Here's an opera recording that launched a fabulous career, making its star an overnight sensation. Anna Moffo, born in Wayne, Pennsylvania on June 27th, 1932 to Italian-American parents, was little more than a voice student when she was chosen for the lead role in this RAI production that was televised throughout Italy on January 24th, 1956. Moffo had studied at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and received voice lessons from Euphemia Giannini-Gregory. Later, she had won a Fulbright scholarship that enabled her to study at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome, receiving voice lessons from Luigi Ricci and Mercedes Llopart. Moffo had her professional debut in Spoleto in 1955 as Norina in Donizetti's Don Pasquale, but it was her appearance in the recording under review here that set her career into high gear.

Within a year after this event, Moffo was singing in all of the major opera houses throughout Italy and recording the role of Madame Butterfly for RCA. She was also chosen, in 1956, for the role of Musetta opposite Maria Callas as Mimi in a recording of La Boheme. Within two years, she had married the man who directed the present recording, Mario Lanfranchi, and made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera, as Violetta in La Traviata. Although Moffo's career lasted only a bit more than a decade and a half, she left behind a legacy of fine recordings and a history of 220 performances in 18 different operas at the Metropolitan alone. She had a lovely lyric soprano voice and uncommon physical beauty that made her ideal for romantic leads. Since the lead character in Madame Butterfly is a geisha girl of merely fifteen years of age, it is an extremely difficult part to cast, especially for a filmed version, where close-ups will preclude a diva's true age from being effectively disguised. For the 1956 broadcast, Lanfranchi made the decision to cast the leads with youthful performers who would look credible in the roles of the young lovers. A talent search then turned up the largely unknown Anna Moffo studying at the Conservatorio.

Historical Background: When Giacomo Puccini undertook the composition of Madame Butterfly in 1903, his fame had already been secured by three straight triumphs. His third opera, Manon Lescaut, which premiered in 1893 in Turin, was the first for which Puccini's genius had received widespread recognition. Only the inevitable comparison of that opera with Massenet's masterpiece on the same subject had precluded universal acclaim. Three years later to the day, again in Turin, La Bohème had premiered. Though not immediately successful, it had gained increasing respect with each subsequent performance and would ultimately become Puccini's most beloved work. Then, Tosca had premiered on January 14th, 1900 and had gained the composer further admiration.

In search of a challenging new libretto, Puccini turned to a story in which he had long had some interest, "Madame Butterfly," which he had encountered in London as an American play. The play written by David Belasco had in turn been based on a novella by American author John Luther Long. Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, the same two writers who had written the librettos for La Bohème and Tosca, also prepared the libretto for Madame Butterfly. Puccini took exceptional care in composing the music and was confident that the opera would meet with success. Ultimately it did, of course, and became one of the most beloved operas in the repertoire, but on opening night in Milan, on February 17th, 1904, it was very nearly hissed off the stage. Puccini made some adjustments, shortening Act I and dividing the original long second act into two, and when the opera was presented three months later in Brescia in its revised form, is was well received.

The Story: The story occurs in three acts, all set in a house overlooking Nagasaki harbor. In Act I, Lieutenant Pinkerton (Renato Cioni), a U.S. naval officer stationed in Nagasaki, is about to marry a beautiful fifteen year-old geisha girl, Cio-Cio-San (Anna Moffo), nicknamed "Butterfly." For Pinkerton, it is a casual matter. He fully expects to abandon her when his tour-of-duty runs out. Japanese marriages were not binding in America at the time. The American Consul, Sharpless (Afro Poli), attempts to warn Pinkerton that Butterfly may take the marriage seriously, but Pinkerton is heedless. The demure and innocent bride arrives, followed by a train of her relatives. The festivities are interrupted by the arrival of Butterfly's uncle, Lo zio Bonzo (Bimitri Lopatto), who denounces the marriage and chides Butterfly for abandoning her own religion and customs to marry an American. When he curses Butterfly, Pinkerton drives Cio-Cio-San's relatives from the house. She bursts into tears, but Pinkerton tenderly reassures her and the two break into an ecstatic declaration of their mutual love.

As Act II opens, three years have passed. Pinkerton has left Japan with his shipmates and has no intention of returning, though Cio-Cio-San waits for him faithfully, convinced that he will come back to her. Sharpless tries unsuccessfully to convince Butterfly that she should not wait for him. Goro (Gino Del Signore), the marriage broker, encourages her to marry the wealthy Yamadori, for reasons of both honor and financial security, but she refuses. She reveals to Sharpless her son, "Trouble," who is also Pinkerton's son. The sound of a cannon signals the arrival of the American fleet in the harbor of Nagasaki. Butterfly and her faithful servant, Suzuki (Miti Truccato Pace), pick flowers from the garden to make the house festive in anticipation of Pinkerton's return. Cio-Cio-San puts on her wedding dress.

