Which opera by Giacomo Puccini is set in Nagasaki and centers on Cio-Cio-san?

Giacomo Puccini’s opera Madama Butterfly is set in Nagasaki and centers on Cio-Cio-san.

Cio-Cio-san, whose name means “Butterfly,” is a young Japanese woman who marries the American naval lieutenant B. F. Pinkerton. The opera follows the consequences of Pinkerton’s departure and later return, contrasting Cio-Cio-san’s steadfast belief in their marriage with his very different understanding of it.

Puccini based the opera on a short story by John Luther Long and a play by David Belasco. The first version premiered at Milan’s La Scala on 17 February 1904 and was poorly received. Puccini revised the work repeatedly; the revised version soon became one of his most performed operas.

Cio-Cio-san is the character’s name, while Madama Butterfly is the title associated with her. The title is also why the work is sometimes mistakenly described as a literal Japanese folk story; it is instead a Western opera shaped by contemporary European ideas about Japan.