Madama Butterfly

Of Cio-Cio-San, Puccini's young Japanese bride, Maria Callas gave only three staged performances — at the Lyric Opera of Chicago, in November 1955. Three evenings, and one of the most singular portraits in her gallery.

A few months earlier, in the summer of 1955, she had recorded the role in the studio in Milan, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. That recording remains one of her most debated and most fascinating achievements: a voice deliberately slimmed down, almost childlike in the first act, growing act by act as the illusion of the fifteen-year-old geisha turns into the tragedy of a woman. Where so many interpreters sing Butterfly as a touching victim, Callas makes her a consciousness that understands — which is far more devastating.

Chicago closed the chapter almost as soon as it opened: after the third performance she never returned to the role on stage. The recording remains — and with it the proof that a hundred evenings are not needed to mark the history of a role.

In the Foundation's collection

Photographs and documents from Callas's American seasons — including Chicago, where she made her United States debut in 1954 — are preserved in the Foundation's collection. Discover the collection · Licensing

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