​Giacomo Puccini’s opera in three acts, Madame Butterfly, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, is based on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long. Long had heard stories by his sister, Jennie Correll, who had travelled to Japan with her husband, a Methodist missionary, and was influenced by Pierre Loti’s novel Madame Chrysanthème. Long's version was dramatized by David Belasco as the one-act play Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan, which, after premiering in New York in 1900, moved to London, where Puccini saw it in the summer of that year. 
 
Before becoming one of the world’s best loved and most staged operas, Puccini composed five different versions of it. The original version in two acts premiered on 17 February 1904 at La Scala in Milan was hurriedly completed with insufficient rehearsal time. It was a huge flop and was quickly withdrawn. Puccini substantially revised the score, dividing the second act into two separate acts, with the Humming Chorus forming a bridge between Act II and Act III. It became an instant success at its first performance on 24 May 1904 in Brescia. The ‘Standard Version’ most often performed today is Puccini’s fifth and final version dating from 1907. 
 
Madama Butterfly is set in and around a house on a hill overlooking the harbour at Nagasaki, Japan, in 1904.
 
Madama Butterfly Synopsis
 
Act I
US Navy Lieutenant Pinkerton is stationed in Nagasaki, Japan. He has paid for an arranged marriage with a fifteen-year-old geisha, Cio-Cio-San, known as Madam Butterfly. As the action begins, Pinkerton is with Goro the marriage-broker. A few minutes before the wedding is to take place, the US consul Sharpless arrives. He tells Pinkerton that he is convinced Butterfly is deeply in love. He fears that Pinkerton will destroy her as he does not take the marriage seriously, but regards it merely as a convenience. Pinkerton dismisses his fears but affirms that he waits for the day he will make a ‘genuine’ marriage to an American woman.
 
Butterfly arrives with her friends. She charms with her cultivated manners and child-like appearance: she is from a noble family that has been reduced to penury, and has had to earn a living as a geisha. It emerges that her father committed suicide at the request of the emperor.
 
The remaining wedding-guests and officials arrive and a simple ceremony takes place. As the toasting begins, the voice of the Bonze – the high-priest – is heard. He reveals that Butterfly has converted to Christianity. He and the entire Japanese contingent renounce her. They disperse, shouting curses as they go.
 
Pinkerton tries to comfort Butterfly. Suzuki, her faithful servant, prepares her for the night. The newly-weds are left alone. Darkness has fallen, the sky is full of stars.
 
Act II
Three years have passed. Pinkerton left Nagasaki soon after he ‘married’ Butterfly, promising that he would return in the spring ‘when the robins nest’. Butterfly and Suzuki are on the verge of destitution. Suzuki tries to make Butterfly see that Pinkerton will not return, but she is determined to wait for him.
 
Sharpless visits with a letter from Pinkerton. He tries in vain to read it through Butterfly’s constant chatter. They are interrupted by Goro and Prince Yamadori, her rich suitor. She has rejected his offer of marriage many times and does so again, insisting that she is already married. Goro points out that, under Japanese law, deserted women are automatically divorced. She is American, she says, and will only recognise American law. The two leave Sharpless and Butterfly alone. He resumes his attempt to read the letter. It is clear that Pinkerton has asked Sharpless to tell her that he will not be returning. Sharpless tries gently to guide her towards facing the truth and suggests she should accept Yamadori’s proposal. She produces her trump-card: she has borne Pinkerton’s son. Surely he will not forget her now? Sharpless, at a loss, leaves her to her waiting.
 
A cannon-shot is heard from the harbour. Pinkerton’s ship has returned.
 
Act III
Butterfly has waited all night, but Pinkerton has not come. Suzuki persuades her to rest. Sharpless arrives with Pinkerton hoping to find Suzuki alone. She must be the one to explain to Butterfly that Pinkerton has an American wife, Kate, and that they wish to adopt the son that Butterfly bore him. Pinkerton is aghast at what has happened and leaves Sharpless and Kate with Suzuki. Butterfly bursts in on them and unable to live with the truth, she commits suicide.
 
Contemporary listeners might be surprised to hear the U.S. national anthem quoted more than once in Madama Butterfly. In Puccini’s time, however, the song was known as the anthem of the U.S. Navy. It became the official national anthem by a congressional act signed by President Herbert Hoover in March 1931. Lieutenant Pinkerton’s aria ‘Dovunque al mondo’ takes its first two bars directly from the anthem, whereas ‘O say, can you see…’ is used in later arias by both Pinkerton and Butterfly herself.
 
Here are four albums:
 
Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Herbert von Karajan with Mirella Freni (Butterfly), Luciano Pavarotti (Pinkterton), Christa Ludwig (Suzuki), Robert Kerns (Sharpless), and Vienna State Opera Chorus, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.Release Date: 10 Nov 2014. Label: Decca. 
 
Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Antonio Pappano with Angela Gheorghiu (Butterfly), Jonas Kaufmann (Pinkerton), Enkelejda Shkosa (Suzuki), Fabio Capitanucci (Sharpless), Gregory Bonfatti (Goro) & Raymond Aceto (Bonzo), and Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia. Release Date: 2 Mar 2009. Label: Warner Classics.
 
Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Erich Leinsdorf, with Rosalind Elias (mezzo-soprano), Richard Tucker (tenor), Piero de Palma (tenor), Philip Maero (baritone), RCA Italiana Opera Chorus, Leontyne Price (soprano), Leo Pudis (bass vocal), Gianna Lollini (soprano), Silvia Bertona (soprano), Fernanda Cadoni (mezzo-soprano), Arturo La Porta (baritone), Virgilio Carbonari (bass vocal), Robert Kerns (baritone), Anna di Stasio (mezzo-soprano), and RCA Italiana Opera Orchestra. Release Date: 14 Oct 2016. Label: Sony.
 
Puccini: Madama Butterfly. Gabriele Santini with Victoria de los Angeles, Jussi Björling, Antonio Sacchetti, Miriam Pirazzini, Mario Sereni, Silvia Bertona, Paolo Caroli, Piero De Palma, Bonaldo Giaiotti, Arturo La Porta, and Orchestra Del Teatro Dell'Opera, Coro Del Teatro Dell'Opera Di Roma.Release Date: 25 Oct 1990. Label: Warner Classics.

​References;
(2024). 5 Things to Know About Madama Butterfly. Royal Swedish Opera. EU: Authors.
Discover Madam Butterfly. English National Opera. Arts Council England. UK: Authors.

​Georges Bizet composed the opera in four acts, with libretto by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halevy, based on a novel by Prosper Merimee, in 1875. Its first performance was at the Opera-Comique in Paris on 3 March 1875, where its conventions breaking story-line shocked and scandalized its first audiences. It is set in southern Spain and tells the story of the downfall of Don Jose, a naive soldier who is seduced by the fiery gypsy Carmen. Jose abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts his military duties, yet loses Carmen's love to the glamorous torero Escamillo. Jose then kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality, and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage, broke new ground in French opera and were highly controversial. Nevertheless, it achieved international acclaim within the following ten years, and since has become one of the most popular and frequently performed operas in the classical canon. 

Here are four albums:

​Bizet: Carmen. Sir Thomas Beecham with Victoria de los Angeles (Carmen), Nicolai Gedda (Don Jose), Ernest Blanc (Escamillo), Janine Micheau (Micaela), Denise Monteil (Frasquita), Jean-Christophe Benoit (Dancaire), Michel Hamel (Remendado), and Orchestre National de la Radiodiffusion Française. Release Date: 3 May 2019. Label: Warner Classics.
 
Bizet: Carmen. Georges Pretre with Maria Callas (soprano), Andrea Guiot (soprano), Jacques Mars (bass), Nadine Sautereau (soprano), Jane Berbié (mezzo-soprano), Robert Massard (baritone), Jacques Pruvost (tenor), Claude Cales (baritone), Nicolai Gedda (tenor), Maurice Maievski (baritone), Jean-Paul Vauquelin (baritone), Maurice Maievski (tenor), and Choeurs d'enfants Jean Pesneaud, Choeurs René Duclos, Orchestre de l'Opéra National de Paris. Release Date: 22 Sept 2014. Label: Warner Classics.
 
Bizet: Carmen. Sir Simon Rattle with Magdalena Kozená (mezzo-soprano), Andrè Schuen (baritone), Jonas Kaufmann (tenor), Christian van Horn (bass), Genia Kühmeier (soprano), Christian van Horn (tenor), Magdalena Kozená (soprano), Christina Landshammer (soprano), Andrè Schuen (bass), Simone del Savio (baritone), Jean Paul Fouchecourt (bass), Christina Landshammer (tenor), Kostas Smoriginas (baritone), Rachel Frenkel (mezzo-soprano), Jean-Paul Fouchécourt (tenor), Kostas Smoriginas (bass), Jean Paul Fouchecourt (tenor), and Berliner Philharmoniker, Vinzenz Weissenburger, Chor des Deutschen Staatsoper, Chor und Kinderchor der Deutschen Staatsoper Berlin, Eberhard Friedrich. Release Date: 20 Aug 2012. Label: Warner Classics.
 
