Madame Butterfly vs Miss Saigon

Li Tao/Wen

French Naval Officer Pierre. When Lottie was writing the autobiographical French novel "Lady Kikuko", she did not expect that the love story between herself and the Japanese woman was written by John F. Kennedy. Luthor. When John Luther Long was adapted into the novel Madame Butterfly, it evolved into Puccini's 1904 classic opera Madame Butterfly and Schoenberg's musical magnum opus Miss Saigon in 1989. Musicals are often seen as a modern variant of classical European opera, and Miss Saigon is equally considered a modern version of Madame Butterfly. Indeed, these two works of different periods not only have the same theme content, but also have a certain origin in the form of artistic expression, and only by playing carefully can they taste their respective flavor characteristics.

Giacomo in 1900. After watching the stage play "Madama Butterfly", Giacomo Puccini was touched by the pure love of Qiao qiaosang, who was full of passion and dragged the sick body to complete the creation and rehearsal of "Madame Butterfly". Although the premiere at the Teatro alla Scala suffered a historic fiasco, it did not dampen Puccini's confidence. With a slight modification, sure enough, the re-enactment after 3 months was a great success. It has been passed down to this day as the world-renowned masterpiece with the highest box office attendance per quarter of any grand opera house.

In 1985, composer Claude-Michel Schonberg stumbled upon a photograph of a Vietnamese girl about to board a plane from Ho Chi Minh City to the United States to meet her father, a former soldier in Vietnam, whom she had never met. The mother and daughter were in tears, and the sad and helpless scene of life and death shocked Schoenberg. From this, he thought of the scene of "Madame Butterfly" in which Qiao Qiaosang gave his life to his child. He was actively associated with the lyricist Alain. Alain Boublil and renowned musical producer Cameron Mackintosh collaborated to give birth to Miss Saigon, a modern musical version of Madame Butterfly. Premiered on 20 September 1989 at the Drury Lane Theatre in London, England, and on 11 April 1991, it appeared on the Broadway stage in New York, USA, winning several international awards and is one of the most prestigious musicals today.

"Madame Butterfly" tells the story of the tragedy of love between Pinkerton, an American officer, and Jojosan, a Japanese woman. During the Meiji period in Japan, U.S. Navy Captain Pinkerton fell in love with the Japanese geisha Qiaosang (known as Butterfly Girl) in Nagasaki, Japan. Despite the opposition of his relatives, Qiao Qiaosang betrayed his religion and married Pinkton and had children. Pinkleton was ordered to return home, but the simple Madame Butterfly still credulously believed her promise, refused the marriage proposal of the nobleman's children, and lived a difficult life with her children, waiting for her husband's return. Three years later, when Pinkleton's gunboat reappeared in Nagasaki Harbor, Madame Butterfly was ecstatic and looked forward to a reunion with her husband, however, Pinkleton had a new love. Madame Butterfly surrendered her beloved son and, in front of Pinkerton, kissed the sword and committed suicide.

"Miss Saigon" follows the basic framework of "Madame Butterfly", depicting the lingering exotic love affair between American soldier Kles and Vietnamese girl Kim. After the end of the Vietnam War, on the eve of the withdrawal of American troops from Saigon City, The Vietnamese girl King Kong went to work in a bar in downtown Saigon and met the U.S. Navy guard Kris and fell in love. Saigon city fell and the Americans retreated, and the two were separated in confusion. Chris returns to the United States, and King gives birth to a son, Tan, for Chris in Saigon. A few years later, Chris, who still loved Kim, came to Bangkok with his wife, Ellen, to find Her Son. In exchange for his son's future future in the United States, Alan first met Kim and refused to bring Tan back to the United States, just before Klein met Kim, King shot himself.

Puccini, who wrote twelve operas during his lifetime, was a typical Italian opera composer and is also listed as one of the top five opera composers in the history of European music. Born into poverty, he pays special attention to and understands the lives of the underclass, so most of his works are based on contemporary realistic themes and mythological themes that have little to do with reality. He is good at describing the great sorrow in the small people, portraying the inner psychology of the characters, especially focusing on the psychological tragedy of the heroine. For example: Bohemians, Tosca, etc. Schoenberg is a successful composer and record producer. In his early years, he mainly sang, while also composing and producing popular songs. Most of his works deal with large ideological themes such as religion, politics or history. For example: Les Misérables, The French Revolution and Martin. Gayle" and others. If Puccini's creative passion comes from the pure love of Qiaoqiaosan, Claude Michelle. Schoenberg's creative impulse comes from a sense of social responsibility, from a strong sense of indictment of the war of aggression and the crime of colonial oppression. From this point of view, Schoenberg's creative ideas and creative vision are higher and farther than Puccini's, and contain a strong spirit of social criticism.

"Madame Butterfly" has few characters, the plot is simple and straightforward, and the development lines are clear and orderly. Adhering to the tradition of Italian opera, in a simple plot framework, the drama is unfolded with music, portraying profound ideological connotations.

