Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly – Madama Butterfly in Italian – is a three-act opera that first premiered in Milan in 1904. The Italian libretto was written by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It tells the story of the doomed love of a Japanese woman, “Butterfly,” for a U.S. naval officer who marries and deserts her. The narrative is based on the 1898 short story “Madame Butterfly” by John Luther Long, which itself was based on the 1887 semi-autobiographical novel Madame Chrysanthème by French writer Pierre Loti.