Humming Chorus, Fluttering Hearts

“They say that in your country, if a butterfly is caught by a man, he’ll pierce its heart with a needle and then leave it to perish.” – Cio-Cio-San to B.F. Pinkerton 

Madama Butterfly is an opera by Giacomo Puccini with libretto in Italian by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, both of whom had previously worked with Puccini on the librettos for Tosca (1900) and La bohème (1896). It tells the story of a Japanese geisha, Cio-Cio-San (“butterfly” in Japanese), who marries an American sailor, B.F. Pinkerton, while he is stationed in Japan.

Originally, geishas were expensively trained dancers and servants paid to entertain in the homes of upper-class samurai. The art form then expanded to include performing at tea houses and bars. Though originally chaste and strictly forbidden to sell sex, many turned to prostitution in the late 1700s and early 1800s. In fact, in the late 1800s, it was not uncommon for a geisha’s virginity to be auctioned off to a wealthy patron as a ceremonial coming of age. (Consider the story told in the novel and film Memoirs of a Geisha.)

With the help of stage director Dona Vaughn, the women of the chorus (locals who are by profession doctors, lawyers, teachers, students, etc.) have trained in the art of walking, standing, and acting as a geisha of the late 1800s/early 1900s. Our walk is more like a glide, our movements like choreography, our makeup traditional, and our demeanor submissive. We hope we are creating an authentic experience for you, the audience! (For more information, consider this piece written by local art critic Michael Huebner, who last week spoke with Dona about her stage direction to find out her secrets for transforming a group of Southerners into Japanese geishas and samurais.)

Madama Butterfly debuted at La Scala in February 1904, but inadequate rehearsal time after rushing to finish the opera contributed to its initially poor receipt by audiences. (Never fear! We have been rehearsing since September and we’ll be ready on opening night!) Puccini ultimately revised the opera, shrinking it from 3 to 2 acts and changing much in the score, and when this version opened in May 1904 it was a huge success!

La Scala, Milan, Italy 

Japanese opera singer Tamaki Miura gained international acclaim in the early 1900s for her many performances as Cio-Cio-San. A statue of Miura as Cio-Cio-San stands with a statue of Puccini in Nagasaki’s Glover Garden, the design of which reminded visitors of scenes from the opera.

Statue of Puccini with a butterfly on his shoulder, 

a gift from the Italian Province of Lucca to Nagasaki 

Statue of Miura as Cio-Cio-San, 

with son Trouble/Sorrow 

We are thrilled to be performing with soprano Inna Los, who first performed the role of Cio-Cio-San back in 2009 and is quickly making it one of her signature roles. On stage she is graceful and youthful, every bit the Butterfly she is portraying! While playful and sweet in her acting, her voice is strong and powerful. Watching her has been like a master class for those of us in the chorus, and I’m sure she’ll dazzle the audience as much as she has us!

Butterfly is based in part on the short story of the same name by John Luther Long, an American lawyer and writer (like me!) who described himself as “a sentimentalist and a feminist, and proud of it.” Long’s short story, written in 1898, was based on the recollections of his sister, who had been to Japan with her husband as Methodist missionaries. The opera also borrows elements from the novel, also of the same name, by Pierre Loti, a French novelist and naval officer. Loti’s 1887 novel was written in the style of an autobiographical journal detailing the story of a naval officer who married a geisha while stationed in Japan. At least one scholar has concluded that the story is based on events that actually occurred in Nagasaki in the early 1890s.

Like many of the world’s favorite operas, Butterfly and its story have inspired one of the world’s favorite modern musicals – Miss Saigon. The musical is set in Saigon in the 1970s during the Vietnam War and tells the story of an American soldier’s romance with a Vietnamese bar maid.

My favorite part of the show comes in the middle of the second act when the chorus hums a lullaby from backstage while Cio-Cio-San awaits the return of her sailor husband. I think I can speak for the entire chorus when I say that we have fallen in love with the characters and the music in this opera. We hope you, too, will feel its magic!

We’ll see you in Nagasaki on Friday night!