MADAME BUTTERFLY | OPERA SINGER REACTS 

Hey opera lovers!!

Apart from the exceptional blend of chest and head voice and that gorgeous timbre, her phrasing, the perfect diction and the accents on the right syllables make Tebaldi's singing spellbinding. I keep returning to her performances not just for the beauty but also this unique storytelling.

It is a sad one! Cho Cho San's death is one of the most tragic in Opera history. I was actually shaking when it ended.

Wow! I learned a lot, despite having seen the opera and loving (and crying) to this aria several times. Thanks for another fun and informative video!

Puccini saw this play in London, based on an American book making Butterfly the joke and butt of the joke and blame for her demise. Still being 15. And Pinkerton being 20+ years her senior. The actress was made to speak in an accent to elicit offence from the British audience. He was enraged at the obvious wrong of this, and decided to correct this. The writer sent ppl to his opening to ruin it. But his talent actual talent would surpass this with his revisions and correct the very wrong narrative.

Madama B made me know opera, i can sing it by heart (not a singer so you can imagine) , as always a great video, very interesting and explicative, and i always get goose bumps hearing this opera

Spero davvero che la passione con cui crei questi stupendi video venga un giorno apprezzata da tutti. Si vede che ami quello che fai da come ti si illumina lo sguardo ogni volta che comincia il video che commenterai. Con l’eccitazione di una bimba che non vede l’ora di rivelarci un piccolo segreto, “a guilty pleasure”. Davvero davvero brava e divertente oltre che informativa. Spero che la community aumenti sempre più: te lo meriti.

I love this post. Besides the value of Puccini and Madame Butterfly. I am an opera curious at age 59. But you lady have done a wonderful job. It isn't true that RU-vid is rotten. You and the alike dignify this medium!

In my opinion, Renata Tebaldi sang the most sumptuously beautiful butterfly that I’ve ever heard. Now that being said, I like Victoria Del los Angeles, Maria Callas, Ana Moffo, Leontyne Price, Renata Scotto.

Superb explanation as ever - I always learn something new. Thank you Anna.

Tebaldi was the best Butterfly, in my humble opinion. Her voice is pure gold :X Also, those who say Tebaldi doesn't act well should definitely watch this performance!!

Ti ho odiato profondamente per ogni interruzione, anche perché ho lasciato cadere più di qualche lacrima. Mi hai allungato il dolore. Tebaldi per sempre! Viva Puccini!

Yay 👏 👏 👏 another video from Anna! Please do try and post more, darling, your content is so great: fun and informative at the same time. In the meantime, take care and be happy! Ciao 👋

New video, great! That'll make my Monday.

May I congratulate you on yet another captivating video. Cho-Cho San's story is sad and moving, but apparently, it was not at all uncommon back then. Just one note about the lyrics: "olezzo di verbena" means "scent of vervain", not "orange blossom".

imho the best soprano aria ever written and the most tragic

It was the American Great White Fleet undee Commodore Mathew Perry that sailed into Tokyo Harbour, forcing open Japan, and ending the Tokugawa Shogunate. That is what Puccini is probably referencing.

i love love love your videos❤️❤️

I so appreciated the analysis of the aria and, in particular, this performance. Tebaldi inspired me to pursue a career in opera (as a stage director) - there simply was no other voice like hers. Although she was not a natural stage actress, she was able to create through voice and expressive use of the text, the absolute sense that she was the character she was playing. In this case, Un bel di, she captures the feeling of the teenage Cio-cio-san as she relates to Suzuki the minute by minute experience she anticipates having when Pinkerton returns. Tebaldi also captures the intensity of feeling Cio-cio-san experiences when she says that she will hide from Pinkerton, in part to tease him but also out of fear that her emotions will overwhelm her. That is the moment in the aria that gets me the most. At the end of the aria she turns to Suzuki with defiance and says "I will wait for him"

Teddy Roosevelt sent the US Fleet around the world 1907-1909 and it was nicknamed "The Great White Fleet"

I hope Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton looked better than the other Benjamin Franklin. Otherwise he wasn't worth the drama.

