Tosca Study Guide

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Tosca GIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924) coc.ca

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Study guide for the 2011/2012 Canadian Opera Company production of Puccini's Tosca

Transcript of Tosca Study Guide

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ToscaGIACOMO PUCCINI (1858 – 1924)

coc.ca

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Tosca Study Guidecoc.caCanadian Opera Company 2011/2012

The Canadian Opera Company presents Puccini’s Tosca. Cover: Eszter Sümegi as Tosca in the COC’s 2008 production. Below: Eszter Sümegi as Tosca and Mikhail Agafonov as Cavaradossi. Next page: Robert Pomakov as the Sacristan and Mikhail Agafonov as Cavaradossi. Photos: Michael Cooper

Table of Contents

Welcome .......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Tosca: Characters and Synopsis ............................................................................................................ 4

Tosca: Composer and Librettist Biographies ................................................................................... 5

Tosca: Opera at a Glance .......................................................................................................................... 7

Tosca: What to Look for ............................................................................................................................ 8

Tosca: Listening Guide .............................................................................................................................. 12

Credits .............................................................................................................................................................. 15

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Welcome

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Dear Educators and Students,

Opera can move us, it can excite us. It’s a tool for learning about ourselves and those around us. The study of opera opens doors to new cultures, languages, artistic and literary forms, important events in history, music and so much more.

To help you discover the beauty, significance and thrill of opera, the COC has designed accessible Study Guides. Each Study Guide introduces you to the key figures involved in the creation of an opera, and deepens your understanding of its characters and story. Is listening to an opera intimidating for you or your students? Not to worry. We’ve highlighted composers’ musical techniques in easy-to-follow Listening Guides. Not sure if you’re going to understand the staging? We’ve got that covered for you too. The What to Look For articles explain the creative team’s concept, key points of inspiration for their adaptation of the piece and visual elements to look for on stage. Use these Study Guides as the basis for stimulating

and thought-provoking discussions before, during or after your visit to the opera.

I welcome you into the Canadian Opera Company community and encourage you to actively engage in the opera experience long before and after the curtain falls.

Katherine SemcesenAssociate Director, Education and Outreach

“An opera begins

long before the curtain goes up and ends long after it has come down. It starts in

my imagination, it becomes my life, and it stays part of my life

long after I’ve left the opera house.”

Maria Callas, renowned

Greek-American soprano

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Tosca: Characters and Synopsis

Name Description Voice Type PronunciationFloria Tosca Celebrated singer Soprano FLO-ree-a TOH-skaMario Cavaradossi Painter Tenor cav-ah-rah-DOSS-eeBaron Scarpia Chief of Police Baritone SCAR-pee-ahCesare Angelotti Escaped political prisoner Bass ahn-jeh-LOT-teeA Sacristan Official in charge of the sacred objects in a church Bass SAK-ri-stuhnSpoletta Police agent Tenor spoh-LET-tahSciarrone Soldier Bass sha-ROH-nehA prison officer BassA Shepherd boy AltoRoberti The executioner Silent role ro-BER-ti

MAIN CHARACTERS

SYNOPSIS

AcT IAngelotti, an escaped political prisoner, takes refuge in the Attavanti family chapel inside a church. The Sacristan enters, followed shortly by the painter Cavaradossi, who resumes work on a portrait of Mary Magdalene. When the Sacristan leaves, Cavaradossi discovers Angelotti; they are both pro-Napoleon and thus political allies. Angelotti hides again when they hear Tosca, Cavaradossi’s lover, entering the chapel. Tosca suspects she has heard Cavaradossi with a woman. He reassures her, but seeing the portrait of Mary Magdalene, Tosca is upset that the painting bears a resemblance to the Marchesa Attavanti, Angelotti’s sister, and her jealousy is refueled. Cavaradossi succeeds in reassuring her again and she leaves.

Angelotti’s escape has been discovered and Cavaradossi leaves with him to hide him at home. The Sacristan enters with choirboys and clerics, excited at the news of Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Marengo. Baron Scarpia, the chief of police, arrives in search of Angelotti. He suspects Cavaradossi is involved, and when Tosca returns, insinuates that her lover has indeed been unfaithful. Tosca is devastated and leaves to confront Cavaradossi at his home. Scarpia orders his men to follow her.

