It is, of course, difficult to gain an audience for a new work, but this
is largely the fault of the public. The managers are usually willing
and glad to bring out novelties if the public can be found to appreciate
them. _Madama Butterfly_ is a novelty, but it leaped into immediate and
enormous appreciation. Would that we could find a number like it!
_Madama Butterfly's_ success has been largely due to the fact that the
work bears the direct evidences of inspiration. I was with Puccini in
London when he saw for the first time John Luther Long's story,
dramatized by a Belasco, produced in the form of a one-act play. He had
a number of librettos under consideration at that time, but he cast them
all aside at once. I never knew Puccini to be more excited. The story of
the little Japanese piece was on his mind all the time. He could not
seem to get away from it. It was in this white heat of inspiration that
the piece was moulded. Operas do not come out of the "nowhere." They are
born of the artistic enthusiasm and intellectual exuberance of the
trained composer.