Opera Scotland

Madam Butterfly 1929Covent Garden Opera

Read more about the opera Madama Butterfly

The Edinburgh press reviewed the performance at the first Saturday matinee:

The Scotsman, Monday, 28 October 1929,  (p8):

'On Saturday, at the King's Theatre, the Covent Garden Opera Company gave two of the most popular operas in the current repertoire, Madame Butterfly, still relatively a new-comer, although the opera here has attained its semi-jubilee, and Faust, a septuagenarian, but seemingly still possessed of the youth which the hero of the opera desired.  Its design may be old-fashioned, but the spirit of the work still appeals to the public.

'In Madame Butterfly, Miss Odette de Foras, whose one previous appearance during the week had been as the Princess in Turandot,  was very effective as the heroine.  There was a note of simplicity in the reading of the part which imparted a great amount of charm.  The ingenuousness of the opening scene was never overdone,  and there was a dignity in the tragic finale which made it all the more pathetic,  while throughout her singing was beautifully pure and true.

'Mr Parry Jones sang with beautiful effect as Pinkerton,  while his acting was that of an experienced artist.  The Suzuki of Miss Constance Willis displayed an admirable finish in its treatment,  while Mr Percy Heming, as the Consul,  a rôle which seems easy, but which has its own difficulties,  for it is essentially an acting part,  but which can easily be over-acted,  was at all points convincing.  It was a study which was full of personality.

'Mr Octave Dua's Goro was another impersonation in which there was the happiest blending of the actor and the singer.  Miss Frances Frost made an attractive Kate,  and Mr Philip Bertram as the Bonze declaimed his music with powerful effect.'