US Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton marries the geisha Chocho san during a stopover in Japan. Chocho san gives him her heart, renounces her religion and adopts Western customs. But Pinkerton must return to the sea. After three years...
US Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton marries the geisha Chocho san during a stopover in Japan. Chocho san gives him her heart, renounces her religion and adopts Western customs. But Pinkerton must return to the sea. After three years of absence, Čočo san is waiting for him again and is looking forward to finally being able to meet their son. However, a happy reunion does not occur, as Pinkerton does not return alone. In his absence, he forgot his young Japanese wife and married an American. Chocho san accepts this new fact proudly - rather than indulge in the shameful life of an abandoned woman, she chooses an honorable death. This is how the relatively simple story of one of the most successful operas in the history of this art reads, which, after a break of several years, SNG Maribor is putting it back on stage as a tribute to women on their day. Madama Butterfly is one of Puccini's most characteristic works. Together with the librettist, the author was able to read the settings for a shocking musical drama in Belasco's rather trivial text and transform Belasco's pathetic doll into a tangible personality, a great tragic heroine who develops from a childlike innocent girl into an adult and understanding woman. Butterfly is Puccini's ultimate creation of the fragile heroine type that characterizes most of his operas. While creating the score, Puccini significantly developed his musical language and enriched it with the influences of East Asian scales. He relied on at least seven Japanese tunes, giving the opera a real exotic spirit. It is because of all these characteristics that in history both the story and the music of Madame Butterfly have become almost a part of everyday life, and Puccini is the composer whose works are most often placed on world opera stages.