Sing for me, sing for me softly...

There is a fundamental problem - especially for the high voices - that they portray carachters that are very young - and it takes so long to get the technique and expression right that the premise is contradicted that it becomes absurd. Wagner is particularly redicilous in that. Wagners roles demand such stamina, that you really has to be a stout 40 year old. Just remember Kirsten Flagstad and Birgit Nielsson. The other problem is that most roles are tailored to a specific singer and voice. If you take the role of Susanna: If you listen to the role performed by Cecilia Bartoli and Diana Damrau: They are two completely different women. As to the hand gestures: Well, Tebaldi wants to show of her gracefull hand with long slender fingers. At the same time: Hand gestures are a signal to the conductor - as long as the hand is open and flat the singer is good (having enough air). The circle formed in her right hand with a thumb and pointing finger is a cancellation signal: Disregard other signals. One thing that made Harnoncourt such a great conductor was his ability to keep track of everything - without looking confused. Especially with someone like Bartoli that takes charge and flits around on stage like a wide reciever in a football game. Melchior was another type that didn't mind NOT being on stage if he did not have to sing - he would be across the street in a bar having refreshment - in full costume including redicilous Wagnerian headgear - a new interpretation of counting bars. There is the old story about Callas being asked her opinion about Tebaldi. And she remarked: "You can't compare Coca-Cola with champagne." Tebaldi replied: No champagne turns sour when it gets OLD! As any sensible man knows: When bitches are fighting and fur is flying - don't interfere - or they will both turn on him.

I love R.T. and I can appreciate one artisan admiring another one showing the mastery of their craft. Yes, conveying emotions by “coloring” their voices is what great singers do for us. That said. I can hear how R.T makes me feel what she is saying, the joyful and anxious anticipation and hope. And yet; I am certain - as much as one can be certain talking about a character in an opera))while Cio-Cio-Sun is trying to convince Suzuki aand also herself “…(One day we’ll see… A thin smoke in the distance, and then the white ship. A man climbs the hill… He will call me ..” - deep inside she knows. So, there is a terrifying mix of hope and despair, joyful anticipation, and dread. To my ear there is only one singer who can do it in such a way that we can’t help but hear it, feel it. Becose she is not singing she is (what a terrible cliché!, sorry) becoming Cio-Cio-Sun. And it is not R.T. But that’s me. You certainly can hear and feel differently))

Today there is a butterfly that stands out compared to the greatest performers of the past. A. Grigorian

Hi Anna, On the matter of the "white" ship. At that time military ships were painted white during peacetime to demonstrate that the ship or fleet was at peace and not on a war footing, hence not a threat to other ships. At the beginning of the Spanish American War in 1898, when news of the destruction of the USS Maine in Havana harbor reached Commodore Dewey he had the fleet immediately repainted a wartime gray before sailing from Hong Kong to Manila where he defeated the Spanish fleet there. His flagship, the USS Olympia, which can be visited at Philadelphia, today wears a coat of white paint on it's hull and has a tan superstructure. And, as you correctly point out, when Theodore Roosevelt sent the American fleet on a world cruise to make official visits at foreign ports, it wore a coat of white to again indicate that it was not a hostile fleet. In an age where communications around the globe were still extremely slow (the speed at which a ship could travel from one location to another) it made good sense as foreign ports far from a home country wouldn't have any way to know whether their country had declared war with an approaching warship or fleet. It was a very practical solution to the problem in an age of communication limited by the lack of an ability to have remote communications (no radios, etc.). I enjoyed some of your insights on Un Bel Di Vedremo. Thanks

Re the ship’s color. US ships were in gray but the pre-war Victorian livery is much better looking with white hulls up to the main deck, tan upper works and black gun barrels. Theodore Roosevelt sent out a famous Great White Fleet that toured the world (1907) shortly after Butterfly’s premiere to impress and intimidate.

