About

Tosca

World Premiere:  Teatro Costanzi - Rome

January 14, 1900 

WBO Premiere:  Feb 18, 1977

Pictured: Interior view of the Teatro Costanzi (Rome Opera)

Synopsis

The painter Cavaradossi harbors Angelotti, a prisoner escaped from the notorious prison at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome. Scarpia, Rome's corrupt Chief of Police, suspects that Cavaradossi is hiding Angelotti. Cavaradossi's lover, Tosca, is a young opera singer.

To learn Angelotti's whereabouts, Scarpia has Cavaradossi tortured in his office. Tosca cannot bear it. She gives away Angelotti's hiding place and agrees to sleep with Scarpia in order to save her lover's life. Scarpia promises her a mock execution and writes her a safe-conduct to be able to flee with her lover. In exchange, she will give herself to Scarpia.

Scarpia signs the safe-conduct and when he turns around to embrace her, she stabs him in the chest with a dinner knife she grabbed from the table. She flees with the piece of paper, eager to rescue Cavaradossi.  But Scarpia's promises also turn out to be hollow. Her lover is actually executed at the Castel Sant'Angelo prison. Pursued by guards, who have found out about Scarpia's killing, she jumps to her death from the Castle's tower.

Tosca  packs a dramatic force and a level of suspense unsurpassed in the verismo repertoire.

Some Background

The Tosca story takes place at a particularly turbulent time in Italian history, before Italian unification, in 1800. Abridging the Sardou play to make it viable as an opera meant dropping details, some of which provide needed context. The queen cited by Scarpia is Maria Carolina of Austria, a staunch opponent of the French Revolution and Napoleonic influence. Scarpia is the chief of police for the monarchy, which has come back into power in Naples, with the help of the British, after quashing the Roman republic set up by Napoleon just a couple of years earlier. His job is suppressing dissent. Angelotti, the fugitive in the opening scene, is a former member of the government of the ill-fated Roman republic, and the reason for his imprisonment is that he recognized the queen's confidant as a woman of ill repute he had once met in London, brought into the court in Naples by Lord Nelson. The news of Napoleon's defeat of Melas at Marengo, delivered to Scarpia in the second act, presage the end of the restoration of the monarchy, and the end of Scarpia's power. The news revives Cavaradossi after being tortured, but his vocal support for Napoleon ("Vittoria, Italia!) also seals his fate, as an enemy of the state, justifying the order for his immediate execution. The context in Tosca is just as large as in Aida or Butterfly, but as with most successful operas, we see it from a personal, intimate perspective, which makes the drama so much more compelling.

José Luis Moscovich - Conductor

Peter Crompton - Set Designer

Callie Floor - Costume Designer

Danielle Ferguson - Lighting Designer

David Gillam - Makeup and Wig Designer

Shirley Benson - Props Designer

Giselle Lee - Sound Designer

Pictured: floorplan for a set design by Peter Crompton



Angelotti-

Priest -

Mario Cavaradossi -

Floria Tosca -

Scarpia -

Spoletta -

Shepherd Boy -

Prison Guard -

Chorus

 - To be announced -

Orchestra

Kristina Anderson (concertmaster),

Violin I ·

Violin II ·

Viola ·

Cello ·
Bass ·

Flute ·

Oboe ·

Clarinet ·

Bassoon ·

Horn ·

Trumpet ·

Timpani ·

Percussion ·

~

Orchestra Librarian · Virginia Smedberg

Orchestra Manager · Christy Crews

* First appearance with West Bay Opera