AcT IIIn his room in the Farnese Palace, Scarpia awaits Tosca, who has been invited to join him after the palace celebrations. Cavaradossi is brought in and when Tosca arrives, he warns her not to reveal where Angelotti is hiding. He is taken away for questioning, but, as Scarpia tells Tosca, torture will be used to find out where Angelotti is. Hearing Cavaradossi’s cries, Tosca finally reveals Angelotti’s hiding place. Cavaradossi is brought in and angrily rejects Tosca when Scarpia reveals that she has told all. When news arrives that Napoleon has actually triumphed at the Battle of Marengo, Cavaradossi’s scorn angers Scarpia, who orders his execution. Alone with Scarpia, Tosca begs him to spare her lover. He agrees to if she will submit to him. She agrees and Scarpia orders Spoletta to arrange a fake execution for Cavaradossi. Alone with Tosca, Scarpia writes her a letter of safe conduct and approaches to embrace her, but she stabs him and he dies.

AcT IIIDawn breaks over the ramparts of Castel Sant’Angelo and Cavaradossi awaits his execution. Tosca comes in and tells him all, and that he must pretend to be shot during the execution. After, they will be free to leave Rome. The firing squad enters and Tosca stands aside. As the shots ring out, Cavaradossi falls convincingly to the ground. When everyone has left, she approaches his body, only to discover Scarpia’s final deceit: Cavaradossi has been shot with real bullets. Having discovered Scarpia’s corpse, his henchmen arrive to arrest Tosca. She runs to the parapet and jumps to her death, crying, “Scarpia, we shall meet before God!”

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Tosca: Composer and Librettist Biographies

COMPOSER BIOGRAPHY Giacomo Puccini (1858 – 1924) Composer Giacomo Puccini was born on Dec. 22, 1858 in Lucca, Italy, into a family that had been providing organists and composers to the city of Lucca for four generations. Following the family tradition, he started work as a professional organist at the age of 14.

At the age of 18, upon attending a performance of Verdi’s Aida, he decided to follow a study of operatic composition. In 1880 Puccini began his studies at the Milan Conservatory, where one of his instructors was Amilcare Ponchielli (composer of the opera La Gioconda, 1876).

In 1882 Puccini entered his opera Le villi into a competition run by the publishing firm of Sonzogno. It didn’t win but it garnered the attention of the publisher Giulio Ricordi, with whom Puccini was to enjoy a lifelong association.

Puccini’s first great success was Manon Lescaut, which premiered in Turin in 1893. His librettists were Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, who were to work with him three more times, on La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly.

La Bohème (1896) was not a great success when first produced, but has since become Puccini’s best-known work and one of the most loved and performed operas in the world. Tosca premiered successfully in Rome in 1900 and Madama Butterfly followed in 1904 at La Scala, at first disastrously, but was later revised and became a huge success. Audiences to this day love Puccini’s soaring impassioned orchestrations, dramatic intensity and beautiful melodies.

There was a long break before his next premiere, partly due to a tragedy in his domestic life. Puccini had begun living with a married woman, Elvira Gemignani, and was only able to marry her himself when her first husband died.

Their marriage was not an easy one and eventually Elvira accused Puccini of having an affair with a servant girl. The tension in the household became intolerable and the maid committed suicide.

A court case determined that she had not had an affair with Puccini and Elvira was jailed for five months. The resulting

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publicity caused Puccini to withdraw for a while and also to separate from his wife. They later reconciled, but their marriage was damaged permanently.

Inspired early on in his career by Verdi and Wagner, Puccini began to explore new compositional territory with La fanciulla del West, which premiered at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1910.

This shift in style, which involved more innovative and challenging orchestration and harmonies, alluded to Debussy and Strauss and silenced some of his critics, who considered him incapable of artistic growth. Now he was hailed as the true heir of Verdi.

While working on La Rondine (1917) with librettist Giuseppe Adami, Puccini began composing his collection of three one-act operas (Il trittico), which comprised Il tabarro (again with Adami), Suor Angelica and Gianni Schicchi.

Puccini’s last work, Turandot, was unfinished when the composer died on Nov. 29, 1924 in Brussels, Belgium, after a battle with throat cancer. This last work is usually performed today with the ending written by Franco Alfano.

LIBRETTIST BIOGRAPHY Luigi Illica (1857 – 1919)

Born May 9, 1857 in Castell’Arquato, near Piacenza, Italy, librettist Luigi Illica was a rebellious youth who did poorly at school. To escape a stern father (his mother had died when he was a child), Illica ran away from home and went to live his life at sea.

