Madama Butterfly: “Un bel dì vedremo”

"Un bel dì vedremo" ("One fine day we'll see") is a soprano aria from Act two of Giacomo Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly.

In Madama Butterfly, an enchanting geisha, Cio-Cio-San, loses her heart to an American naval lieutenant and marries him. After he leaves Japan, she waits three long years for his return. We share her joy when he returns, and her utter despair when she realizes that he’s married an American woman and has come to take his young son—Cio-Cio-San’s child—back with him.

In this scene, the maid Suzuki (Deborah Nansteel) doubts that, after a three- year absence, Cio-Cio-San’s American husband will ever return. Cio-Cio-San (Ana María Martínez) assures her that it will happen, and describes what it will be like when he climbs the hill to the house, and how she will feel when she finally sees him again.

Song title: “Un bel dì vedremo” ("One fine day we'll see")

Opera: Madama Butterfly

Composer: Giacomo Puccini

Year Written: 1904

Language: Italian

Performance dates: February 6 – March 8, 2020

Artist: Ana María Martínez (Cio-Cio-San)