Madama Butterfly

Cio-Cio-San, the young Japanese bride of American naval officer Lt. Pinkerton, represents a broken dream: she believes she is entering a real marriage, but represents a short, romantic idyll destroyed when he leaves soon after getting married. He will live chasing the dream of his return; a tragic hope. She, who has renounced her religion and community, learns too late that, for Pinkerton, her marriage is simply an illusion, with tragic consequences. Three years later, Cio-Cio-San and her son, Dolore, see Pinkerton's ship in the harbor.

She looks forward to his visit, but when Pinkerton and his American wife Kate arrive and want to take the boy to America, Cio-Cio-San says goodbye to her son and takes her own life. Although the premiere at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan in 1904 was poorly received, that same year Puccini revised the opera for performances in Brescia. Madama Butterfly quickly became a very popular opera and remains one of Puccini's most beloved works.