Baltimore Opera Company

Study Guide

Madama Butterfly

Luigi Illica

An extremely adventuresome and daring personality, Illica was born on 9 May, 1857 in the hamlet of Castel'Arquato, near Piacenza. A rift with his father led to his running away from home to go to sea in order to fight against the Turks. In 1881 he returned to Italy to found a radical literary review in Bologna, and having found his literary voice, began to try his hand at writing poetry and plays. He began to move in the artistic circles of Milan and met the influential composers of the day, with whom be began to collaborate. His first important libretto was that for Alfredo Catalani's La Wally (1892), although he did some work for some of the lesser known operatic composers of the day, such as Antonio Smareglia, Gaetano Luporino, and Spiro Samara (it sounds like the rear guard of the Italian World Cup team!). His work in these circles came to the attention of Giacomo Puccini, who invited him to join the troubled Manon Lescaut team. Their collaboration was so successful that Illica went on (with his partner Giuseppe Giacosa, the music critic) to provide Puccini with the texts for La Bohème, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly. Other important texts for which Illica is responsible are Umberto Giordano's Andrea Chénier (1896), Pietro Mascagni's beautiful Oriental-inspired Iris (1898), and Pietro Mascagni's Pre-Raphaelite Isabeau (1911). Illica's own personal penchant for adventure and high drama, as well as his delight in documenting historical accuracy, perfectly complemented the lyric works of the Verismo period in which he lived and worked.

James Harp

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