In 1879, Illica returned to Italy, settling in Milan where he began a career in journalism. Like his father, he was a determined republican and mixed within literary and political circles. He began writing plays in 1882, and wrote his first libretto, Smareglia’s Il vassallo di Szigeth, in 1889, in collaboration with Francesco Pozza. His association with Puccini began in 1892 when he helped complete the libretto for Manon Lescaut. Subsequently he worked with Giuseppe Giacosa on Puccini’s next three operas: La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904). Illica would provide a rough text, which would be finessed and rewritten into verse by Giacosa. Illica also worked on

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librettos independently, completing 35 in all, including Giordano’s Andrea Chénier (1896), Mascagni’s Iris (1898), and Catalani’s La Wally (1892).

Although he was almost 60 years old at the outbreak of World War I, Illica enlisted with hopes to serve at the front. A year later, a fall from a horse aggravated his already diminished health. He went to Colombarone, an area near his home town, where he died on Dec. 16, 1919.

Giuseppe Giacosa (1847 – 1906)

Born Oct. 21, 1847 in Colleretto Parella, Ivrea, Italy, librettist Giuseppe Giacosa studied law and joined his father’s law firm after university. He wrote part-time, but after the success of a one-act comedy he turned to writing full-time. In 1877, he married and began teaching in Turin before moving to Milan in 1888.

At the height of his career he was Italy’s best-known playwright, but he is mostly remembered today as the co-librettist (with Luigi Illica) for three of Puccini’s most popular operas: La Bohème (1896), Tosca (1900) and Madama Butterfly (1904). Giacosa’s gift was to take the storyline and basic dialogue of Illica and smooth it out, versifying and polishing. Although the partnership with Puccini and Illica was often turbulent, it was also creatively successful.

Giacosa died in his hometown on Sept. 2, 1906.

The Canadian Opera Company presents Puccini’s Tosca. Mikhail Agafonov as Cavaradossi and Eszter Sümegi as Tosca in the COC’s 2008 production. Photo: Michael Cooper

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Tosca at a Glance

VersIoN PerformeD by

coc: Co-production with

the Norwegian National Opera and Ballet.

LANGuAGe: Italian

comPoseD: 1889 – 1900

PremIere: Jan. 14,

1900, Teatro Costanzi,

Rome, Italy

AuDIeNce recePTIoN:

Tosca made its debut during a time of political unrest in Italy.

Despite a bomb scare at the theatre, menacing letters sent to the cast

and theatre producers by Puccini’s adversaries (who didn’t take too

lightly to having their city being the centrepiece of an opera written by

an out-of-towner), the opera had a relatively positive

reception amongst

source mATerIAL: Victorien

Sardou’s play La Tosca

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What is a

co-production? A co-production, or

“co-pro” as it is affectionately referred to in the opera world,

is when two or more companies pool financial and artistic

resources to create a brand new opera production.

LeNGTh of PerformANce:

Approximately two hours and 45 minutes with two

intermissions.

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Tosca: What to Look for

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Below: Alan Opie (centre) as Scarpia in a scene from Act I of the COC’s Tosca, 2008. Photo: Gary Beechey

AN INTerVIeW WITh PAuL currAN, DIrecTor of The coc’s Toscaby Suzanne Vanstone

[A longer version of this interview was originally published in 2008, when this COC production of Tosca had its premiere.]

Devoted opera lovers have seen many productions of Tosca in their time. Some, of course, will be seeing it for the first time. What do you feel is the reason for its enduring popularity?

The music. Mainly the music. There are similar stories to Tosca in theatre and on film but nothing quite has the same effect as the melodic and dramatic invention of Puccini in the opera house. It never fails to amaze me.

I also have to remind myself not to always imagine I know Tosca that well – I do and I don’t. Of course I know every note and every word, but it never fails to amaze me how utterly shocking and modern it is for the time it was written. A painter and a singer living “in sin” is hardly big news today but it certainly was in 1900. And as for making out and discussing sex in a church. . .

What is it like to be involved in directing a new production as opposed to one that already exists?

Even if the physical production already exists and I’m doing a “revival” it’s still, for me, a new production. The singers are usually new to me and I am not one to direct people like puppets. I have no fixed ideas of how “it absolutely must go.” Different artists will bring different

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interpretations and different points of view. This is the most vital part of directing and creating theatre for me – a dialogue between the artists involved.

