Giacomo Puccini

"Based on a true story that stunned the world, M. Butterfly opens in a cramped prison cell where diplomat Rene Gallimard is being held captive by the French government--and by his own illusions. In the darkness of his cell, he recalls a time when desire seemed to give him wings. A time when Song Liling, the beautiful Chinese diva, touched him with a love as vivid, as seductive--and as elusive--as a butterfly. How could he have known that his true...

Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) began his career at the end of the Romantic period and his death signaled the end of the last major age of Italian opera. During his lifetime and in posterity, the composer's popularity surpassed that of his peers, and three of his works - La bohéme, Tosca, and Madama Butterfly - rank among the twenty-first century's ten most-performed operas. With their enchanting melodies, exotic subjects, and realistic plots, Puccini's...

Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton and his wife Kate bring a three-year-old Japanese boy home to their Illinois farm. But when their neighbors learn the truth about the boy's heritage, the fallout is devastating.

"Magda and her protector Rambaldo are entertaining their friends in a luxurious room of a Paris apartment. Prunier sings a song of Doretta, who dreams that one day the King favours her, but admits he cannot end the song. A young man has been waiting to see Rambaldo and now comes in. Magda recalls earlier years of happiness, particularly at the café Chez Bullier, where she once met a man she loved but whose name she never knew. It is here that the...

Pavarotti stars in the tale of tragic love between Mimi and Rodolfo.