Italian is the language of opera, and its opera roots are deeply planted in Europe. However, many operas have exotic settings, far beyond the countries where their composers and librettists lived or even visited. For example, Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) wrote two grand operas with Asian settings. These two Italian operas are among the most famous classical works set in foreign lands. “Madama Butterfly” is set in Japan, and “Turandot” in China.
Because 2024 is the 100th anniversary of beloved opera composer Puccini’s death, his operas have been performed more frequently this year. I had the opportunity to see these two operas live this spring: “Madama Butterfly” at San Diego Opera in April and “Turandot” at Los Angeles Opera in June.
Style Differences
Before seeing these operas live, I thought the similarities would be easy to see. After all, of Puccini’s 12 operas, only these two take place outside of Western culture. Just two of the remaining 10 operas occur outside Europe with scenes in the United States (the fourth act of “Manon Lescaut” and the entire setting of “La Fanciulla del West”). In addition to the Asian settings, however, “Madama Butterfly” and “Turandot” have different operatic styles.“Madama Butterfly” debuted in 1904 as a two-act opera. During its five subsequent revisions, it was changed to three acts. “Turandot” debuted in 1926, two years after the composer’s death. Since Puccini died before finishing it, Franco Alfano completed the last act.
Puccini is the most famous composer in opera’s “verismo” genre. Although musically this term is associated with dramatic, bold singing, and huge orchestration, the word is Italian for “realism” or “truth,” derived from the Italian word “vero,” or “true.” The genre is so named because the genre’s operas feature stories about common, ordinary people rather than the mythological deities, historic monarchs, or classical heroes that dominated earlier operatic works.
Before seeing “Turandot,” I listened to a pre-performance talk by renowned conductor James Conlon, who led the L.A. orchestra. He talked about Puccini’s love of presenting “the tragedy of little souls.” Like his most beloved European-set works, “La Boheme” and “Tosca,” “Madama Butterfly” is a tragedy of a little soul. On the other hand, “Turandot” is a melodramatic fairytale about mysterious royalty set in a foreign land. It illustrates Puccini’s constant desire to explore new operatic themes and styles. Nevertheless, these operas have some deep spiritual similarities.
Similar Stories
“Madama Butterfly” is set in Nagasaki, Japan, at the turn of the 20th century, the present day at its composition; “Turandot” is set in a fantasized ancient Peking (Beijing). Both operas feature a titular soprano character (Madame Butterfly or Cio-cio-san and Princess Turandot), a tenor as the foreign male lead (Lt. B.F. Pinkerton and Prince Calaf), a female servant as the second female lead (Suzuki and Liu), and a low-voiced fellow foreigner as the second male lead (Sharpless and Timur). However, the title characters don’t play the same role in the stories.At the performance of “Madama Butterfly,” the audience playfully booed Pinkerton during the curtain call, not for bad singing but for good acting as a rather unsympathetic character. The American naval officer is unashamedly selfish in his treatment of his 15-year-old Japanese bride, casually mentioning at his wedding his plans for an American marriage someday.
Prince Calaf isn’t as obviously unfeeling, since he doesn’t have a serious relationship with Liu. She isn’t his wife or sweetheart; in fact, he wasn’t even aware of her existence before being reunited with his blind father at the beginning of the opera. As the fairytale prince, Calaf is a far nobler character than Pinkerton, yet he displays many acts of devastating selfishness toward the two who love him.
Princess Turandot’s father, the emperor, wants her to marry, but Turandot hates and fears men. When Calaf, a deposed Tartar prince, arrives in Peking, he denounces Turandot’s cruelty after witnessing her latest suitor’s execution. However, as soon as he sees her, he is so entranced by her beauty that he announces that he will be the man to win her hand.
This is where we first see Calaf’s selfishness. His old, blind father has just discovered his beloved son, the only family he has left, after years of thinking he had been murdered. Mere minutes after their reunion, his son announces a daring scheme which will likely cost him his life. Liu pitifully begs him not to risk his life, both for her sake and his father’s. In response, he simply asks her to look after his father.
At this point in the story, Timur, a bass character, plays a similar role to Sharpless, the baritone, in “Madama Butterfly.” Both characters, as elders, try to council the impulsive tenor, but Pinkerton and Calaf are motivated only by passion at the finale of Act I. We can’t blame Calaf as much. He is a prince without a country, an heir without a throne, and he feels driven by fate to conquer the cruel Turandot. He could end up being a hero if he succeeded where his 26 predecessors failed, ending her reign of terror. In fact, he does succeed, proving that he is the first man to match her wits.
Like any despot, Turandot hates to admit defeat and begs her father to release her from the marriage. It is Calaf who does this, however, declaring that, if she can guess his name before dawn, he will go to his death instead of their wedding. This risky gesture is romantic and self-sacrificing toward Turandot, but it’s cruel toward everyone else. First, he’s risking his own life, which pains Timur and Liu.
A Musical Moral
Both operas carry a strong message. Selfishness and a lack of compassion kills sensitive souls, but true love can motivate a woman to sacrifice herself for someone she loves. Although a terrible choice, both Cio-cio-san and Liu end up taking their own lives for the tenor’s sake. Cio-cio-san kills herself with her father’s ceremonial dagger so that her son can go back to America with Pinkerton and his new wife without feeling remorse for her. Liu kills herself so that Turandot can’t learn the secret of Calaf’s name from her.
Both women believe it is better to die with honor than to live in shame, knowing that their adored ones love other women. In that sense, Turandot is equivalent to the character of Kate Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly,” the American wife with whom Pinkerton returns to Japan in Act III. As James Conlon pointed out, it is Liu, not Turandot, who is the true Puccini heroine, the gentle, self-sacrificing “little soul,” crushed by life’s tragedies.
Who is Turandot, then? As the title character, she is obviously more important than Kate Pinkerton. In Act I, she is silent, a beautiful exterior with a heart of ice. However, in Act II, her first utterance is the dramatic aria “In quest reggia,” the character’s main solo. In this song, she tells the story of her ancestor, Princess Lou-Ling, who ruled peacefully a thousand years ago. A foreign stranger invaded and conquered the country and defiled her purity before killing her.
The spirit of Lou-Ling lives in Turandot, who also wishes to live in serene maidenhood. She avenges her ancestress’s death on all the foreign men who come to claim her hand. Ironically, the invader who killed Lou-Ling was a Tartar prince, just like Calaf. We see in this aria that Turandot is not motivated by cruelty and hatred, but by fear and vulnerability.
“Madama Butterfly” is simple; “Turandot” is grand. “Madama Butterfly’s” chorus is small and only onstage in Act I. The chorus in “Turandot” is huge, loud, and dramatic, playing the role of the populace. All of “Madama Butterfly” takes place in a simple Japanese house, but “Turandot” has many different locations throughout Peking. Both scores are musically exquisite, but “Madama Butterfly” has the advantage in that it was completed by Puccini, while the Alfano ending (which begins after Liu’s death) feels jarring.
Puccini shows a mastery in blending authentic Asian themes and heart-wrenching Italian melodies to portray powerfully emotional stories. Both are beautiful moral tales that honor Asian cultures while paying tribute to European classical music.
I commend these two major companies for putting on traditional, ethical productions of these classic works. It was a stirring, inspiring experience to sit in the sold-out theaters and see thousands of people give a standing ovation to live opera.
