16 Jul 2015

Madama Butterfly

From Appointment, 7:00 pm on 16 July 2015

This audio is not downloadable due to copyright restrictions.

American soproano Geraldine Farrar as Madama Butterfly in 1907.

American soproano Geraldine Farrar as Madama Butterfly in 1907. Photo: Public domain

In 1904, Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly, set in Japan, had one of the most disastrous premieres in Italian operatic history, but the first version was certainly not the last. 

Michael Vinten looks into the many alterations that Puccini made to what would become one of the most popular and widely performed operas in the world.