Directing a new production, however, involves many, many months of work, discussions, meetings and decisions with the designer and the company. It is a very long process and the end result is just the tip of the iceberg. Thousands of decisions have been made way before the public ever walks into the opera house. How often in my life do you think I’ve discussed zippers or buttons on costumes? Finishings on furniture or walls, etc.? Such things don’t just happen by themselves.

Below: Alan Opie (centre) as Scarpia and Eszter Sümegi as Tosca in a scene from Act II of the COC’s Tosca, 2008. Photo: Michael Cooper

Could you talk about the “concept” and look (set/costumes/lighting) for this particular production?

This production will be set in the period of the original play and opera, 1800. The look will have a feel of that as well but with an entirely “modern” or “enlivened” feel to the characters and relationships. Theatre is not and cannot be a museum! Particularly opera. Modern audiences have come to expect a huge deal more than previous generations were ever able to experience on a stage.

Look at this piece – a piece written as a very long and rambling five-act French play in the late 19th century set in the late 18th century with very much 20th-century music.

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Below: Mikhail Agafonov (bottom left) as Cavaradossi in a scene from Act III of the COC’s Tosca, 2008. Photo: Gary Beechey

There is very little of the 18th century about Tosca – only the little gavotte* in Act II is from that identifiable time. It’s a very modern work for its era. What will make it come to life is believing who these people really are.

The entire opera takes place within a 17-hour period and deals with such intense emotions and actions based on real people, places and events in history.

Could you speak about the principal characters in Tosca and your vision for the direction and journey that you have in mind?

Actually, Tosca is full of strange mistakes and oddities not really worth going into here. Puccini had a huge correspondence with his librettists as well as with Sardou

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*Gavotte is a type of

French folk dance, originating in the late 16th

century. It remained popular until the late 18th century, and showed a tremendous amount

of variety in the number of steps and forms of musical

accompaniment it could take.

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**castrati were male singers

whose high vocal register was preserved by castration before the onset of puberty.

They were a common presence on European opera stages in the 17th

and 18th centuries. Even as late as the early 20th century there were castrati performing in the

Vatican chapel and Roman churches.

***In opera,

“super” is short for supernumerary, referring to a small, non-singing part in

the cast.

himself about the changes he made and wanted to make. For example, a prima donna in Rome in 1800 was not really the case – women on stage had been banned for a long time and were only just allowed back so the real prima donnas would probably have been castrati**!

How does Puccini’s music help inform your decisions about staging?

I’m an opera director – without music there is no direction. The music is the entire basis of everything I do. I direct because I love music, so I cannot and will not ignore it. I certainly have strong opinions on the music (I played in a National Youth Orchestra) and people may or may not agree with those opinions. But they are based on years of work and study.

Puccini writes operas like film scripts – very “lean” texts with lots of action, constantly underscored with a huge emotional life that sometimes supports the action and sometimes comments on it.

Does the chorus play an important role in this production of Tosca? What are some of the challenges in staging a chorus versus staging principal singers?

There is actually very little difference in staging chorus or soloists: to me they are all characters in the same story. For example the most important character at the end of Act I is neither a singer nor a chorister but a “super***”; the Cardinal in the “Te Deum.” At that moment everybody has to bow to him.

Staging a chorus, however, is mainly to do with using the power of large numbers. A hundred or so people letting rip, full voice, can be wonderful. Letting rip and moving at you with purpose and energy can be a whirlwind that takes your breath away. I’m always looking for that moment, I guess.

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Tosca may be one of the most theatrical operas ever composed. It features realistic characters and intense action (in this opera everything happens in Rome over a 17-hour time span), as well as a thrilling plot that hinges on a secret known to the audience but not all the characters. Strong contrasts and clashing themes create dramatic tension throughout the piece. Examples of this tension include Cavaradossi and Tosca’s artistic pursuits (he is a painter and she is a singer) versus Scarpia’s completely antithetical interests, and the love between Cavaradossi and Tosca versus Scarpia’s immunity to it. Musically, Puccini provides the audience with a score of memorable and gut-wrenching melodies that are capable of stirring up strong emotions. Action is paramount to the characterization in most of Puccini’s operas and, especially in Tosca, he takes great care to use music to propel the story by employing repetition of musical themes while avoiding too many distinguishable musical forms.

