Madame Butterfly at the Opéra Bastille

Published by Laurent de Sortiraparis · Published on April 9th, 2019 at 04:38 p.m.
The Opéra Bastille offers several performances of Giacomo Puccini's famous opera Madame Butterfly from September 14 to November 13, 2019. A plunge into early 20th-century Japan.

Japan through the prism of opera... TheOpéra Bastille offers several performances of Giacomo Puccini's major work Madame Butterfly, from September 14 to November 13, 2019. A tragedy in two acts, sometimes split into three, set in the Land of the Rising Sun at the beginning of the 20th century, it brings together two worlds that are at odds with each other.

First, that of Cio-Cio san (Madame Butterfly in English), a 15-year-old geisha who takes marriage very seriously and remains faithful to her traditions, but also that of Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton, an American soldier who falls in love with the young woman, rents a traditional house and marries her for fun. Like Romeo and Juliet, these two worlds end in the death of one of them, in this case Madame Butterfly, who, learning that Pinkerton has married another woman while she's away, kills herself by Jigai, a ritual suicide rather reserved for women (equivalent to seppuku).

The opera was inspired in part by Pierre Loti's Madame Chrysanthème, which tells approximately the same story, namely that of a young French naval officer who goes to Japan and marries a Japanese woman, Kiku-san (Madame Chrysanthème), in Nagazaki. Unlike Pierre Loti's work, which is based on his own experience, Giacomo Puccini draws his inspiration here from"popular melodies and the sounds of Japanese voices". Robert Wilson's uncluttered staging"marries perfectly the dramatic intensity and underlying violence of this Japanese-influenced tragedy". Let's escape for an evening, folks?

Practical information

Dates and Opening Time
From September 14th, 2019 to November 13th, 2019

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    Location

    Place de la Bastille
    75012 Paris 12

    Access
    Metro lines 1, 5 and 8, "Bastille" station

    Prices
    Catégorie 10: €5
    Catégorie 9: €15
    Catégorie 8: €35
    Catégorie 7: €50
    Catégorie 6: €70
    Catégorie 5: €100
    Catégorie 4: €135
    Catégorie 3: €155
    Catégorie 2: €175
    Catégorie 1: €190
    Catégorie Optima: €210

    Average duration
    2 h 45 min

    Official website
    www.operadeparis.fr

    More information
    Premieres September 14 at 7:30pm, September 19, October 9, 12, 19, 26, 29, 30, November 2, 6, 8, 9 and 13, 2019 at 7:30pm. November 1 at 2:30pm. Under-40s ticket on November 5 at 7:30pm. Audio-description for performances on October 19, 29 and November 1.

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