The story of Cio-Cio-San is one of Giacomo Puccini's most beautiful love operas. And to think, the premiere of this production in 1904 at La Scala in Milan was one of the composer's most bitter experiences. The atmosphere in the audience was unbearable. The audience chanted "La Bohème!!!" – accusing the composer of duplicating musical passages, booed, and yawned loudly. The performance was a complete failure. Critics also lambasted the composer. Only after several changes were made and a performance at the Teatro Grande in Brescia did the opera triumph. Seven encores were required, and from then on, it has been a popular addition to the repertoire of opera houses around the world.

Madame Butterfly

Teatr Wielki - Polish National Opera

Verdi's last work, in the popular tradition, is a lighthearted comedy about a fat drunkard who cynically seduces two women and is severely punished by them. However, when one carefully examines the Shakespearean original and carefully analyzes the extraordinary richness of the musical motifs, one discovers a darker undercurrent to this mysterious work, which the aged, accomplished composer consciously wrote as a farewell to his immense legacy, his own impressive life, and the world he philosophically viewed as the creator's painful joke on people and their actions. Reaching this undercurrent and revealing its supreme artistic beauty seems worth departing from the stereotype of a protagonist supposedly engaged solely in enjoying the remnants of the pleasures of table and bed, and in fairground clowning.

Mateusz Michałowski

Events

Upcoming events

17 - 26 Apr, 2026

Falstaff · Polish National Opera

Past events

10 - 15 Oct, 2025

Madame Butterfly · Polish National Opera

Future and recently performed repertoire

Consul in Madame Butterfly by Puccini

Polish National Opera

Falstaff in Falstaff by Verdi

Polish National Opera

About

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