… The next time you pin a butterfly to the wall…
(isn’t this a wonderful shot? photographer unknown)
Italian grand opera was of course THE ‘multimedia’ dramatic extravaganza of its day… but I’m not much of a fan of traditional opera… in particular, I can’t usually get past the overblown vibrato that the singers insist on constantly using… It’s not like they can’t hit the notes cleanly! They’re good singers… I just don’t get it!
So I’m no aficionado… But be that as it may, I do know a good melody when I hear one, and Giuseppe Verdi turned out a few real beauties… as did his ’successor’, Giacomo Puccini…
But there is ONE ‘traditional’ opera that has never failed to touch me deeply. It is Puccini’s “Madama Butterfly”…
…
‘Butterfly’ is remarkable in many ways. First, it takes place in the ‘present day’ (at least when it was written), and featured Americans as antagonist and in key supporting roles. This was just after the 1898 Spanish American War… and America was rapidly rising as a world power. The opera is set somewhat ironically (given what would come) in Nagasaki, Japan. Also, all things Japanese were becoming quite fashionable in Europe at the time… so Maestro Puccini knew he had the makings of a winner¹… and supposedly it’s even based on a true story…
As to the plot… there were to be no happy endings to THIS story. It is a tragedy that everyone can see coming from miles away… everyone that is, except poor Butterfly herself.
Another thing thing that I find attractive is that the ‘villain’ American naval officer is not really evil… only an irresponsible sailor who takes advantage of the blindly trusting and naïve Butterfly. He is repeatedly warned by the local American consul that this can only end badly, but just can’t be bothered… it’s all a bit of a joke to him…
Like most operas, there are plot and continuity holes you could drive a truck through, but when Butterfly sings her big aria “Un bel di vedremo” (something like “One beautiful day we’ll see”)², I am left breathless… it’s one of the most gorgeous melodies I’ve ever heard… and I’ll wager one of the best that ANYBODY’S ever heard!
(It’s one of those that you know, even if you don’t KNOW you know it! ;-})
(please excuse the poor recording, but I love a real Japanese in the role!)
¹ factoid: the 1904 premiere of ‘Butterfly was a disastrous FLOP. Three months later, a considerably revised and better rehearsed version was finally the hit Puccini had been hoping for!
² also reprised in “Con onor muore” (“To die with honor”) at the bitter end.
Yes, Butterfly is gorgeous. I’m a little overexposed to it, but still respect it an awful lot. A few years back I acted as a “super” in a B-league production of MB in SF. I was one of the henchmen of the Japanese lord who wants to marry the heroine (which would have been a damn good thing for her actually). I got to march out with one other guy and stand behind the guy in an intimidating pose wearing a top knot and a shitload of mascara. The production had a nine-day run so I got to know the opera very well. I went on right after the aria you cited so got to hear it from the wings every night. There are some great duets as well, particularly between Pinkerton and MB early on. It was very cool to hear some of this stuff from a few feet away. Also cool to hob-nob with the fine performers in the green room. Not world class, but damn good to my ears.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 5:53 am
Here’s a poster Sofia made for the opera as a graphic design student.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 5:56 am
Max: as I wrote this post, I seemed to recall that you’d mentioned ‘Butterfly at some point. It IS the most popular opera to American audiences after all, so we’re not exactly out of the mainstream in our admiration!
Sofia’s poster is beautiful! The broken wing is PERFECT and a BRILLIANT idea! My compliments!
(show her the photo at the top of this post… bet she’ll like it!)
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 6:05 am
I was inspired to write this post after watching a PBS “Great Performances” version I saw on TV. I know exactly the ‘henchman’ part you described… got any photos?
One of the more wrenching scenes to me was where the U.S. consul comes to visit bearing the ‘dear jane’ letter from Pinkerton… she points him towards her only western style chair and welcomes him to her ‘American’ home… Ya just want to CRY!
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 6:15 am
Nope. No photos. I do have a funny memory of going home one night without removing my make-up including the top knot. On my way I remembered I had to grab something at Target and got some of the craziest looks in the store. Even in SF you can attract attention if you look weird enough.
