth Shalom Day School Library