On this day in 1904, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly had its “disastrous” premiere at La Scala.

Giulio Ricordi in Musice e Musicisti:

Growls, shouts, groans, laughter, giggling, the usual single cries of “bis,” designed to excite the public still more; that sums up the reception which the public of La Scala accorded the new work by Maestro Giacomo Puccini . . . The spectacle given in the auditorium seemed as well organized as that on the stage since it began precisely with the beginning of the opera.