As Act III begins, Cio-Cio-San maintains a vigil for Pinkerton throughout the night, but he does not come. At last, she retires to her chamber to sleep. Pinkerton does finally arrive, but only because he has been informed about the child. With him are his "real" American wife, Kate (Lella Dori), and Sharpless. Sharpless chastises Pinkerton for his callousness and persuades him that he must not see Butterfly again. When Butterfly awakens and emerges, only Suzuki, Sharpless, and Kate are there to greet her. Sharpless and Kate try to persuade Butterfly to turn over her son to Pinkerton and Kate so he can be raised in America with both a mother and a father. Butterfly, seeing the truth of the situation, agrees to do so, but only if Pinkerton himself comes to ask her. Left alone, Butterfly prepares to kill herself with the ceremonial dagger her father had once used to commit harikiri. Cio-Cio-San's son momentarily interrupts her solemn endeavor and she bids him a tearful farewell. She then walks behind a screen and kills herself, just as Pinkerton arrives, belatedly filled with remorse.

Themes: The principal theme of Madame Butterfly is cross-cultural insensitivity. Here, it's an ugly-American disdainful of Japanese customs and expectations, dishonoring a Japanese woman by undertaking an insincere marriage and later abandoning his bride with child. For Cio-Cio-San, her Japanese culture dictated that she must die with honor if she could not live with honor.

Production Values: It's easy to see why this recording made a sensation. Moffo's beautiful lyric soprano voice together with her physical beauty, natural dramatic skill, and youthful believability as the girlish Cio-Cio-San makes a stunning impression. Her entrance in Act I is utterly entrancing (no pun intended). She looks every bit the shy, coquettish Japanese geisha that Cio-Cio-San is supposed to be. Musically, her voice is fresh and lovely, though not yet as fully developed as that of an established diva. In Act I she opts not to attempt the optional high D-flat but accomplishes all of the other vocal demands admirably. In Act II, Moffo provides her role with a touch of additional seriousness and maturity that realistically suggests the passage of three years. She handles the dramatic requirements of Act II and Act III with moving intensity yet with a welcome quality of restraint. Lanfranchi played to his production's strength by featuring a lot of close-ups of the beautiful Moffo and her lovely facial expressiveness.

Tenor Renato Cioni, as Pinkerton, was also cast for his youthful vigor and handsomeness. Like Moffo, he was relatively unknown and his voice would acquire more strength as he matured, but he manages the vocal demands very well and looks every bit the part of the charming but callous Pinkerton. Baritone Alfo Poli, as Sharpless, was a nice mature, stabilizing influence for the production and Miti Truccato Pace an exceptionally strong choice for the role of Suzuki. Lanfranchi provides Pace with quite a bit of stage business during the intermezzo at the opening of Act III and she handles it very well. From a dramatic and visual perspective, Madame Butterfly could scarcely be better cast than for this production. On purely vocal grounds, more mature performers might have provided greater weight to the music, but would also strain viewer credulity with respect to physical appearance.

The sets are nicely traditional, appealing yet not so ostentatious as to detract from Moffo's performance and those of her supporting cast members. The flower garden is especially well rendered. The conducting by Oliviero De Fabritis of the Orchestra and Chorus of Radiotelevisione Italiana Milano is excellent, providing both dramatic intensity and proper pacing. The mono sound is surprisingly good for a video of the fifties. The voices and orchestra are well-balanced and both come through with excellent clarity.

Despite the highly favorable qualities of this recording, I am giving it only four stars mainly because of technical limitations in the video component. For a film made for television in the fifties, this recording is in excellent shape, but there are occasional frames that exhibit deterioration. A bigger problem is that the black-and-white photography lacks sharpness throughout and the contrast and brightness settings are rather poor. You can improve the film's appearance by adjusting the contrast and brightness settings on your television, turning the contrast up a bit and the brightness down a bit. Otherwise, the images will have a blanched appearance.

Bottom-Line: Moffo's performance in this recording is very touching. She looks and sounds beautiful and fits the role perfectly. The DVD provides optional subtitles in English, French, or German. If you plan to acquire only one recording of Madame Butterfly, you might try to find the DVD featuring Raina Kabaivanska, but it's not listed at Epinions and may be out of print. The only other version currently listed at Epinions features Japanese soprano Ying Huang and provides viewers with lush Japanese sets, some surreal treatment of the cinematography, and rich modern Technicolor. On the other hand, it will never acquire the legendary status of the Moffo recording. My recommendation for those who love this opera is to get yourself a top-notch audio recording (e.g., Scotto and Domingo, Maazel conducting, see Listing) for when your main intent is to listen to the music and the Moffo film version for a combined audio and visual treat. Although Madame Butterfly is not among my ten favorite operas, it would fall somewhere in the second ten.



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You can easily access all my other opera reviews using the following lists:

Top-Twelve Film Versions of Operas
Metalluk's Twenty Best Pre-Romantic (Baroque & Classicism) Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty-five Best Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Twenty Best Non-Italian Romantic Period Operas, on DVD
Metalluk's Thirty Best Operas of the 20th-Century, on DVD
Metalluk's Best Opera from Each Decade of the 20th-Century, on DVD

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Good Date Movie
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 13 and Older