Madame Butterfly: A Tragedy of Japan is a play in one act by David Belasco

David Belasco

David Belasco was an American theatrical producer, impresario, director and playwright.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, where his Sephardic Jewish parents had moved from London, England, during the Gold Rush, he began working in a San Francisco theatre doing a variety of routine jobs,...

 adapted from John Luther Long

John Luther Long

John Luther Long was an American lawyer and writer best known for his short story "Madame Butterfly", which was based on the recollections of his sister, Jennie Correll, who had been to Japan with her husband—a Methodist missionary.Born in Hanover, Pennsylvania, Long had been admitted to the bar...

's 1898 short story "Madame Butterfly

Madame Butterfly (short story)

"Madame Butterfly" is a short story by American writer John Luther Long. It is based on the recollections of Long's sister, Jennie Correll, who had been to Japan with her husband—a Methodist missionary...

". It premiered on March 20, 1900 at the at the Herald Square Theatre in New York City as an "after piece" to Belasco's Naughty Anthony and became one of Belasco's most famous works. The play and Long's short story served as the basis for the libretto

Libretto

A libretto is the text used in an extended musical work such as an opera, operetta, masque, oratorio, cantata, or musical. The term "libretto" is also sometimes used to refer to the text of major liturgical works, such as mass, requiem, and sacred cantata, or even the story line of a...

 of Puccini's 1904 opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

, Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly

Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...

.

Sources

• Clapp, John Bouvé and Edgett, Edwin Francis (1902). Plays of the Present. Dunlap Society, pp. 165-167
• Girardi, Michele (2002). Puccini: His International Art. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 0226297586
• Kerr, Douglas (1991). "David Henry Wang and the Revenge of Madame Butterfly" in Asian Voices in English, Roy Harris (ed.). Hong Kong University Press, pp. 119-130. ISBN 9622092829
• van Rij, Jan (2001). Madame Butterfly: Japonisme, Puccini, & the Search for the Real Cho-Cho-San. Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 1880656523

External links

• Full text of Madame Butterfly, A Tragedy of Japan (from "Six Plays" Little, Brown 1928)
• The stories of Madame Butterfly, a comparison of Long's short story, Belasco's play, and Puccini's opera.