show category: opera

A co-production of the Fondazione Pergolesi Spontini, realized under the High Patronage of the Embassy of Italy in Romania

Opera in three acts with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, based on works by David Belasco, John Luther Long, and Pierre Loti

In London in 1900, while overseeing the staging of his recent successful opera Tosca at Covent Garden, Giacomo Puccini was deeply moved by the performance of David Belasco’s play Madama Butterfly (1853-1931). The story of a young Japanese woman who abandons her family, culture, and religion for American officer B. F. Pinkerton and, after a long wait for her lover’s return, ends her life, perfectly matches the composer’s expectations. Puccini dedicated the next two years to composing what would become Madama Butterfly, during which he conducted extensive research into Japanese music and customs. The results are evident in the opera’s score, which features authentic Japanese melodies as well as fragments of the American national anthem.

Despite the attention and meticulousness with which Puccini developed the work, its premiere in 1904 at Teatro alla Scala in Milan received less favorable reactions, prompting the composer to withdraw the new creation from the repertoire and subject it to extensive revisions. The revised Madama Butterfly, which premiered in Brescia in May of the same year, enjoyed impressive success, and the improvements Puccini made in the following two years (1905 and 1906) resulted in an opera with popularity comparable to that of his earlier work La bohème (1896).

The performance includes two intermissions and ends around 9:30 PM.

The performance is interpreted in Italian with Romanian supertitles.

Recommended Age: 9+