Madama Butterfly

Act I

In Nagasaki, Japan, the U.S. Naval Officer, Benjamin Pinkerton, is finalising the details for a lease on a house for him and his wife-to-be, Cio-Cio San. The lease, and the wedding, are being arranged by Goro, the marriage broker.

While they are waiting for the arrangements to be completed, Pinkerton reveals to his friend Sharpless, the U.S. Consul, that he knows lots of American men who have done the same thing he is doing, all over the world ('Dovunque al mondo'). They take a wife or girlfriend wherever they stop, until they grow bored of them or are called back home. Even though the arrangement for his wife and the house is for 999 years, Pinkerton is including a clause that he can still take an American wife if he chooses to. Sharpless is amused by Pinkerton's boldness, but warns him that Cio-Cio San will not take the arrangement so lightly; for her, this is real and forever.

Cio-Cio-San is heard coming up the hill with her family and friends to prepare for the wedding.