Operatic Conspiracies

The premiere of Madama Butterfly at Milan’s La Scala in 1904 was a disaster that has become notorious in theater history. Although audiences a century ago tended to be more vocally demonstrative than today’s operagoers, the pandemonium during the opera’s first performance was overwhelming even by historical standards. According to contemporary reports, there were animal and bird calls from the audience during the dawn scene, laughter when Butterfly presented her child to Sharpless, and shouts of “She is pregnant!” when a draft caught and billowed the lead singer’s costume—all in addition to the typical whistles, hisses, and boos. The professional critics were no less hostile, with several reviewers repeating the claim that Puccini had plagiarized himself by reusing melodies from La Bohème in the new opera.

Puccini was convinced that this extremely negative reaction had been orchestrated by someone. A likely candidate for such a villain may have been Edoardo Sonzogno, owner of the music publishing firm that was the main competitor of Ricordi, which represented Puccini. Sonzogno had previously acted as impresario of La Scala, and his rivalry with Ricordi was so great that during his tenure, he forbade any operas published by Ricordi from appearing on the stage. His management of the opera house was disastrous and resulted in massive deficits, and after he was removed from office it was his turn to find few opportunities to put his operas on stage. When the premiere of Madama Butterfly was delayed due to the injuries Puccini suffered in an automobile accident and his subsequent slow recovery, Sonzogno managed to put forward one of the operas from his own roster to fill the resulting void: the now-forgotten Siberia by Umberto Giordano. Sonzogno, who was known for his unscrupulous business tactics, would have been keen to ensure that the success of his opera was not eclipsed by Puccini’s new work, which immediately followed it on stage. It would not have been the first or the last time that a discreet bribe before a premiere produced a disruptive claque that carried the rest of the public along with it.

After the disaster of the opening night and Madama Butterfly was withdrawn from the stage, an article appeared in the newspaper Il Secolo. It reflected,

“A second performance would have provoked a scandal among the Milanese, who do not relish being made fun of. The opera ... shows that Maestro Puccini was in a hurry. Importuned as he was to bring out the work this season, sick as he was, he failed to find original inspiration and had recourse to melodies from his previous operas and even helped himself to melodies by other composers. His opera is dead.”

It is worth mentioning that the owner of Il Secolo was none other than Edoardo Sonzogno.