MADAMA BUTTERFLY GIACOMO PUCCINI
Placido Domingo General Director
A TEACHER’S GUIDE
INTRODUCTION HOW TO USE THIS GUIDE
WHAT YOU WILL SEE?
Opera offers a unique teaching opportunity – to explore music through many different disciplines from literature and drama to history and art. This guide and accompanying CDs prepare students for the Opera Look-In and can also be used as stand-alone classroom activities and resources for teachers. For applicable National Standards, please contact Washington National Opera at 202.448.3462 or at education@dcopera.org.
LESSON STARTERS: HISTORY
Based on a story by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica with music by Giacomo Puccini, Madama Butterfly takes center stage for the 2006 Opera Look-In. You and your students will experience demonstrations of musical and technical special effects, as well as a performance of scenes with full staging, costumes, and orchestra. The performance will be sung in Italian with English supertitles projected above the stage. The estimated running time for the Opera Look-In: Madama Butterfly is 50 minutes with no intermission.
Your students will explore early 20thcentury Japan with this production of Madama Butterfly. This period of Japanese history is known as the Meiji Restoration (1868 - 1912). The Emperor was restored as the symbolic leader, and Japan open its doors to Western trade and commerce for the first time in more than a century. The Meiji Restoration provides an excellent opportunity for your students to develop their research, writing, and technology skills.
Your students received a student guide to help them prepare for the Opera Look-In. The student guide provides musical and historical information about Madama Butterfly. Additionally, there are questions incorporated into the student guide which challenges your students to think critically in each section. These questions can lead to in-class discussions or provide topics for classroom assignments.
LESSON STARTERS: MATHEMATICS In modern Japan, you can find examples of both traditional and contemporary Japanese architecture. Progressive skyscrapers stand tall next to centuries-old traditional homes.
EXPLORE MORE HISTORY!
EXPLORE MORE MATH! Have your students research traditional homes during the Meiji Restoration and the architecture of modern Japan. Your students should look for repeated patterns and geometric shapes in the construction of the buildings. What are the similarities and differences with the architectural styles?
Have your students research the Meiji Restoration by exploring new technologies, culture, and ideas that shaped Japanese society in the early 20th century. Students can also research Japanese influences that are incorporated into American society today. This assignment allows students to explore cultural connections to the past, present, and future.
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