The characters in Miss Saigon basically correspond to Madame Butterfly. The heroine of the Japanese geisha "Qiao Qiao Sang" is replaced by the Vietnamese bar woman "Kim"; the male protagonist "Pinkerton" becomes the Marine Sergeant "Kles"; the Japanese pimp "Goro" corresponds to the French-Vietnamese mixed-race adulterer "Engineer"; the male protagonist's friend "Sharis" is changed to "John"; the male protagonist's American wife "Kate" is replaced by "Ellen"; but "Miss Saigon" focuses on drama. The unfolding and variation of the drama is more detailed, more complex and more logical than that of Madame Butterfly. The dramatic contradiction and conflict changes the negative heart of the male protagonist in "Madame Butterfly" into the smallness and helplessness of the hero's sincere love in the fate of the times and the interlacing of time and space. The message to the world is the brutality of war, the tragic nature of the clash of cultures and the tragic historicity of this crossing of national borders. As Liu Shirong said: "The formation of this tragedy has long gone beyond the reasons for the personal moral character of the parties concerned, and is fundamentally caused by colonial oppression and wars of aggression."

It can be seen from this that opera and musical theater have a fundamental difference in the emphasis of drama and music. Opera takes music as the soul, the details of the script are not high, and all the drama in the play is realized and completed through music. As the American composer and critic Edward M. As Edward T. Cone puts it, "In an opera, music and lines can reinforce or contradict each other. But in either case, we must always rely on music as our guide to understand the composer's concept of script lines. It is this concept, not the dry script lines themselves, that are authoritative in prescribing the ultimate meaning of an opera work. In opera, music plays the most important expressive function. All singing forms, such as solo singing, heavy singing, chorus, etc., overture or prelude, interlude, etc., are aimed at revealing the contradictions and conflicts of the plot and developing drama, and setting off the environmental atmosphere. Music not only promotes the development of the dramatic plot, but also portrays the character of the character and shapes the image of the character. Therefore, in the traditional opera aesthetic habits of the West, listening to the music of composers, appreciating the singing of singers, and watching the interpretation of conductors and orchestras are the focus of watching opera. Musical theater takes drama as the soul, music as an important means of expression, and drama is the most attractive part of musical theater. In musicals, the change of dramatic plot and fierce contradictions and conflicts are the key points of success of the work, which dominate. Music is an indispensable and important part, and all forms of music change around the development of the plot and the characterization of the characters. Therefore, unlike the appreciation of opera, what attracts the audience of musical theater first is the complete theatrical framework, wonderful storyline, and deep contradictions and conflicts. Then there's the familiar and moving music, the dances that express and render the atmosphere, the exquisite and peculiar scenes, and so on.

The music of "Madame Butterfly" is romantic, vivid and moving, skillfully combining the musical elements of the ancient Japanese ballad melody and the pentatonic scale, using different motivations to represent different characters and different emotions, boldly using the harmonies that were not harmonious at that time (early twentieth century), transposing and effective orchestral instruments, making the work full of exotic special charm. For example: a piece of music in which Qiao Qiao Sang appears, rich in color, uses a lot of three chords, and the melody of the cushion is beautiful and beautiful, gradually highlighting the innocent beauty of Qiao Qiao Sang; in the love duet, Puccini adopts the modulo method, the second degree of the second degree, the fourth degree of the modus opera, representing the motive of "curse" and the motive of "death", which constantly appears in the happy "love" motive, indicating ominous signs; "Madame Butterfly", attaches great importance to vocal singing, which is also one of the most prominent features of Puccini's opera.　The aria "Sunny Day" is a typical Puccini-esque lyrical melody that meticulously reveals Madame Butterfly's deepest yearning for happiness. The superposition of a large number of strings reinforces its warmth, and the pentatonic scale increases its oriental color. In particular, the melody of the American national anthem is used to represent the motivation of "Pinkerton". Puccini emphasizes the use of arias that blend the recitation tune with the aria to deeply portray the character's psychology. Avoid the complete separation of the narrative tune and the aria, so that the narrative tune has a beautiful musical rhythm, simple, approachable, and moving. For example, in the second act, when Qiaoqiao Sang learns that Pinkleton has abandoned her, he sings a passage to the child, which is intense and dark. The dark color of the lower A minor is adopted, and the melody is basically declarative. The psychology of Qiao Qiaosang is carefully portrayed, and the tragic color is strong. Composers are very good at handling scenes of the heroine's death as climaxes, often providing sweet and mournful melodies to the soprano. For example, in the section before Qiao Qiaosang committed suicide by caesarean section, it is delicate and mournful, miserable and tragic.

The music of Miss Saigon is passionate, accompanied by a strong sense of turmoil and extreme tension throughout, expressing the extreme tension in the final days of the Vietnam War. Schoenberg organically integrates American jazz with Vietnamese folk tones, Vietnamese instruments and rock rhythms, so that music has an infinite driving force, integrating tradition and modernity, East and West, making this work unique in classic and fashionable artistic characteristics. Schoenberg cites the dominant motives in the opera to unfold the music, with a particular emphasis on the musical motives of the heroine Kim throughout the play. At the same time, the fluency of the aria is combined to show the deep inner inner activity of the characters. For example, "God, Why" shows Klein's confusion about love in the future. In "I Will Give My Life for You", Schoenberg adopts four transpositions from B to A and finally to F in G major, showing Kim's complex psychology, from gentle pity for children to quiet memories of love, to the painful struggle of reality, to the final passion. It vividly portrays Kim's love for his children and his determination to dedicate himself to his children. The jazz style of the "American Dream" depicts a sly and treacherous pimp. "I Still Believe" is a duet between Kim and Ellen that expresses the love belief of two hostesses who have never met, on opposite ends of the earth, to the same man. Quite an opera duet, passionate.

