Erhalten Sie Zugang zu diesem und mehr als 300000 Büchern ab EUR 5,99 monatlich.
- Herausgeber: Icon Books
- Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
- Serie: Great Operas
- Sprache: Englisch
Butterfly is a delicate and impressionable geisha who thinks she has married Pinkerton, a US naval officer briefly stationed in Japan. Naive and loving as she is, she does not realise that for him the marriage is a sham, an extended 'date'. It's not long before he goes away, leaving her pregnant. Still, she trusts that he will return one fine day (Un bel dì). He does, but it is not the homecoming of which Madame Butterfly dreamed: she is devastated to discover that the callous Pinkerton is now married to an American girl. Heartbroken and despairing, Butterfly commits suicide in one of the most tragic and moving climaxes in opera. In this operatic masterpiece, Puccini depicts the clash of two cultures, weaving 'The Star-spangled Banner' throughout his music. The Humming Chorus, Ah! Dolce notte! ('Oh, night of rapture'), and the Flower Song join Un bel dì in any list of favourite tunes.Written by Michael Steen, author of the acclaimed The Lives and Times of the Great Composers, 'Short Guides to Great Operas' are concise, entertaining and easy to read books about opera. Each is an opera guide packed with useful information and informed opinion, helping to make you a truly knowledgeable opera-goer, and so maximising your enjoyment of a great musical experience.Other 'Short Guides to Great Operas' that you may enjoy include those on Tosca, La Bohème and Lucia di Lammermoor.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 31
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
Das E-Book (TTS) können Sie hören im Abo „Legimi Premium” in Legimi-Apps auf:
Published in the UK in 2012 by Icon Books Ltd,
Omnibus Business Centre, 29–41 North Road, London N7 9DP
email: [email protected]
www.iconbooks.co.uk
ISBN: 978-1-84831-476-4 (ePub format)
ISBN: 978-1-84831-468-9 (Adobe ebook format)
Text copyright © 2012 Michael Steen
The author has asserted his moral rights.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form, or by any means, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.
Typesetting by Marie Doherty
CONTENTS
Title page
Copyright
PREFACE
USING THIS EBOOK
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
PUCCINI’S MADAMA BUTTERFLY
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
WHO’S WHO AND WHAT’S WHAT
THE INTERVAL: TALKING POINTS
The first night fiasco
Puccini’s achievement
The dominant role of Butterfly
The clash of Eastern and Western cultures
ACT BY ACT
Act 1
Act 2 Part 1
Act 2 Part 2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Sources of quotes
Other sources
NOTES
Short Guides to Great Operas
PREFACE
This guide is aimed at the ordinary opera-goer and opera-lover, usually a busy person who wants to know the essentials of the opera but has little time to grasp them.
It provides key background information to Madama Butterfly, told engagingly by someone who knows the opera intimately.
It is light, easy to read, and entertaining. Relevant information has been carefully selected to enhance your appreciation of Puccini’s work.
It is authoritative, but not dense or academic. It is unburdened with the clutter that can easily be obtained elsewhere. It concentrates on information that it will help you to know in advance.
Read quickly before going to the opera or listening to it at home, you will get the very best out of the performance and have a truly enjoyable experience.
Opera can be a great social occasion. Being knowledgeable and well-informed, you’ll appreciate this magical art-form much more if you read this first.
I hope you enjoy the opera!
Michael Steen
USING THIS EBOOK
A very quick grasp of the opera can be gained by reading the opening section on ‘The opera and its composer’ and the ensuing ‘Who’s who and what’s what’. Further elaboration may be found in the sections entitled ‘The interval: talking points’ and ‘Act by act’.
The footnotes and boxes are an integral part of the information. The reader is encouraged to go to these by clicking on the links.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Michael Steen OBE studied at the Royal College of Music, was organ scholar at Oriel College, Oxford, and has been chairman of both the RCM Society and the Friends of the V&A Museum. He is a trustee of the Gerald Coke Handel Foundation and Anvil Arts, and Treasurer of The Open University.
PUCCINI’SMADAMA BUTTERFLY
A SHORT GUIDE TO A GREAT OPERA
The opera and its composer
Who’s who and what’s what
The interval: talking points
Act by act
THE OPERA AND ITS COMPOSER
Early in Puccini’s opera, we hear that Cio-Cio-San is called ‘Madame Butterfly’ because she possesses all the delicacy, lightness and transparency of the fluttering tiny creature. In her early years, Maria Callas was invited to sing the part for her début at the Metropolitan Opera. To everybody’s amazement, she turned the opportunity down: she reckoned that at nearly thirteen stone it would not work. How wise she was.
Much later, when a slimmer Callas sang in Chicago, a member of the audience commented, ‘I never want to hear her Butterfly again … I’ll end up liking this dreadful opera.’ We can wonder whether it was Butterfly, the geisha,1
