GENRE Tragedia Giapponese
LIBRETTO Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, after David Belasco’s stage version of a magazine story by John Luther Long
FIRST PERFORMED First version: Teatro alla Scala, Milan, 17 February 1904

Second version: Teatro Grande, Brescia, 28 May 1904
NOTES

                                                

 Puccini made more revisions to Madama Butterfly than to any other opera, and the development from version to version is one of most fascinating musical and dramatic evolutions in the history of opera. The premiere at La Scala—given the audience’s expectations from Puccini— was a complete fiasco. Puccini immediately withdrew the score, already in publication, and made extensive cuts. Many of the larger cuts were in the lengthy wedding scene in act one, but for the second version Puccini revised and rewrote nearly half of his original score. He also added Pinkerton’s aria in the last act. Even this version, however, is not recognizable as the opera performed today. Not until the third version did Puccini rewrite the theme for Butterfly’s entrance and revise this music wherever it occurs throughout the opera. Puccini also experimented with the opera’s structure. In its first version, the opera was in two long acts. He shortened act one considerably and divided act two into two parts. He eventually decided on a division into three acts, the version in which the opera is usually performed today. He also continued to develop the first half of act three, especially the scene between Suzuki, Pinkerton, and Sharpless.


PUBLICATION TITLE Madama Butterfly Madama Butterfly Title Page 225 kB
VERSION First version in two acts
TYPE Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION Riduzione di Carlo Carignani
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & C.
DATE 1904
PLATE NUMBER 110000
RICORDI STAMP None
VOLUME 403 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6A
NOTES This score is a proof copy of the first version from the engraved plates and was apparently used by Puccini as a rehearsal score. The copy lacks title page and front matter and is stamped “Non Pubblicato, Bozza di Stampa” [not for publication, publisher’s proof copy] on every page. It is extensively annotated by the composer in red and blue pencil. Puccini’s annotations have the character of rehearsal markings, suggesting that he used this score in preparation for the premiere.


PUBLICATION TITLE Madama Butterfly Madama Butterfly Title Page 150 kB
VERSION First version in two acts
TYPE Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION Riduzione di Carlo Carignani
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & C.
DATE 1904
PLATE NUMBER 110000
RICORDI STAMP Illegible
VOLUME 403 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6A (variant title page, Palermo added, no Buenos Aires)
NOTES This is a decorative first printing of the vocal score. Ricordi stopped publication of this edition following the opera’s disastrous premiere to allow Puccini time to substantially revise the work.


PUBLICATION TITLE Madame Butterfly Madama Butterfly Title Page 139 kB
VERSION Fourth version in three acts
TYPE French piano and vocal score
EDITION First French edition. Traduction Française de M. Paul Ferrier.
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & C.
DATE 1906
PLATE NUMBER 111360
RICORDI STAMP 11.1906
VOLUME 248 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6D
GIFT OF John F. Flagg
NOTES Decorative edition. Most of the line drawings are identical with the first decorative version (6A). This copy is signed by the composer and inscribed “a monsieur Jules Bois souvenir de G. Puccini - Paris 2/12/06.”


PUBLICATION TITLE Madame Butterfly Madama Butterfly Title Page 166 kB
VERSION Fourth version in three acts
TYPE French piano and vocal score
EDITION Second French edition. Traduction Française de M. Paul Ferrier.
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & Co.
DATE 1907
PLATE NUMBER 111360
RICORDI STAMP 12.1916
VOLUME 248 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6D (a)
NOTES Decorative edition. Most of the line drawings are identical with the first decorative version (6A).


PUBLICATION TITLE Madam Butterfly NO TITLE PAGE AVAILABLE
VERSION Fourth version in three acts
TYPE English-Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION This copy is missing the title page. The translation is the same as that for 6D (c) [by R. H. Elkin].
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & Co.
DATE 1906
PLATE NUMBER 111200
RICORDI STAMP 10.1919
VOLUME 279 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6D (b)
NOTES This version appears to correspond to the characteristics of Hopkinson’s 6D (b) although the musical text departs from that of the French version 6D in at least one place. Twenty- five measures before Butterfly’s death in act two scene two appear in this score that are consistent with the first version. These begin at six measures after rehearsal 47 (p. 271) with Butterfly’s “non vi voglio lasciar.”


PUBLICATION TITLE Madam Butterfly Madama Butterfly Title Page 121 kB
VERSION Fourth version in three acts
TYPE English-Italian piano and vocal score
EDITION English version by R. H. Elkin
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & C. (New York)
DATE 1905
PLATE NUMBER 111200
RICORDI STAMP 7.1937
VOLUME 266 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6D (c)
NOTES This score conforms to the description that Hopkinson gives of 6D (c). Hopkinson does not give the date, however, which here—1905—is earlier than any other version of 6D. This American edition reflects all the musical and textual changes evident in the other fourth- version vocal scores except that it retains the two-act division of version three.


PUBLICATION TITLE Die kleine Frau Schmetterling Madama Butterfly Title Page 102 kB
VERSION Tragödie einer Japanerin
TYPE German piano and vocal score
EDITION Klavierauszug von C. Carignani. Deutsch von Alfred Brüggermann.
PUBLISHER Ricordi, Mailand
DATE 1907
PLATE NUMBER 111360
RICORDI STAMP 8.1928
VOLUME 263 pp.
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6D (d)
NOTES Decorative edition. Most of the line drawings are identical with the first decorative version (6A).


PUBLICATION TITLE Madama Butterfly Madama Butterfly Title Page 288 kB
VERSION Fourth version in three acts
TYPE Full orchestral score
EDITION Folio edition
PUBLISHER G. Ricordi & Co.
DATE 1907
PLATE NUMBER 111378
RICORDI STAMP None
VOLUME 368 pp. (three volumes, numbered consecutively)
HOPKINSON NUMBER 6D (i)
GIFT OF John F. Flagg
NOTES Each of these volumes is stamped “Da Lisbona” and exhibits conductor’s markings in colored pencil.

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