Searching for something I’d written on it I came upon this long post (I used to do those sometimes) - My Mad Dream - that discusses my views on opera fairly extensively.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 6:23 am
Max: actually, I now know that there actually ARE photos… The security tapes at Target! I think I might even have seen them on “America’s Most Wanted”… ;-O
I’ll read the Mad Dream post.
The thing is, there is opera, and then there is OPERA.
Broadway Shows are opera in all but name!
Opera simply means ‘Works’.
I scored and conducted a ‘musical’ once… IT was an opera (again in all but name)… it was mostly pretty lame, but I did learn a lot, and it DID have a few ‘moments’. I was even a bit embarrassed when the AZ Republic reviewed it and said the play sucked, but the music was cool! (really!). But I was sitting next to the director and the producer when the paper showed up…. EEEK!
My point is, it’s just another way of telling a STORY. So feel free to stretch out, try new shit… who knows? Something might even WORK!!
Most ‘opera’ denizens HATED Philip Glass’ operas… because they were DIFFERENT. I LOVED ‘em!
Colour! Light! Dance! Sound! Words! Poetry! Songs! Ideas!
Stir well! Or put in blender and hit ‘puree’… who KNOWS?
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 6:48 am
OMG: Mad Dream… original post is OK… but comments by ‘Perezoso’ sound suspiciously like…
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 7:06 am
Agreed about the Philip Glass comment. I saw Appomattox when it premiered in SF. Beautiful! Still, I can’t handle most musicals. They always seem fluffy somehow. Too fromulaic. I find myself dreading the next eruption into singing. The thing about opera I love is that, since it’s all sung, you eventually stop thinking about that it’s being sung. Singing becomes an enhancement of the drama. Sort of an alternative reality.
I’m not sure I’d hear the Roger Waters opera the same way now as I did then. I was truly smitten by it. Eventually I did get a formal critique back from the SF Opera by a music scholar which I really appreciated, even though they were crushing my mad dream in the process. Waters, being Waters, broke a lot of the traditional rules - as does Glass - but didn’t have the gravitas in the symphonic world to get away with it.
BTW- I haven’t given up on my ‘opera’, though it’s had its share of setbacks - mostly just not finding the right personnel to develop it properly. I rely too much on the creative talent of collaborators to read my mind and play the parts I only vaguely can hint at with my meager musical vocabulary. Missy shines at this, but she’s kind of far away and it’s hard to keep the momentum going. Waters’ opera took 15 years to complete, and that was with considerably more resources than I can pull together. I’m still only 1/10 of the way on that time scale.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 7:12 am
Figured…. ’semi’ being the operative term.
My less flailing point is that it IS what you THINK IT IS!
The only rule is to make it WORK! But that’s MUCH easier said than done!
I saw the ‘Satyagraha’ premier at the Opera House in SF… Excellent! Wish I could have seen ‘Ahkenaten’ and ‘Einstein’ too!
hint: find a copy of “Einstein on the Beach” and try THAT as a diving board!
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 7:35 am
Yes, Appomattox made me want to see all the Glass operas and I haven’t seen any yet. Plenty of time to do so. Particularly intrigued at the idea of an opera on Ahkenaten. If I ever were to get to a next one, it might be on the Tuthmosis/Senmut/Hatshepsut trio. So much drama possible there…
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 7:41 am
BTW- Sky, Sofia thanks you for the comps on the poster and agrees the graphic leading your post is quite nice.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 10:07 am
Max: Philip Glass seems to have a thing for threes!
Since I have the time if not the money, I did a little homework for you:
His ‘Qatsi Trilogy’ film collaborations with Godfrey Reggio:
Koyaanisqatsi (Life out of Balance) [1982]
Powaqqatsi (Life in Transformation) [1988]
Naqoyqatsi (Life as War) [2002]
His operatic ‘Portrait Trilogy’ is:
Einstein on the Beach (1976)
Satyagraha (1980)
Akhnaten (1983)
My first exposure to Philip Glass’ music was a documentary I saw in Tempe on PBS/KAET (around 1981) on the ‘new face of opera’. It featured long clips from “Einstein on the Beach”… I was amazed! So THIS was ‘minimalism’… I loved it! I soon found my way to Steve Reich’s work, and I’ve been a fan of both ever since. Both composers have since moved well beyond ‘minimalism’ per se, but it was the early work that first intrigued me.
