| Naxos | The prima assoluta of Madama Butterfly at Milan’s Teatro alla Scala on 17th February 1904 resulted in one of the great fiascos of operatic history. The opera was carefully rehearsed by the distinguished conductor Cleofonte Campanini.Unfortunately, according to the publisher Giulio Ricordi, "the performance in the auditorium seemed as well organized as the one onstage, since it began exactly when the opera did." To this day, it is uncertain whether the première was deliberately sabotaged, either by Ricordi’s publishing rival Sonzogno or by a claque supporting Mascagni, and whether the production itself contributed to the opera’s failure. The low point may have come when simulated bird-calls during the Intermezzo inspired the audience to imitate an entire barnyard. Stunned, the team withdrew the opera. Madama Butterfly, however, was quickly revised and staged again three months later on 28th May 1904 at the Teatro Grande in Brescia. Campanini conducted to a wildly enthusiastic audience, which clamoured for seven encores and 32 curtain calls. As the opera continued its triumphal entry into the repertories of the major houses of Europe and America, a production at the Paris Opéra Comique directed by Albert Carré in December 1906 became the basis for the printed orchestral score. Although productions and recordings have traditionally followed that version of the opera, the original La Scala version deserves to be heard in its own right, and the desire to present it in unadulterated form underlies this recording. |
| Disc No: 8.660078-79 | |
| Price: Sek. 148 (2CD) | |
| Name: Puccini - Madama Butterfly | |
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| Order |
| Composer | Opus | Music | Key | Performer |
| Puccini, Giacomo | Madama Butterfly (La Scala Version) | Bremen Philharmonic State Orchestra Bremen Theatre Chorus - Gunter Neuhold Fredrika Brillemburg, mezzo-soprano Svetlana Katchour, soprano Heikki Kilpelainen, baritone Bruce Rankin, tenor |