Bizet: Carmen. Lorin Maazel with Julien Guiomar (vocals), Susan Daniel (mezzo-soprano), Accurzio Di Leo (vocals), John Paul Bogart (bass), Julia Migenes (soprano), Lilian Watson (soprano), François Le Roux (baritone), Plácido Domingo (tenor), Jean-Philippe Lafont (baritone), Faith Esham (soprano), Gérard Garino (tenor), Ruggero Raimondi (baritone), and Orchestre National de France, Choeurs et Maîtrise de Radio France. Release Date: 20 May 2016. Label: Erato.

​Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed the opera the Marriage of Figaro, in four acts, in 1786, with the libretto written by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It premiered at the Burgtheater in Vienna on May 1, 1786. The opera is based on the 1784 stage comedy by Oierre Beaumarchais “The Mad Day, the Marriage of Figaro.” It tells how the servants Figaro and Susanna succeed in getting married, foiling the efforts of their philandering employer Count Almaviva to seduce Susanna and teaching him a lesson in fidelity. The opera appears consistently among the top ten most frequently performed operas in the Operabase list. In the BBC News Magazine in 2017, The Marriage of Figaro came in first out of the 20 operas featured, as the most popular work among music critics.
Here are four albums:

Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro. Teodor Currentzis with Fanie Antonelou (Susanna), Christian van Horn (Figaro), Simone Kermes (Countess), Andrei Bondarenko (Count), Mary-Ellen Nesi (Cherubino), and MusicAeterna. Release Date: 20 Jan 2017. Label: Sony.
 
Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro. Carlo Maria Giulini with Piero Cappuccilli, Heather Harper, Gillian Spencer, Fernando Corena, Joy Hackett, Elisabeth Söderström, Giorgio Tadeo, Edda Vincenzi, Teresa Berganza, Ernest Blanc, Hugues Cuénod, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, and Philharmonia Orchestra and Philharmonia Chorus. Release Date: 3 May 2019. Label: ICA Classics.

​Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro. Yannick Nezet-Seguin with Thomas Hampson (Conte), Sonya Yoncheva (Contessa), Angela Brower (Cherubino), Christiane Karg (Susanna), Luca Pisaroni (Figaro), Maurizio Muraro (Bartolo), Anne Sofie von Otter (Marcellina), Rolando Villazón (Basilio), and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. Release Date: 8 Jul 2016. Label: Deutsche Grammophon.
 
Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro. Sir Georg Solti with Lucia Popp (Susanna), Kiri Te Kanawa (Countess), Frederica von Stade (Cherubino), Samuel Ramey (Figaro), Thomas Allen (Count), and London Philharmonic Orchestra. Release Date: May 1981. Label: Decca.

Reference: (2013). Schwarm, B. The Marriage of Figaro, Opera by Mozart. Britannica.
​https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Marriage-of-Figaro-opera-by-Mozart

​Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart completed Il dissolute punito, ossia il Don Giovanni (literally The Rake Punished or Don Giovanni), an opera in two acts, in 1787. The Italian libretto was written by Lorenzo Da Ponte and it premiered at the National Theatre in Prague on October 29th 1787. Don Giovanni is a retelling of the Don Juan legend, combining comedy and tragedy, concerning a notorious womanizer lusting his way towards his dramatic downfall. It is regarded as one of the greatest operas of all time.

Here are four albums:

Mozart, Don Giovanni. Dimitris Tiliakos, Vito Priante, Myrtò Papatanasiu, Kenneth Tarver, Karina Gauvin, Guido Loconsolo, Christina Gansch, Mika Kares, with Teodor Currentzis and MusicAeterna & MusicAeterna Choir. Release Date: 23 Dec 2016. Label: Sony.

Mozart, Don Giovanni. Ildebrando D'Arcangelo, Luca Pisaroni, Diana Damrau, Joyce DiDonato, Rolando Villazón, Mojca Erdmann, Konstantin Wolff, Vitalij Kowaljow, with Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Release Date: 10 Sept 2012. Label: Deautsche Grammophon. 
 
Mozart, Don Giovanni. Joan Sutherland, Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Eberhard Wächter, Giuseppe Taddei, Gottlob Frick, Luigi Alva, Piero Cappuccilli, Graziella Sciutti, Heinrich Schmidt, with Carlo Maria Giulini and Philharmonia Orchestra & Chorus. Release Date: 19 Oct 2009. Label: Warner Classics.
 
Mozart, Don Giovanni. Johannes Weisser, Lorenzo Regazzo, Alexandrina Pendatchanska, Olga Pasichnyk, Kenneth Tarver, Sunhae Im, Nikolay Borchev, Alessandro Guerzoni, with Rene Jacobs and Freiburger Barockorchester. Release Date: 1 Oct 2007. Label: Harmonia Mundi.

Reference: (2013). Schwarm, B. Don Giovanni, Opera by Mozart. Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Don-Giovanni-opera-by-Mozart