Many great sopranos refuse to sing the role. Not only because it is one of the most difficult and longest Puccini roles for a soprano( Madama B. is on stage all the time) but because it is so emotional that is it hard to keep emotions not affect singing. Many pushed and ruined the voice because of this role...I am happy to say that we have a great soprano in our country Sabina Cvilak who is a world-class Madama B. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE--n0nOtArYxA.html.

Goodness!

Funnily MrsM and I went to see Butterfly only last Tuesday. Ukraine National Opera’s tour of the UK, bringing opera joy (ok, not joy, but you get me) to provincial places. Thank you, them! 🇺🇦 It’s affected me deeply. I knew the plot, I knew a lot of the music, but it was the first time I've seen it as an opera. Talk about plumbing the depths of the human condition in music and drama!! I suppose one might comment on Cio Cio San's naiveté, but she was only 15. Pinkerton, what an absolute louse! And a paedophile! Aren't men b*stards! “Un bel di, vedremo” is clearly the most famous aria, and sung in recitals out of its dramatic context. But in its context 💥 wow! “This isn’t going to end well” we think. But we don’t yet know just quite how badly 😱 All in all a profoundly moving experience, and a life lesson on humanity in an Arts medium for more potent than the printed word or 'on the telly'. Viva opera! Recordings wise, I love Renata Tebaldi, Leontyne Price, and Renata Scotto. I’ll also vote for Callas, for me her naturally dark add to the sense of irony.

Great posting. Am not a super admirer of La Tebaldi’s Butterfly at least the acting part. Prefer Scotto, Jaho or the new sensation, Grigorian. Thank you any way for a most interesting and very well done analysis.

U S Battleships were painted white at this time.

I am so relived to know she was directed by a Japanese because the gestures even her head movements and facial expressions are VERY Japanese, especially reminiscent of actual geisha. The direction and talent of her performance is un questionable.

Thanks! I thoroughly enjoyed this. Two thoughts: 1. Does Butterfly genuinely have faith Pinkerton is going to come back, or is she desperately hoping? I always think of this following lines from later on in the opera: "Non son più quella! / Troppi sospiri la bocca mandò, / e l'occhio riguardò / nel lontan troppo fiso." -- "How changed he'll find me! / Drawn weary mouth from over-much sighing / And poor tired eyes from over-much crying!" 2. How much does it matter that the performer portraying Butterfly sound young (and look petite)? I go back and forth on this. If you consider the character Butterfly's biography seriously, then she is supposed to sound young, and fragile at that. So someone like Tebaldi sounds (and looks at 5'10) too big. (Glorious though.) Yet the part is heavy. And every single Japanese person I've talked to about this opera has been perplexed by Butterfly's behaviour. Once I suggest that Butterfly is actually Italian, they all go "Ohh, that makes sense!" 3. I think O mio babbino caro is fair game for a young college student who is singing healthily, although I can see how the repeated Ab's would be challenging. Most of the other Puccini arias (even Liu's) are probably too heavy unless the student naturally has a heavier voice.

Since Madama Butterfly is my favorite Puccini opera, I nearly forget that I'm watching an opera. I can hardly tell you how much empathy I feel for Cio-cio San, i.e., Butterfly. I almost wish I could hug her and beg her to cancel the wedding because Pinkerton is dishonest and promiscuous. Here's one of my favorite performance of the Opera's finale. So I'd appreciate our expert's thoughts about it. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-4WWIWxnDbtU.html

Tebaldi the greatest ever soprano to sing the Puccini repertoire . None come close

You made me snort at Ye Olde Truste Falle edit. A SNORT, forsooth!😅

listening to Renata gives you goose bumps! here's another soprano, Roxana Briban in the same aria - unfortunately she committed suicide too: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-alO8JstvYpc.html

