Continue the journey…
We suggest five works to explore after Puccini’s Madam Butterfly
Twenty years after completing Madam Butterfly, Puccini returned to the Far East for Turandot, an opera that was left incomplete at his death and completed by Franco Alfano. As in Madam Butterfly, Puccini integrated oriental elements into the score, and while the title character is an odious piece of work, the depiction of Liù, the devoted but ill-fated slave girl, shows the composer at his heartstring-pulling best. (Joan Sutherland, Luciano Pavarotti et al; Lpo/zubin Mehta Decca 478 7815).
A similar tale to that of Madam Butterfly is told in André Messager’s Madame Chrysanthème. Messager, however, takes a less brutal approach – although Pierre, a French sailor, is every bit as callous in his treatment of
pain in a letter as Pierre sails back to Brittany. (Janine Micheau et al; Orchestre Lyrique de L’ORTF/ Jules Gressier Youtube).
For his three-act opera Iris (1898), of the title character’s innocence is at the heart of the plot, though in this instance her maltreatment comes at the hands of her fellow countrymen. Abducted to a geisha house and then rejected, only on the point of death does Iris find happiness. (Karine Babajanyan et al; Berliner Operngruppe/ Felix Krieger Oehms OC991).
For another take on Turandot, try the two-act opera by Ferrucio Busoni. Setting his own German libretto, Busoni’s work again spares us the heartbreak of Puccini’s later version, and his eponymous queen is more easily won over. The inclusion of the ‘Greensleeves’ tune in Act II is a curious moment. (Linda Plech et al/gerd Albrecht Capriccio C60039-1). fulfilment of a samurai’s familial duty when the son of a feudal lord is in danger. It does not end prettily. (Simon Pauly et al;
The exploitation of innocence is at the heart of Mascagni’s Iris