Madama Butterfly

The premiere at Milan's Teatro alla Scala on February 17, 1904, was a notorious disaster, met with aggressive boos and heckling from the audience. Puccini immediately withdrew the opera and revised it into the standard three-act version we hear today.

The opera is based on a short story by John Luther Long, which was inspired by the very real history of American naval officers taking temporary, child brides in Japanese treaty ports in the late 19th century. Puccini also attended David Belasco's stage adaptation of the story in London.

The second-act aria "Un bel dì, vedremo" ("One fine day, we'll see") is the most famous piece from the score. In it, Cio-Cio-San desperately and delusionally imagines the triumphant return of her absent American husband, Lieutenant Pinkerton.

Puccini quotes "The Star-Spangled Banner" to musically represent the American character of Lieutenant Pinkerton. This leitmotif is used prominently when he first appears on stage in the first act.