Date: Sun., Feb. 26, 2012 4:11 PM
Pacific Standard Time
From: barclay1720@aol.com
To: diane3760@canada.ca
Hello, Diane,
I’m so glad to know that you’ll visit London.
I was over there about 15 years ago.
I wish I could go there with you again.
Some day… some day… ha, ha, ha, ha, ha …
I’ve been reading many books regarding “Madame Butterfly” since I received your last mail about “A Dangerous Method.”
I was too busy reading those books to write my articles in English.
How come Sabina went through kinky sex life?
I read a book titled “Butterfly” written by Paul Loewen.
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According to the author, Paul Loewen lived in Heidelberg during the World War II.
One day, while listening to a record of the opera “Madama Butterfly,” his mother became upset unusually.
When she calmed down eventually, she revealed the secrets of her upbringing.
A Japanese women who became a model of Madama Butterfly had, in fact, a daughter, not a son.
The girl would later married a German doctor who had been a consultant at a hospital in Tokyo.
Four years later she gave birth to a baby boy.
That woman is his mother and the boy is the author—Paul Loewen.
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That’s what the preface says.
When Loewen learned that the daughter of the so-called Madame Butterfly was his mother, he had a strong interest in the true story of his grandparents.
After the World War II, he had the opportunity to visit Japan in the United-Nations-related work.
In Nagasaki, he discovered the memoirs and letters of the late Pinkerton.
Because the contents of the notes and letters were decadent and sexual, they were not published at the time.
However, in the wake of the death of his mother in 1976, he decided to publish by editing the materials discovered in Nagasaki as well as the diary of Sharpless obtained in the United States in order to reveal the true story of his grandparents.
In the past years, many researchers have tried to find the model of Madame Butterfly of the opera.
Did the model ever exist?
If so, who was she?
This mystery has not been clearly elucidated until now.
Although the discovered materials are certainly suspicious and indeed lacking in credibility, Loewen’s literary Work-up seems quite effective in the sense that the reader really looks forward to the mystery and wants to solve it.
The story begins when Kate (Kathryn Hamilton) and Henry Pinkerton were still young lovers.
Kate is a woman who combines the elegance of demeanor equipped with extraordinary intelligence and breathtaking beauty as well as delicate sensibility.
I’ve found several common traits between Kate and Sabina.
That’s why I’ve been reading the related books in order to get insights into Kate’s as well as Sabina’s mind.
Well…so much so that I’ll write an article about it, and hope you’ll enjoy reading it.
I’ll send another mail to you while you’re enjoying your journey in London so that you will be able to read as a bit of refresher.
In any case, please have a great time in London, learn as much as possible, and experience a great deal of adventure and romance. :)
I’m looking foward to hearing fascinating and inspirational stories from you.
Your truly travel-loving Taliesin,
Kato
:) with love
Subj:London Theatre
Here We Come !
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From: diane@vancouver.ca
To: barclay1720@aol.com
Date: Sun, Feb 26, 2012 4:57 pm.
Pacific Standard Time
Hi Kato,
Wow! That was a quick response .. thanks so much.
I’ll send you a postcard and we’ll see how long it takes to get from London to Vancouver.
I always think it’s such fun to receive a hard copy of something these days; so quaint, n’est-ce pas?
I’m really getting excited about the prospect of experiencing some new things to shake me out of my routines.
Not an easy task, as I’m sure you know.
So I’m sure this trip will be good for me.
Besides, I’ll get to see how compatible my boyfriend and I are travel-wise.
We’ve already discussed some of our differences.
He is a news junky and likes to glue himself to the television, for instance, and I’m a fan of quiet home spaces.
He’s agreed to watch TV in the bar downstairs or with headphones, so I’m relieved about that.
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Otherwise, it should be fine, hopefully.
Time will tell, as they say.
I think you might be on to something with respect to the commonalities between Kate and Sabina.
It would be interesting to know if they were both abused as children.