Un Bel Di is a wonder. The best one I ever heard was an old (older than what you have linked) recording by Renata Scotto. I'm 76 and heard it when I was in graduate school so we are talking old recording. I am not sure, but I think Pinkerton was sung by Pavarotti on that recording. This was before he hooked up big time with Southerland for recordings. Anyway, I still remember being shaken after listening to it. That was the most heartbreakingly beautiful Un Bel Di I've ever heard. You could hear the tragedy about to unfold weaving through that entire aria. As an aside, as a Mezzo, can you give me some advice on who I should be listening to in the way of a coloratura Mezzo; especially one who likes decoration and ornamentation? DiDonato is certainly one of the better mezzos singing today but does not ornament her singing very much, Bartoli has the technique but I don't really like her voice for some reason. I think Garanca is probably my favorite coloratura mezzo singing today, but is not in the same ballpark as Marilyn Horne in my estimation. Berganza was top notch, but didn't have the chest voice Horne had and her bottom end was not as low nor as smoothly and easily entered and exited as Hornes. I also don't think her coloratura technique was on quite the same level as Hornes. Some of the recordings of Horne singing Rossini pantaloon roles opposite Caballe are show pieces of coloratura singing. Can you think of anyone else I ought to be looking for/listening to whether singing today or available as recordings?

So... M*A*S^H took inspiration from more than BF. Character: Benjamin "Hawkeye" Franklin Pierce And I'm sorry but have to dip before the actual analysis starts. Once I recognized the song I knew I would get a headache from it. This one hurts my head every time and I haven't figured out why.

Have you heard Monserrat Cavalle version?

I saw this at the old NYCO with a wonderful staging. then at the Met, which has no sets, the puppet which annoys me(if I want to see Muppets I will watch their show), and an idiotic dance by the bonze that is right out of a "B" movie Biblical epic(I can't remember which, I think Samson and Delilah, but I don't watch them often so not certain).

I don't think the story is problematic, it simply reflects the historical milieu. it isn't unique to teh USA, Great Britain had it's own issues(the Opium Wars, South Africa), Belgium in the Congo, France in North Africa and Southeast Asia. I am reading the Amelia Peabody Mysteries by Elizabeth Peters(an Egyptologist from the Univ. of Chicago) really reflects "the white man's burden" attitude of the 19th and early 20th century.

"obvious?" maybe "precious" in the sense of "behaving in a very formal and unnatural way by giving too much attention to details that are not important and trying too hard to be perfect"

Victoria de los Ángeles was another great Butterfly…

the 1st opera that I found that the MET tarnished. I don't care for the puppet for the child but I can't figure out the bonz with the ribbon dance, I swear it is lifted from a 1950s B movie biblical epic. it isn't The Story of Ruth, maybe Samson and Delilah? I wish I had written it down, I was surfing and MGMHD or SONYHD channel had it on. I saw it at the old NYC Opera and it was wonderful. but I guess I am too conservative to appreciate the dross the MET is producing

Renata Tebaldi fantastic voice, but for me Butterfly is Raina Kabaivanska.

Can you do Nilsson's "In questa reggia" next? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-S-GV5t5XLjg.html

Why do opera singers sound premature old like they are +50 already when 25 ?

Lolol love ur show but the usn has had white ships

Pinkerton is probably the most despicable tenor character.

Yeah. I noticed the gestures straight away and did ponder on the significance - thanks for that explanation. My first thought was that they worked well.

Geht es um Oper, oder um die Selbstdarstellung der Sprecherin? Wenn Tebaldi singt, sollte man ein paar Sekunden schweigen können!

What are you talking about? lol There are def. a lot of white ships. I mean, even if you haven't seen one, google is your friend. Also, I can believe you would even think that singing this Opera today is somehow problematic. Especially coming from an Opera singer. Shall we cancel Shakespeare too? You know, Giulietta was 15 yrs old, if not younger. Stop with this nonsense already. It has become insufferable and already a parody.

This is why I am suddenly searching "Opera New Zealand" - sadly not too many 🙄