Puccini is a master at writing for the stage. His talent for combining accessible yet

Tosca: Listening Guide

musIcAL eXcerPT: Act I, aria: “recondita armonia” (“With subtle harmony”)

coNNecTIoN To The sToryCavaradossi works on a painting of Mary Magdalene and compares her fair beauty with the dark beauty of his lover Tosca.

musIcAL sIGNIfIcANceCavaradossi sings with careless abandon about his love for Tosca. Though he comments on the blonde and blue-eyed beauty of the woman he has just painted, he prefers Tosca’s dark features. Cavaradossi’s melody begins to soar, as he is overcome with love for the prima donna. In fact, the highest note in his vocal line (a high A) occurs when he calls out Tosca’s name: “ah! il mio sol pensier sei tu, Tosca, sei tu!” (“ah, my only thought is you, Tosca, is you!”). Meanwhile, the Sacristan interjects Cavaradossi’s outpouring of emotions with a mumbled reminder of his inappropriate behaviour in a sacred place, such as a church. The Sacristan repeats “Scherza coi fanti e lascia stare i santi!” (“Religion is not to be laughed at!”) emphasizing his offense.

furTher refLecTIoNLike Verdi, Puccini was interested in using the music to drive the melodrama in the story. He was less concerned with writing music for a singer to show off their voice and huge stand-alone solos. Therefore, during one of Cavaradossi’s explosive melodies, Puccini has the Sacristan interrupt with commentary, as would potentially occur in a real-life situation. However, not completely immune to giving a singer some

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Though Puccini is hailed

as one of the greatest opera composers of all

time, his musical output also includes several sacred works, chamber ensembles,

orchestral pieces and collections of songs for

voice and piano.

evocative music and action-driven stories appeals to the ordinary listener, who is not necessarily trained in music theory or composition. It is no surprise that the majority of his 10 operas have become some of the most performed operas to date.

The tracks listed below correspond to the complimentary Tosca Listening Guide CD, available with school group bookings only. You can also experience the Listening Guide online at coc.ca/cocradio.

Based on the recording: Tosca, Membran 224010-311. Orchestra and Chorus of the Teatro alla Scala di Milano, Victor de Sabata, conductor. Maria Callas, Giuseppe di Stefano, Tito Gobbi.

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time to shine, Puccini tastefully and strategically wrote the Sacristan’s interruptions at the end of each phrase so that they don’t entirely overshadow the tenor. Now, listen to where the audience may applaud during this piece. Realizing that Cavaradossi’s melody may stir a reaction from the audience, Puccini is prepared for the crowd to clap after the tenor’s high note at the end. But, staying true to his compositional values, Puccini concludes the scene with the continuation of the Sacristan’s admonitions, thereby making the tenor’s music part of a longer musical form and minimizing its isolation from the rest of the story.

musIcAL eXcerPT: Act I, finale: “Tre sbirri, una carrozza” (“Three agents, a carriage”)

coNNecTIoN To The sToryScarpia orders Spoletta to have Tosca followed, and gloats at the thought of capturing Cavaradossi and securing Tosca for himself. Meanwhile, a crowd leads in a solemn procession in honour of Napoleon’s defeat at Marengo.

musIcAL sIGNIfIcANceA low ostinato (repetitive rhythmic or motivic figures) of church bells [0:14 – 0:24], opens the finale and underscores a dignified theme reminiscent of Tosca and Cavaradossi’s music [0:28 – 0:40]. The bells along with the theme build throughout the scene (save the last 17 measures) and offer a counterpoint to Scarpia’s evil ways. While a crowd gradually assembles, Scarpia, in a dreamlike floating monologue, is absorbed with thoughts of making Tosca yield to his desires and of sending her lover to death. An organ signals a processional theme [1:08 – 1:21] and cannons punctuate the music [1:22] reminding the listener as to why the crowd has assembled in the first place (to honour Napoleon’s defeat at Marengo). All the while voicing his sinister thoughts, Scarpia is going through the motions of participating in the church service (i.e. kneeling and crossing himself when the Cardinal passes). Effortlessly and relentlessly the scene builds to a tremendous climax when Scarpia realizes that Tosca has made him forget God [0:36 – 4:06] and with religious zeal joins the crowd in a grandiose proclamation of “Te Deum” (hymn of praise) in unison [4:07 – 4:33]. The curtain falls on Scarpia’s theme sounding three times in fortissimo (very loud) in the orchestra [4:34 – 4:58] reinforcing the violent and ominous aspect of the story.

