Organization

Stage director

Kuzman Popov

Set designer

Angel Atanassov

Costume designer

Chorus master

Malina Hubcheva

State Opera Varna

Madama Butterfly -  (Madame Butterfly)

Varna

Bulgaria

Madama Butterfly Puccini

Public

Madame Butterfly

Approved

Giuseppe Verdi died in 1901 and Puccini is somehow naturally considered to be the greatest contemporary Italian opera composer. During a visit to London, the composer saw in one of the London theaters the drama "Geisha" by David Belasco (1853-1931), based on a novel by American writer John L. Long.
He was captivated by the personal drama of the unfortunate Japanese girl and decided to compose an opera on this plot. Now his literary collaborators Luigi Ilica (1859–1919) and Giuseppe Giacosa (1847–1906) began working on the libretto again, and Puccini soon wrote the first act before the text of the entire opera was finally ready.

While writing music, Puccini studied Japanese folk songs. In addition to the many works he studied, he became acquainted with the living Japanese song. The composer recorded many Japanese melodies from the wife of the Japanese ambassador to Rome Okiyama, some of which he uses in his music. In this work, as in his previous operas, Puccini again emphasizes the image of the main character.

Unlike Belasco's drama, in the opera Pinkerton is not a negative character, but is created in the spirit of the traditional opera lover. Madame Butterfly's score was completed at the end of 1903, and it premiered on February 17, 1904, at La Scala Theater in Milan.
To the great surprise of Pochini's admirers, his new opera failed. Whistles and resentment are heard at the first performance. Puccini agreed with his publisher's proposal to rework the opera from two to three acts, adding some new musical episodes - Pinkerton's aria and others. In its new edition, Madame Butterfly was exported to the city of Brescia, but this time with great success and soon conquered all opera stages.

Let's not wake up the sleeping storms, because the chaos is moving under them.

HISTORICAL REFERENCE
In 1867, the island state, clinging to the feudal tradition, experienced a revolution that turned the country into a constitutional monarchy. From now on, Japan will want to catch up, catch up and overtake the rest of the world.
This late 19th-century Japan, swaying, oscillating between the medieval way of life and imagining the order of the samurai caste and imaginary happiness in the Yankees, is the historical precondition for the birth of The Tragedy of a Japanese Woman, as the subtitle of the work.

CREATIVE CREDO
"To interest, to amaze and touch ..." - this is how Puccini and the faithful define their artistic task. Yes! Butterfly falls victim to his desire to change his life as a geisha! Yes! Her quest for a little happiness turns out to be unattainable! Yes! Her life turns out to be an illusion, a beautiful lie that could be true! And she dies with honor, if she can't live without honor! ... In many ways she can express and prove Puccini's credo ...

I AWAKEN THE STORMS
In fact, the conflict today is between the new and the old, between the "good true old" and the "changeable new" (both as a mask and as an essence). And in the chaos after the storm, in support of history, despite the real tears shed in the past, I look forward with hope, because I believe that Pinkerton's last moan and cry is human: “Butterfly! Butterfly! Butterfly! ... ”this is how this opera ends.

KUZMAN POPOV - director

I do not admit only one "truth"!

English

Madame Butterfly by Puccini, Fra (1997/1997), I regi av Kuzman Popov,

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