This is wonderful, thank you so much…. I have started to watch the video 
this afternoon and am totally delighted by it - the beauty of the 
production and wonderful performances are highlighted by all those 
fascinating bits and pieces that Puccini later got rid of or changed… I 
particularly got a kick out of the bitchy family members during the 
wedding that he should have definitely left in the score…other cuts are 
very judicious, and the melodies we love all got better as he improved on 
the original score (not to even mention the addition of the gorgeous Addio 
fiorito asil….)   
It is thrilling to watch, and this new piece just adds to the pleasure of 
it all. 
Thank you, thank you!!!! 
Kati 
 
 
 
On 12/15/16, 5:01 PM, "Discussion of opera and related issues on behalf of 
E J Michel" <[log in to unmask] on behalf of [log in to unmask]> 
wrote: 
 
>http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084bjbv 
>Tales from the Stave 
> 
>When Madame Butterfly opened at La Scala, Milan on February 14th 1904 it 
>lasted one night. The audience reaction forced Puccini and his publisher 
>Ricordi to pull the Opera and set about a series of rewrites. But in 
>Milan's Archivio Storico Ricordi is the manuscript of that first 
>performance with all the later markings, crossings out and additions which 
>were to see the work become hugely popular over the years that followed. 
>Un 
>Bel Di and the Humming chorus are now familiar to audiences all over the 
>world and the sweep and passion of Puccini's music ensure it's enduring 
>popularity. 
> 
>However, La Scala have decided to go back to the composer's earliest 
>version, bringing the autographed manuscript with all its hidden material, 
>to life. 
>Thanks to the generosity of the Archivio Storico Ricordi Frances Fyfield 
>has been allowed to examine the score along with the conductor Julian 
>Smith, the scholar Nigel Simeone and the star of La Scala's revival Maria 
>José Siri. What they discover is a markedly different shape to the Opera 
>which tells the story of the young Japanese girl's sham wedding to the 
>American naval lieutenant Pinkerton and her subsequent refusal to give up 
>on him. 
>Maria José gets the chance to see the material she's been rehearsing in 
>the 
>composer's own hand and Julian Smith explains why Puccini made the changes 
>he made, raising many of the dilemmas that come from looking to original 
>source material for the final word on what the composer wanted, or thought 
>he wanted. 
> 
>What's for sure is that the feverish and sometimes frantic hand are a 
>vivid 
>testament to a composer at the height of his powers and with an 
>astonishing 
>attention to minute musical detail. 
> 
>Producer: Tom Alban. 
> 
>Best regards, 
>Elizabeth 
> 
>E J Michel 
>=============== 
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> 
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