As I mentioned, I saw “Satyagraha” in SF in 1989 with Dianna (RIP). While not my favorite musically, it was mounted beautifully, and the sets were gorgeous. I enjoyed it a lot (Dianna not so much, she’d have probably preferred ‘Tosca’ ;-}).
I never had a chance to see “Akhnaten”, but always wanted to, especially based on some of the photos that came with the CD-set. Here’s a sampling of excerpts I just found:
Wow! Love it or hate it, it sure ain’t Verdi’s “Aïda”!
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 1:20 pm
I get started on these ‘jags’ and it’s hard to STOP!… no doubt a symptom of my bi-polarity! ;-}
Here’s another I found with Glass and collaborator Robert Wilson putting together ‘Einstein’:
OMG/WFT!: IDEA! *** DIBS *** IDEA! *** DIBS *** IDEA!
An opera loosely based on… (ready?) Nicola Tesla!!
“The man who invented the 20th century”
What do ya think?
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 1:37 pm
That’s an amazing enough life all right. Have you seen The Prestige? yet? It’s a story of a couple of rival magicians and Tesla gets involved in the plot.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 1:51 pm
How’s THIS for a set centerpiece?
Tesla’s ‘Wireless Electricity’ tower at Wardenclyffe
Triumph, defeat… and finally dead alone and forgotten in a tiny NYC hotel room… alas, the fate of most genii… [sigh]
Oh yes! There’s PLENTY of material to work with here!
And, by way of response to Max’s ‘magical’ connection, it does NOT escape my notice that the tower (above) bears more than a passing resemblance to a MUSHROOM! ;-}
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 2:12 pm
Back for a moment (if you will) to “Einstein on The Beach”…
It’s probably Glass’ most brilliant opera. The very THOUGHT of having a chorus COUNTING and going ‘DO RE MI FA SO LA TI DO” over and over was (and still IS) revolutionary! (please watch the clip with Robert Wilson [above]… most instructive!)…
And check THIS out… ‘Einstein’ with LEGO’S!:
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 2:30 pm
#15: all it needs is a hookah smoking caterpillar.
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 2:37 pm
Sketching in giant caterpillar (what an ODD word!)!…
Maybe room for a techno-Cheshire Cat too! ;-}
Uh oh… SHIT! I’m already CRINGING at potential production COSTS!! ;-}
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 3:14 pm
On the “Akhnaten” video clip… some nice stuff, but it pisses me off that many of the best musical parts are inserted for only a few seconds… So it’s a clumsy montage… but I couldn’t find anything better. Oh Well.
Max: On your distaste for ‘formulaic’ Broadway style musicals… I totally agree. It IS exasperating waiting for the usually clumsy moment where everyone suddenly breaks into song for no apparent reason!… and I suspect that great composers like Cole Porter, Rogers/Hammerstein &c. often cringed as well, even when the songs were hits!
But I think that’s just bad convention and slavish copying by timid and unimaginative stage directors. It’s also another reason why I enjoy the Wilson/Glass unconventional approach. FUCK convention!
(I’ve said it before)
HEY KIDS! LET’S PUT ON A SHOW!
And then just take it from THERE, with as few preconceptions as possible! THAT’S the ticket!
So there’s nothing wrong (IMHO) with plainly spoken parts in a musical play/opera… but a song must proceed NATURALLY from the the dialogue and action on the stage!
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 4:15 pm
Max: Oh yes, one more note of admiration for Sofia’s “Madama Butterfly” poster. The vertical lettering with the unusual font I now see was meant as an approximation to Japanese ‘hiragana’ script. Another lovely touch! How the hell did you ever rate HER, you heathen bass-hammering rapscallion?! ;-}
(with love)
- Sky
Comment on July 29, 2010 @ 5:23 pm