Opera by GIACOMO PUCCINI, 1904, based on the David Belasco play. It was first produced in Milan.

Pinkerton, a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy on a visit to Nagasaki, becomes enraptured with a local 15-year-old Japanese girl nicknamed Cio-Cio (butterfly). She is also formally referred to as Cio-Cio-San, the last word corresponding to madame. She and Pinkerton go through a Japanese marriage ceremony, which he knows is not legally binding. He then sails to the U.S., leaving her pregnant. But she has faith in him, expressing her feelings in an aria (Un bel di vedremo), based on a five-note (PENTATONIC) theme, which has become a favorite of the soprano repertory. A son is born to Cio-Cio-San. When Pinkerton returns, he brings with him his American wife. Cio-Cio-San yields to the American Mrs. Pinkerton's entreaties to let her have the child. After the Pinkertons leave, she then commits a ritual suicide.

The SCORE is remarkable in its bold innovations, making use of consecutive TRIADS, unresolved DISCORDS, and percussive orchestral effects. The notes of THE STAR-SPANGLED BANNER are heard in the background, and there is also a fair amount of pseudo-Japanese melodies.

After an opening-night fiasco, Puccini revised the work for a second premiere, this time successful. Recent revivals of the original version have divided the critics as to the relative merits of the two.