September 2010
Beginner
376 pages
12h 7m
English
Another great Puccini tragedy emerges in Madama Butterfly, an opera originally written in two acts, but later revised to three acts. Like La Bohème and Tosca, the Italian libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The composer based the opera on David Belasco’s dramatized version of John Luther Long’s short story Madame Butterfly, as well as on Pierre Loti’s novel Madame Chrysanthème.
The simple plot begins in Nagasaki circa 1900, as U.S. Navy Lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton weds Cio-Cio-San, a 15-year-old geisha. Taking the marriage more ...
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