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Revising Cio-Cio-San, Linda B. Fairtile

University Libraries Faculty and Staff Publications

Some of the mast extensive and significant textual changes in all of Puccini's operas appear in the published revisions of Madama Butterfly. Many of these verbal modifications, together with cuts and additions to the score, influence the dramatic depiction of the protagonists. Changes to Pinkerton's character soften an insensitive and even offensive figure who, after all, needs to be convincing as the object of Butterfly's love. For Cio-Cio-San, three rounds of revision mean a gradual loss of complexity on any fronts, bringing an exotic, mercurial heroine closer to operatic convention. The Butterfly that we know today has a more …