This would, of course, explain a lot at least at a superficial level.
Good luck with your sleuthing.
See you when I return from visiting the Queen.
Hug for my truly loving Taliesin.
Ta, ta as they say in England,
Love, Diane ~
Diane, I think you’ve got a keen sixth sense.
Oh… what makes you think so?
You just mentioned:
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I think you might be on to something with respect to the commonalities between Kate and Sabina.
It would be interesting to know if they were both abused as children.
This would, of course, explain a lot at least at a superficial level.
As a matter of fact, Kate was abused when she was an adolescent.
I thought so.
How did you know?
Well … maybe, sixth sense as you just mentioned.
I see… Anyway, Kate’s story goes like this:
According to Kate’s confession, her father was a Hungarian-born British baron, his mother a cabaret dancer in Vienna.
On behalf of her mother who didn’t raise her own baby–Kate, the mother’s older sister, who was a music teacher, raised Kate until she turned 14-year-old.
After the death of the aunt, Kate was sent to the father’s older sister who had been married without a child.
Her husband adored Kate, but when she reached sixteen and turned out to be a beautiful girl, he forced her to have sex with him every night.
Kate planned to run away, but it was found out.
The cunning uncle sold her out to a brothel.
In the brothel, she refused to service a man.
Whenever she resisted, Kate faced a harsh punishiment.
Eventually, she surrendered and started to take a guest.
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Her snobbish and cold attitudes didn’t please most of her customers, but some masochistic clients liked her sadistic attitudes.
Therefore, the madame of the brothel gave Kate special education so that she should be able to become a specialist in handling masochists.
Soon, an elderly French ambassador liked Kate, and took her to Washington, D.C.
After the ambassador had been summoned to Paris, Kate remained in the United States and went to college with his financial aid.
Kate planned to enter the social circles with girlfriends of the good family.
Her dream came true when Kate came to know Pinkerton through his sister, Lisa.
Pinkerton had a fiancee at the time, but Kate attracted him without any difficulty.
Before hand, Kate carefully examined his family background.
Pinkerton was an ideal dupe because, although he owned a great deal of property and excellent family ancestry, he didn’t possess his own strong character.
At first Kate considered Pinkerton to be a mediocre man with an air head.
When she noticed that Pinkerton actually possessed rich sensibility and passion inside him, however, Kate came to love him.
Wow! What a dramatic revelation…
According to Paul Loewen, Kate became a femme fatale.
Tsk, tsk, tsk, … a femme fatale, huh?
Yes, she was…and this reminds me of the movie: “Fatal Attraction.”
Why is that?
Did you see the movie, Diane?
Of course, I did.
Fatal Attraction (Trailer)
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It was quite some time ago, though. The movie was such a sensation that everybody seemed to talk about it at the time.
I know … I know. It was a hit, becoming the second highest grossing film of 1987 in the United States and hugely popular internationally.
But I don’t quite remember that the movie has something to do with “Madame Butterfly.”
Yes, it has. You know, Dan Gallagher, played by Michael Douglas, is a successful, happily married New York attorney living in Manhattan. He meets Alexandra “Alex” Forrest played by Glenn Close. She is an editor for a publishing company. When his wife and daughter were out of town for the weekend, he had a passionate affair with Alex. Though he thought it was understood to be a simple fling, she begins clinging to him. When Dan explains that he must go home, Alex cuts her wrists in a suicide attempt. He helps her to bandage them and later leaves. He thinks the affair is forgotten, but she shows up at various places to see him. She waits at his office one day to apologize and invite him to the opera.
Now, I remember … that opera was “Madame Butterfly.”
You’re right on, Diane. Alex was fascinated by “Madame Butterfly.”
Home come…?
