February 17, 1904: Giacomo Puccini’s Madame Butterfly is performed for the first time in Milan. 

(pictured: Rosina Storchio, who portrayed Cio-Cio San - the eponymous Madame Butterfly - in the 1904 original version).

Madame Butterfly was, at first, a critical failure, until Puccini rewrote the opera and re-released it three months later in Brescia, where it was better received. It would eventually be revised three more times until Puccini was satisfied, leaving us with the standard version we all know well today.