Synopsis

During the 1906-1907 season of the Metropolitan Opera in New York, America’s premiere opera company staged a mini-festival of operas by a living composer ­— Giacomo Puccini.

The Met’s star tenor, Enrico Caruso, could be heard in revival productions of Puccini’s La Boheme and Tosca — operas that still qualified as “contemporary music” back then, being just 10 and 7 years old respectively. The Met also scheduled the company premiere of Puccini’s first big operatic success, Manon Lescaut and, on today’s date in 1907, the American premiere of Puccini’s newest opera, Madame Butterfly.

They arranged for Puccini to supervise the rehearsals, but his ship was delayed by bad weather. He arrived in New York on the day of the scheduled premiere of Manon Lescaut, and rushed to his box at the opera house just in time for the start of Act II — but not before acknowledging a big ovation from the audience.

If America was enthusiastic about Puccini, the feeling was reciprocated. In 1912, Puccini visited the New York studios of Columbia Records to record a greeting to his American fans. This was in Italian but concluded with two words of English — a quote from the libretto for his Madama Butterfly — “America forever!”

Music Played in Today's Program

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924): Madame Butterfly Suite; Rome Symphony; Domenico Savino, conductor; MCA 9834-A

The 1912 recording of the voice of Puccini: Grammofono 2000 #AB-78779