Madame Butterfly is an opera written primarily for female singers, with high technical requirements for the heroine. A high degree of vocal attainment is required to be competent for this role. From the first act of Qiao Qiaosang to her suicide at the end of the opera, it is her play, it is all her singing. Therefore, she has to develop from a pure and transparent, even slightly childlike girlish voice when she appears, to a sweet and slightly mature voice when "a clear day", and gradually develops to a voice full of full maturity and dramatic tension in the last aria, in order to fully show her heart-rending and completely desperate heart. Requires the ability of the actor to have high timbre adjustment and volume control. The male protagonist's play is very light, and it is not until the end that the aria "Farewell, dear homeland" appears.

"Miss Saigon" is not very demanding in terms of singing technique, but pays attention to the beauty of the melody and the effect of singing. The singing is intimate and natural, sincere and moving. For example: "The Sun and the Moon" and "The Last Night in the World" are duets between the male and female protagonists falling in love and separating, with a simple and catchy melody. The blend of lyrical tenor and natural female voice is simple and moving, touching and touching.

Opera and musicals have certain differences in singing characteristics. The opera is based on traditional Italian bel canto techniques. There are lyrical, flower cavity, drama and other timbre differences, high, middle and low voice division is strict. Often, an opera performer with high skill and profound artistic attainments takes a long time to cultivate, so as long as the actor has comprehensive musical literacy and superb vocal skills, age and appearance will not become obstacles to playing "Qiaoqiaosang". Musicals are not as demanding as operas in vocal techniques, and sound concepts are varied, there are no rules, and they change completely according to the plot and character personality, emphasizing the use of changeable musical styles to interpret the rich characters in musicals. Musical theatre actors must possess flexible and varied techniques and methods of expression. At the same time, the appearance and temperament of the musical actor must match the role. Therefore, Frenie, who has a high vocal attainment, can play the young girl Qiaoqiao Sang, and the actor of "Kim" must be 18-year-old Li. Saron.

Dance in opera is often interspersed and embellished, irrelevant. In musicals, it is an important means of expression, such as "West End Story" and "Song in the Rain". Even some musicals are completely interpreted and developed by dance, such as: "Group Dancers", "Cats" and so on. In "Miss Saigon", several songs and dances in the bar, in the dream, during the parade, etc., with realistic scene effects, not only render the atmosphere, accelerate the transformation of the scene, but also add color to the development of the plot.

It is said that one of the main reasons for the failure of the premiere of "Madame Butterfly" was the inability of conservative Milanese audiences to accept the peculiar stage design. In musicals, however, bold and authentic stage designs become a fashion.

The unique choreography design in Miss Saigon is particularly impressive. The gorgeous Broadway song stage in the "American Dream"; "It is at this time" in which the Vietnamese Communists hold aloft an 18-foot-tall, 600-pound huge ho Chi Minh statue, symbolizing the reconstruction of Vietnam; the most classic and expensive scene in the play is in front of the U.S. Embassy, where the iron railing separates Kim and Kles, and a huge helicopter with a deafening loud noise slowly descends from the air to the stage, directly transmitting the unprecedented fear, chaos, anxiety, and despair on the field to the audience. Everyone's hearts are also stirred with the rumble of the helicopter's high-decibel engine, creating a unique live effect, making "Miss Saigon" a modern musical with both passion and huge scenes, but also full of warm and beautiful love stories.

Opera has a long history, musicals are rising stars, they have a certain connection and similarity in inheritance, they are all integrated music, drama, poetry, dance and stage art and other artistic elements, mainly singing theatrical forms. The most crucial difference between them is also the aristocratization and popularization of the tradition of cultural concepts and modern and artistic tastes.

Li Tao is a master tutor at Shanghai Conservatory of Music

Li Tao, Associate Professor of the Department of Musical Theatre, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Master Supervisor, Senior Visiting Fellow, Royal College of Music

scholar. Monograph "Research on Chinese Poetry and Song Singing" (Oriental Publishing Center of China Publishing Group, 2011),

"European and American Musical Theater Singing Training Course" (Shanghai Music Publishing House, 2014); album "Sauvignon Blanc——

Li Tao Chinese Poetry And Song Singing Album", Thesis: "Diversified Vocal Lines" (Shanghai Theater Magazine,

December 2007), Love Without Borders (Shanghai Theater Magazine, December 2006), Christine

Emotional Entanglement (Musical Arts, September 2010), "Plasticity Training for Singing Voices in Musicals"

(People's Music, December 2012), "Opening a New Picture of the Integration of Production, Learning and Research" (People's Music,

September 2014) and others.