Madame Butterfly: John Luther Long - Clearly Advanced CD Project
Madame Butterfly by John Luther Long
Madame Butterfly originated in a story by John Luther Long and was adapted for the stage by David Belasco. The play did very well in New York in 1900, then quickly crossed the Atlantic for a London production. I am familiar with the play (as I was an actor for years as a young man) this opera always impressed me and stuck in my mind. The simple plot is fertile grounds for: love and loss, and hope, and despair, and the stuff that the very best operas are made of. Just like fine wine some of these songs require that you, again, build up a taste for them, or were exposed to them when you were young. Don't let that stop you from realizing that these classical songs are the pinnacle of humanity's technical musical development.