We are so fortunate to have these great discussions about the great operas, as well as seeing the operas here on UA-cam! Butterfly is, of course, another tearjerker from Puccini. It hits you where it counts.
The recordings that really are noteworthy are the ones usually not mentioned so I'm glad you stuck the Tucker recording in with the regular Pavarotti or Domingo garbage. How about the far greater Steber/Tucker recording from 1949 or better yet one of Licia Albanese's many Met broadcasts of "Butterfly?"
Puccini used the passionate love affair as the surface story but underneath is the tragic death of her American dream. I get this sense by looking at the story. 1. Butterfly never met Pinkerton before the marriage, so her enthusiasm is anchored on what her suitor represented rather than his identity.(Pinkerton is so nasty that only a desperate woman would want him)2.Butterfly sings about how husbands are punished for leaving their wives.3.She would rather die than return to the life as a Geisha.
I think you're reading a bit too much into it... She can't return to the life as a geisha, because of the shame of having left it. Her culture has rejected her, so she could not return to it. Her dream was to live with him in their house in Japan - she did not want to go to America at any stage. And it was not in any way unusual to marry someone you had never met at the time it is set in. If anything, the opera shows American culture in a rather poor light.
We are so fortunate to have these great discussions about the great operas, as well as seeing the operas here on UA-cam! Butterfly is, of course, another tearjerker from Puccini. It hits you where it counts.
Shows like this won’t exist in the future sadly
@@gts3004 Why not?
Very enjoyable, Sir....
The recordings that really are noteworthy are the ones usually not mentioned so I'm glad you stuck the Tucker recording in with the regular Pavarotti or Domingo garbage. How about the far greater Steber/Tucker recording from 1949 or better yet one of Licia Albanese's many Met broadcasts of "Butterfly?"
Puccini used the passionate love affair as the surface story but underneath is the tragic death of her American dream. I get this sense by looking at the story. 1. Butterfly never met Pinkerton before the marriage, so her enthusiasm is anchored on what her suitor represented rather than his identity.(Pinkerton is so nasty that only a desperate woman would want him)2.Butterfly sings about how husbands are punished for leaving their wives.3.She would rather die than return to the life as a Geisha.
I think you're reading a bit too much into it... She can't return to the life as a geisha, because of the shame of having left it. Her culture has rejected her, so she could not return to it. Her dream was to live with him in their house in Japan - she did not want to go to America at any stage. And it was not in any way unusual to marry someone you had never met at the time it is set in. If anything, the opera shows American culture in a rather poor light.