furTher refLecTIoNPuccini’s opera would best be described as following the verismo style. Verismo (“realism”) is a term applied to literary, dramatic and musical pieces that focus on naturalism of the story, emotions, characters and settings. While very early operas tended to deal with characters of royal or mythical proportions, composers in Puccini’s day were more interested in capturing the stories and emotions of everyday life (with a hint of theatricality of course). The influence of the verismo movement is stamped all over this Act I finale. The inclusion of the cannons, church bells and organ place the scene in a very realistic setting. Puccini also took great care in ensuring that the finale was ecclesiastically correct. The composer made a trip to Rome to hear the church bells that he would evoke in his opera. If you had to compose a modern day version of Tosca in the style of verismo, what would the music sound like? Where would the story be set? Who would the characters be? What would the costuming and sets look like?

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3 musIcAL eXcerPT: Act II, aria: “Vissi d’arte” (“I have lived for art”)

coNNecTIoN To The sToryAfter Scarpia makes his offer to Tosca (he’ll spare Cavaradossi if she submits to him), Tosca wonders why her life, given to art and love, has been repaid with such suffering.

musIcAL sIGNIfIcANceThe popularity of Tosca in its day can be compared to Billboard’s list of top contemporary pieces: the opera itself would have been a chart-topping album, while this aria would be one of its top singles. In true Puccini fashion, he writes a hummable and memorable tune for his leading lady. This aria, an appeal to God for mercy, serves as much importance musically as it does dramatically. Musically, Tosca’s melody is based on a theme that is associated with Tosca’s first appearance in the church in Act I. Throughout the opera, Tosca is accompanied by bright woodwinds and higher strings. Her warm and expressive music is in stark contrast to Scarpia’s jagged, explosive, brash and sinister motif (theme) often played by low strings, woodwinds and brass instruments. Dramatically, this piece signifies the first time Puccini stops all action in the opera to provide the audience insight into the depth of the opera’s main character.

furTher refLecTIoNPuccini writes for female characters who are more or less “life-size” and who are destined for death without having done much themselves – besides loving the wrong person – to cause it. Tosca is one of Puccini’s “larger-than-life” personas, as she takes fate into her own hands and makes a conscious decision to commit a crime to save the one she loves. Would you classify Tosca as a heroine or a tragic character?

musIcAL eXcerPT: Act III, aria: “e lucevan le stelle” (“And the stars would be shining”)

coNNecTIoN To The sToryFacing his execution, Cavaradossi’s thoughts turn to Tosca and the memories of beautiful nights spent in her arms, sweet kisses and languid caresses.

musIcAL sIGNIfIcANceThe aria, Cavaradossi’s final farewell to his beloved Tosca, is an ode to triumphant love in which he expresses his deep love for the opera singer. It is an emotional roller coaster ride with music that varies in sweeping and varied tempi (speeds) and contrasting dynamics (loudness and softness of the music) expressing Cavaradossi’s profound sadness and despair. Puccini accompanies Cavaradossi’s music with the more mellow-sounding instruments that are characteristic of the human voice (like the clarinet and cello) to underscore his realness as a common man. High strings and woodwinds (associated with Tosca) join Cavaradossi’s melody in unison (playing the same notes) [1:25]. Musically this tells the audience that Tosca shares in these sentiments and that they are united in the same love, despair and fate.

furTher refLecTIoNPuccini was criticized by music critics for his decision to conclude the opera with the return of the main theme from Cavaradossi’s aria. What is the purpose of this ending? How would you explain Puccini’s choice? Why not end it with Tosca’s theme, given that she is the person after whom the opera is named?

For the more

musically inclined, listen for the descending fourths throughout the

entire opera, but especially in Tosca’s aria. This figure is,

in most cases, associated with forms of love (i.e. true love, lust, sexual

attraction, etc.).

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Above: Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Photo: Sam Javanrouh

The coc offers a wide variety of school programs for Kindergarten to Grade 12.

To find out more, visit our website at coc.ca/Explore or contact:

Education & OutreachCanadian Opera Company

Tel: 416-306-2392Fax: [email protected]

Tosca Study Guide editors: Katherine Semcesen, Associate Director, Education and Outreach; Nikita Gourski, Development Communications Assistant; Suzanne Vanstone, Senior Communications Manager, Editorial; Gianna Wichelow, Senior Communications Manager, Creative; Carly Anderson, Children & Youth Programs, Manager

The COC Gratefully Acknowledges:

Charitable Registration Number: 11883 4829 RR0001

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