Madama Butterfly

Nagasaki, Japan, ca. 1900: Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the American navy, has fallen in love with Cio-Cio-San, also known as “Butterfly”. The Japanese ritual marriage ceremony is merely a farce to him – and shortly thereafter, Pinkerton’s “plaything” is alone again, with their child. Three years later, he returns to Japan, but not because of Butterfly. Together with his new wife, he intends to pick up the child and take it to American with him. Butterfly commits suicide. The opera’s world premiere in 1904 was a historic fiasco: the audience at Milan’s La Scala failed to understand the exotic subject. Puccini, however, believed in the piece: “My Butterfly remains what it is. It is the most emotional opera I have written!” He was right: only a few months later, an altered version of Madama Butterfly proved a rousing success when it was premiered at the Teatro Grande in Brescia. To this day, Puccini’s “tragedia giapponese” has remained one of the most popular and moving operas ever written.