‘Cause she was suffering from borderline personality disorder. Such a person displays the behaviors of impulsivity, emotional lability, fear of abandonment, sudden switch from idealization to devaluation and vice versa, and self-mutilation such as wrist cut in a suicide attempt shown in the film. So, naturally, Alex identified with Madame Butterfly, who did commit suicide in such a dramatic way as Alex would like to do herself. As a matter of fact, in the original ending, Alex committed suicide by slashing her throat with a sword-like kitchen knife—just like Mademe Butterfly.
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Why did the director change the ending?
‘Cause the test audience didn’t like a suicide ending when the film was shown. I suppose, most of the audience didn’t understand the Madame Butterfly theme behind the scene. So, the director changed the ending into a more violent one like a gangster movie, that is, more like an American-style ending.
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Michael Douglas is talking about the ending in the following video clip:
Michael Douglas talks on
The Ending Of FATAL ATTRACTION
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“Fatal Attraction’s” Alternate Ending
Diane, why don’t you see it again?
After all those years, why should I watch it again?
‘Cause it is in such a big demand.
Really?
Look at the following catalogue record:
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There are 13 copies at Vancouver Public Library. They are in such a big demand that no copies are available.
How come?
Look at the following details:
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Six copies are checked out, three copies are on hold, and other four copies are stolen or under trace.
Are you keeping one of the above copies?
Yes, I was.
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But I returned it on March 7.
Amazing! Yes, I think I’m gonna reserve one of those DVDs right away.
You can see both endings on this DVD—the original and alternate one. You’d better hurry up.
【Himiko’s Monologue】
“Madame Butterfly” is an opera in three acts (originally two acts) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
Puccini based his opera in part on the short story “Madame Butterfly” (1898) by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco.
Puccini also based it on the novel Madame Chrysanthème (1887) by Pierre Loti.
According to one scholar, the opera was based on events that actually occurred in Nagasaki in the early 1890s.
The original version of the opera, in two acts, had its premiere on February 17, 1904, at La Scala in Milan.
It was very poorly received despite the presence of such notable singers as soprano Rosina Storchio, tenor Giovanni Zenatello and baritone Giuseppe De Luca in the lead roles.
This was due in large part to the late completion and inadequate time for rehearsals.
Puccini revised the opera, splitting the second act into two acts and making other changes.
On May 28, 1904, this version was performed in Brescia and was a huge success.
Between 1915 and 1920, Japan’s best-known opera singer Tamaki Miura won international fame for her performances as Cio-Cio San.
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Her statue, along with that of Puccini, can be found in the Glover Garden in Nagasaki, the city where the opera is set.
In any case, I’d like to meet my “Romeo”—a decent man in my future life.
How come I’m always a loner?
I wish I could meet a nice gentleman at the library in my town as Diane met Kato.
Well, they say, there is a way where there is a will.
I hope Kato will write another interesting article.
So please come back to see me.
The Royal Opera House, often referred to as simply “Covent Garden”, was constructed as the “Theatre Royal” in 1732 to a design by Edward Shepherd.
During the first hundred years or so of its history, the theatre was primarily a playhouse, with the Letters Patent granted by Charles II giving Covent Garden and Theatre Royal, Drury Lane exclusive rights to present spoken drama in London.
In 1734, the first ballet was presented.
A year later Handel’s first season of operas began.
Many of his operas and oratorios were specifically written for Covent Garden and had their premières here.
It has been the home of The Royal Opera since 1945, and the Royal Ballet since 1946.
The current building is the third theatre on the site following destructive fires in 1808 and 1857.
The façade, foyer and auditorium were designed by Edward Barry, and date from 1858, but almost every other element of the present complex dates from an extensive £178 million reconstruction in the 1990s.
The Royal Opera House seats 2,268 people and consists of four tiers of boxes and balconies and the amphitheatre gallery.
When you have a chance to stay in London, why don’t you visit the opera house?
分かっておるがなぁ～。。。わてかて、すぐにでも、めれちゃんと愛し合いたいのやでぇ～。。。でも、漢字馬鹿が、まだそこで、ジ～っと見ておるのやがなぁ～。。。
