U niversity
oe
O regon M onthly
T h e W abcl) Scei>e ip
M a d a rp e B u tte r f ly
T T H E end of the sec
ond act of.. Puccini’s
Madame B u t t e rfky,
cpmes the W a t c h
Scene, the most im
pressive part of the
dpera.
Madame
Butterfly,
her child, and her ser
vant are standing at
the lattice waiting—
watching for the man who is never
to return,—at least not until all need
for his coming has passed,—not until
his heart-broken wife has killed her
self.
It is the story of the American man,
who, traveling in Japan, falls in love
with a Japanese girl, marries her and
leaves her, with a promise to return,'—
the promise never kept.
In this case, a young officer has. m ar
ried Butterfly, leaving in a brief month
or two, with promise to return when
the cherries bloomed again. But the
soft, pink blossoms were now dotting
the trees of the picturesque little coun
try for a second tim e‘ since the officer
had left, and still he did not come.
The little Japanese woman still strews
her tiny shoji each day with the cherry
blooms, wishing to gladden his return.
And it is here that we find her keep
ing the Night, Watch. A ship has
come to Nagasaki, and she believes that
it will surely bring him to her, for are
not the cherries blooming again ?
And so standing at {he lattice, she
looks off toward the twinkling lights of
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