The bartered bride
Davide Livermore directs Madama Butterfly in Baden-Baden (*****+) [live]
The premiere of Madama Butterfly, held on February 17, 1904 in the Scala of Milan, was an absolute disaster. The performance did make it to the end, but it collapsed ingloriously in a pandemonium of shouting, whistling and laughter. Puccini was in shock. Never before had he been so confident in the success of a new opera. The true story of the debacle: Puccini's enemies had hired a claque to boycott the performance. There is no consensus on who the instigators were. Puccini withdrew his opera, revised it and three months later scored a hit with it in Brescia. With the royalties he was soon able to buy a yacht.
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