Tosca
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, based on a drama called La Tosca by Victorien Sardou. It was originally supposed to be written by Alberto Franchetti but passed to Puccini after several disputes. The libretto was written in Italian by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa.
It is a tragic love story set in Rome. Its first performance was in that city on 14th January 1900. It is currently the eighth most frequently performed opera in the USA.
Roles
• Floria Tosca (soprano) - a famous singer
• Mario Cavaradossi (tenor) - a painter; Tosca's lover
• Baron Scarpia (baritone) - the chief of police
• Cesare Angelotti (bass) - an ex-consul; now a fugitive
• Spoletta (tenor) - a police agent
• Sciarrone (bass) - a gendarme
• A jailer (bass)
• A sacristan (bass)
• A shepherd boy (alto)
Act One
Mario Cavaradossi is in a chapel painting a portrait of Mary Magdalene. While he is working, his friend Cesare Angelotti, a political fugitive, enters. The church belongs to Angelotti's family and Cavaradossi has loosely based his painting on his sister who often goes there to pray. Angelotti hides just before a sacristan enters and helps the painter to clean his brushes. Cavaradossi takes out a picture of Tosca, his lover, and compares her beauty to that of his portrait.
When the sacristan has gone, Angelotti comes out of hiding and tells Cavaradossi about his escape from prison. Tosca's voice is heard as she approaches the church and Angelotti he is forced to hide again, but not before Cavaradossi gives him some food. Tosca enters the church to arrange a meeting with Cavaradossi after her singing performance that evening, but she is distracted by the sight of the portrait that he was working on. She is suspicious as to who served as the model for the portrait and soon recognises her as Angelotti's sister. She accuses Cavaradossi of having an affair with her. She eventually drops the subject but tells the painter to make the Magdalene's eyes dark, like her own, instead of blue.
When Tosca is gone, Angelotti comes out of hiding once again and the two men talk about his escape: he will put on clothes belonging to his sister and take refuge at Cavaradossi's villa. Cavaradossi promises to save him from Scarpia, the corrupt chief of the police, even if it costs him his own life. A cannon is heard from the fortress, a signal that there has been an escaped prisoner. The two men quickly leave the church and Angelotti prepares to put his escape plan into action.
The sacristan returns with a choir to celebrate what they think is Napoleon's defeat, but their celebrations are interrupted by the arrival of Scarpia and the police. They are looking for Angelotti. Spoletta, a police agent, discovers a fan belonging to Angelotti's sister, along with an empty basket that previously held food and wine. Scarpia deduces that Cavaradossi has something to do with Angelotti's escape.
Tosca returns to tell Cavaradossi that she won't be free to meet him later: she has been called in to do an extra performance. She is suspicious to find that he has gone. While the sacristan and choir prepares for their celebrations, Scarpia furthers Tosca's jealousy by showing her Angelotti's sister's fan which was left at the scene. Upset and angry, Tosca leaves the church. Scarpia sends an agent to follow her and sings of his love for her before praying (or pretending to).
Act Two
Scarpia delivers a note to Tosca asking her to join him for dinner after her performance has finished. While waiting, he sings about his hope that Tosca will forget about Cavaradossi. He also describes his crude, brutish strategy when it comes to love: he is unable to seduce or charm women, so he simply takes what he wants from them and moves on to the next girl that takes his fancy.
The agent Spoletta returns. He has arrested Cavaradossi but Angelotti has not been caught yet. Scarpia interrogates Cavaradossi who says nothing. Tosca arrives. It seems that she knows about Angelotti because Cavaradossi quietly tells her to say nothing. Tosca defends her lover and his friend and doesn't reveal anything. In an attempt to force her to talk, Scarpia orders Cavaradossi to be tortured and he taunts Tosca until she relents and tells him where Angelotti can be found. Cavaradossi is released from his torture but curses Tosca for her betrayal.
A piece of news arrives: Napoleon has not been defeated. On the contrary, he has won. Cavaradossi exults triumphantly as he is taken to prison. When Tosca asks what it will take to free him, Scarpia says that he will free Cavaradossi if Tosca will give up her virtue and sleep with him. Tosca refuses and Scarpia tries to rape her. Drums are heard from the prison, a signal that Cavaradossi is being led to his execution. Tosca collapses in anguish, asking God why He is treating her like this when she has lived an honest, pious life.
