FANTAISIE SUR MADAME BUTTERFLY

This new Fantasy on Giaccomo Puccini's Madame Butterfly is the second in a series of arrangements devoted to the works of a composer who is still too little explored by flautists. It continues his foray into the heart of the opera paraphrase style, a genre that was very much in vogue in the salons of the second half of the 19th century.

With the success of Bohème and Tosca, Puccini was probably far from imagining the reception that the public of La Scala in Milan would give to his Madame Butterfly at its premiere on February 17, 1904. At the height of the excitement that evening, the audience responded to the delicate birdsong of the Intermezzo with caricatured imitations of barnyard noises. Marked by this resounding failure, which the composer himself described as a 'real lynching' organized by the detractors of the publisher Ricordi, Puccini reworked his opera four times. In particular, he divided the second act into two distinct parts, allowing the emergence of a third act. From then on, the work was more in line with the standards of Italian opera, and it succeeded in imposing itself on international stages.
Among the sublime arias that still contribute to the success of this opera, you will recognize the duet between Pinkerton and Sharpless, the love duet at the end of the first act or the duet of the flowers presented as virtuoso variations.

In contrast to the Western Flute Suite (Fantasy on the Fanciulla del West), which is very much influenced by typically American themes, the Fantasy on Madame Butterfly makes a slight nod to Japanese-inspired music (theme of tragic destiny), favouring more Western themes. Polyphony as a musical symbol of the West, with the initial fugue as its supreme embodiment, lends itself easily to writing for an intrumentarium whose repertoire, though not very developed, remains very popular with flutists.

Paris, le 26 février 2021
Laëtitia Brault et Jean-Christophe Maltot

Arrangement: Jean-Christophe Maltot

For two flutes and piano

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