From Parma to Pavarotti - The Sounds of Emilia-Romagna Madama Butterfly & Villa Pavarotti

INCLUDED

• Travel by Car Rouge, 2+1 seating
• Music tour host from/to Switzerland
• Accommodation in a selected 5* hotel
• 3 x B&B (room/breakfast buffet)
• 1 x dinner including drinks at the hotel
• 1 x opera aperitif with wine and canapés
• 1 x opera ticket, 1st category
• 1 x lunch including drinks
• Entrance to the Baptistery and Cathedral in Parma
• Guided city tours in Parma and Modena
• Entrance/guided tour of Villa Pavarotti
• Concert at Villa Pavarotti
• Car Rouge audio system

Hotels

Grand Hotel di Parma

Grand Hotel di Parma

About the opera

Giacomo Puccini: «Madama Butterfly» – A Japanese Tragedy

«Un bel di, vedremo levarsi un fil di fumo sul' l'estremo»

In New York, Puccini saw David Belasco's play, a dramatisation of a Japanese short story by John Luther Long. He was fascinated by the tragedy of the geisha and the Far Eastern setting. The libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The composer familiarised himself with records of Japanese folk songs and attended the Japanese tragedy «Sada Yacco» in Milan. After his marriage to Elvira Bonturi in January 1904, «Madama Butterfly» received its premiere at La Scala in Milan on 17 February. It was a «fracasso», a flop, which only turned into a triumph after the opera had been revised.

The setting is the port city of Nagasaki around 1900.

The marriage broker Nakodo Goro shows Franklin Benjamin Pinkerton, an officer on the US Navy ship «Lincoln», his «Nido nuzial», which he wishes to buy. Sharpless, the US consul in Nagasaki, admires the view of the mountains and the harbour. Pinkerton raves about free love, while Sharpless calls it «un facile vangelo», an easy gospel. Goro praises love that can be bought for next to nothing («per nulla sol cento yen»). In his aria «Amore o grillo», Pinkerton wonders whether it is love or a mere whim that draws him to the butterfly with the delicate figure of a «paravento». Cio-Cio-San, alias Butterfly, praises the scent of spring and sings of her wealthy origins, which turned to poverty after her father's death and forced her to make a living as a geisha at the age of 15. The arrival of her relatives amuses Pinkerton. From the sleeves of her kimono Butterfly conjures all sorts of trinkets: «fazzoletti, pipa, cintura, fermaglio, specchio, ventaglio» (handkerchiefs, pipe, belt, brooch, mirror, fan) and finally «una cosa sacra», a gift from a Mikado to her father, presented with the gesture of a slit stomach. Pinkerton is shown her «ottokè», her little dolls, which represent the souls of her ancestors. Were she to be chosen as his wife, she would convert to the Christian faith. Uncle Bonzo, a Buddhist priest, must not learn of this, however. Il commissario permits Pinkerton to marry «alla damigella Butterfly del quartiere d'Omara-Nagasaki». She already calls herself Madama F.B. Pinkerton. Bonzo interrupts the wedding celebrations. As a traitor to her faith, he curses her soul and disowns her with the curse: «Kami sarundasico!»

Pinkerton consoles her. She feels «rinnegata e felice» (disowned and happy). He sees her as a «giocattolo», a toy, while she rises to become the «Dea della luna».

Impoverished, her maid Suzuki and Butterfly long for Pinkerton's return. She sings the aria of yearning: «Un bel di...» (One fine day we shall see a thin wisp of smoke rising over the sea on the horizon). Holding Pinkerton's picture and his promise to return, she asks Sharpless: «Quando fanno il lor nido in America i pettirossi» (When do the robins build their nests in America?). His answer is evasive: «No ho studiato ornitologia». Goro wants to match her with the wealthy Prince Yamadori of Omura. Sharpless reads Pinkerton's letter, in which he calls her a «bel fior di fanciulla» and asks what she would do if he did not return even after four years. Her reply: «Tornar a divertir la gente col cantar oppure meglio morire!» She presents her son with his blue eyes and blond hair. A cannon shot announces Pinkerton's return. Butterfly is beside herself. Roses are to welcome him. But he does not come alone, but with his wife Kate. He wishes to bid farewell to the blooming home of joy and love («Addio, fiorito asil di letizia e d'amor»). She hands her child to Kate and stabs herself.