American soproano Geraldine Farrar as Madama Butterfly in 1907. Photo: Public domain
In 1904, Puccini’s opera, Madama Butterfly, set in Japan, had one of the most disastrous premieres in Italian operatic history, but the first version was certainly not the last.
Michael Vinten looks into the many alterations that Puccini made to what would become one of the most popular and widely performed operas in the world.