Spoletta returns once more, this time to say that Angelotti was found at Cavaradossi's villa but committed suicide. Tosca agrees to Scarpia's bargain on one condition: after she has fulfilled her side of the deal, Scarpia will use his legal authority to make sure that she and Cavaradossi can escape safely. Scarpia agrees and tells Spoletta to organise a mock execution for Cavaradossi. While he is writing the contract for the lovers' safe passage, Tosca sees a knife on the dining table. She picks it up and stabs Scarpia as he comes to embrace her. When he falls dead, she performs a brief religious rite over his body and leaves with the signed contract in her hand.
Act Three
It is dawn and a shepherd boy is singing from the nearby hills. Cavaradossi is in his prison cell, waiting for his execution. He gives the jailer a ring in exchange for a favour: he wants to deliver a note to Tosca. The jailer accepts and Cavaradossi tearfully writes a poetic goodbye letter describing how he fell in love with Tosca and how she has made his life wonderful.
Before he can send the note, Tosca herself arrives and is allowed into the cell. She quietly tells him about the mock execution, Scarpia's death and the legal contract that will allow them both to leave the country safely. They embrace and start to dream about the future life that they will be able to make together.
Cavaradossi is then led to his mock execution before a firing squad. He appears to fall dead and Tosca is impressed by his apparent acting skills. When the executioners are out of sight and earshot, she tells him to get up but finds that he is truly dead: Scarpia had been lying to her all along. Spoletta enters with guards to arrest Tosca for Scarpia's murder. To avoid being captured she flees onto the castle ramparts and jumps to her death.
Performance Culture & Anecdotes
There are several anecdotes connected with performances of Tosca since its inception, some involving famous sopranos of the day.
Maria Callas, playing the title role, was short-sighted but unable to wear glasses or contact lenses on stage. After the murder scene, she was unable to find her way off the stage and 'Scarpia' (who was supposed to be lying dead) had to point out the stage exit amidst obvious laughter. The crowd noticed and newspapers talked about his unusual portrayal of Scarpia's 'death throes'. In later performances he managed to quietly whisper directions to Callas.
Callas also managed to set her wig on fire during a rehearsal by standing too close to the candles on the table. Tito Gobbi, playing the role of Scarpia, had to put the fire out with his own bare hands while pretending to embrace her. When Callas saw his burned hand and realised what had happened, she calmly thanked him.
Callas has been described as one of the best Toscas; her frequent co-star Gobbi (Scarpia) also described how well she got into the role. He often remarked that he was afraid she would really kill her during the stabbing scene. This actually happened during a performance. The prop knife didn't retract and Gobbi was injured, but not severely. He managed to carry on with the scene.
Renata Tebaldi, another famous soprano, was a true diva: during one performance in Tokyo she decided that she didn't want to jump for Tosca's suicide scene. Instead, after her final, dramatic cry of "O Scarpia, avanti a Dio!" ("We will meet before God, Scarpia!"), she simply walked off the stage.
For the suicide scene itself, a mattress is placed behind the castle set to ensure safe landing for the singer. At one point this was replaced by a trampoline, thinking that it would be safer. The result was that the singer reappeared several times. Some people say that the crew sometimes uses a trampoline on purpose to get revenge on bratty sopranos.
There is a semi-myth about a comical 'mass suicide scene' in a San Francisco performance. The firing squad was being played by inexperienced fillers who were simply told to shoot whoever was on stage and then leave with the principles. In fact, the firing squad is supposed to leave the stage to allow Tosca to attempt to revive Cavaradossi. When they got on stage and found both Tosca and Cavaradossi, they didn't know what to do. They shot at Tosca but it was Cavaradossi who dropped dead. They waited for one of the two main singers to leave but neither of them did. Tosca tried to subtly shoo them off stage but they waited until Spoletta entered with the guards. Desperate to follow their instructions to leave with one of the principles, they chose to jump from the battlements with Tosca.
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Disclaimers Etc.
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