With "La Tosca," which was produced in 1899, Puccini won another operatic success, though for reasons very different than from those that made "La Bohme" such a triumph. The libretto is a clever condensation of Sardou''s famous drama.
Puccini worked with librettists (people who write the lyrics used in opers) Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa to compose "La Tosca." Here is a brief plot summary:
The scene is set in Rome in the year 1800. In the first act we are introduced to Mario Cavaradossi, a painter, who is at work in a church, and to Flora Tosca, his mistress, a famous singer, who pays him a visit and teases him with her jealous reproaches.
Cavaradossi befriends Angelotti, a victim of Papal tyranny who has escaped from the castle of St. Angelo, and dispatches him by a secret path to his villa in the outskirts of Rome. Scarpia, the chief of police, who is close upon Angelotti''s heels, suspects Cavaradossi of being implicated in Angelotti''s escape and uses La Tosca''s jealous suspicions to help him secure the prisoner.
In the next act, Angelotti is still at large, but Cavaradossi has been arrested. Meanwhile, Scarpia, who has conceived a violent passion for La Tosca, extracts from her the secret of Angelotti''s hiding place by torturing her lover in an adjoining room, where his cries penetrate to her distracted ears.
La Tosca buys her lover''s safety by promising herself to Scarpia. The latter gives orders that Cavaradossi''s execution shall only be a sham and should use a blank cartridge rather than actual bullets.
When they are left alone, La Tosca murders Scarpia with a carving knife when he tries to embrace her. In the last act, after a passionate duet between the lovers, Cavaradossi is executed, Scarpia having given a secret order to the effect that the execution shall be genuine after all. La Tosca, in despair, throws herself into the Tiber.
The Original Cast of "La Tosca" "La Tosca" made its public appearance on Jan. 14, 1900. The original cast and characters of "La Tosca" are as follows: Floria Tosca, a celebrated singer: Hariclea DarcleMario Cavaradossi, a painter: Emilio do MarchiBaron Scarpia, chief of police: Eugenio GiraldoniCesare Angelotti, Ruggero GalliA sacristan: Ettore BorelliSpoletta, a police agent: Enrico GiordanoSciarrone, a gendarme: Aristide ParassaniA gaoler: n.a.A shepherd-boy: Angelo Righi
"La Tosca"
"La Tosca" made its public appearance on Jan. 14, 1900. The original cast and characters of "La Tosca" are as follows:
In "La Tosca," we are in a world very different from that of "La Bohme." Here, there is very little scope for grace and tenderness. Rather, all is deadly earnest.
The melodramatic incidents of the story crowd one upon another. In the rush and excitement of the plot, the music often has to take a secondary place. Whenever the composer has a chance, he uses it with rare skill. There are passages in "La Tosca" of great lyrical beauty, but, in general, the exigencies of the stage give little room for musical development, and a great deal of the score is more like glorified incidental music than the almost symphonic fabric to which we are accustomed in modern opera.
Streatfeild, R. A. (July 9, 2005). The Opera, third edition. London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd.