Class 9: "Tosca"

Handout Return to Index

9. Tosca. Twisting the Screw. Puccini's Tosca (1900) is set in Rome in 1800, when Napoleon's re-invasion of Italy threatens the stability of Neapolitan control over the city. The singer Floria Tosca is in love with the painter Mario Cavaradossi, a secret revolutionary. She comes to see him in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, where he is painting an altarpiece. This happens to be at a time when Cavaradossi is hiding one of his political allies, who has escaped from prison. This sets off a chain of events in which Tosca inadvertently betrays him to Baron Scarpia, the chief of police. Scarpia now has a double motive for inviting the diva to his rooms that evening: to entrap the painter and give rein to his own lust. The entire act is an unbroken arc of high-tension drama, and long though it is, we shall watch it complete, in a film that uses the actual Roman settings specified by the composer.

The Handout gives a detailed synopsis of the first act plus an outline of the other two. However, if you prefer a video introduction, there is a really fun one here, which I will not play in class, and a more serious one here, which I will. rb.

Handout Class Script

Return to Index

VIDEO LINKS

All the short clips with which I started the class are available on YouTube. I added a different section of the duet between Tosca and Cavaradossi from the London production, but did not have time to play it. Unfortunately, the film that I used for the complete Act I is on YouTube only as a rather weird trailer and a couple of clips—though as one is these is Ruggero Raimondi in the Te Deum, I can't entirely complain. When I last used it in a class, it could be bought on Amazon, but it appears that this is no longer the case.

I have browsed through nine other complete productions, and arranged them in three groups. Those available on YouTube with English titles include a film from 1976 that also uses the actual Roman settings, like the one I showed but a little less crisp, and a production from Helsinki that has much simpler sets and no international stars, but may be the most dramatically gripping of all. Among the four without titles, the old Met version is valuable for its cast of Pavarotti, Verrett, and MacNeill, but it is quite old and faded. The others are pretty much straight productions from major houses with fine singers, in clear video with little to choose between them.

The final group consists of three productions available for rental at nominal cost on Amazon Prime, all with titles. All are updated, and generally more raw than a traditional production. The one I find most interesting is the Barrie Kosky production from Amsterdam, with minimal sets, but terrific acting. I suggest you check the trailers of each before deciding; these can be accessed by clicking the little film icon that appears above the "Rent" button on each page.

Scenes that we watched in class are *asterisked.

CLIPS FROM OPENING SECTION
	The story	* Nancy Durrant, Royal Opera * HipHopera Guy
	Act I Arias	* Cavaradossi (Jonas Kaufmann, London) * Tosca/Cavaradossi (Sonya Yoncheva, Met) * — later in the duet (London, with titles) * Te Deum (Alexey Markov, London)
FILM USED IN CLASS
	Excerpts	* Trailer * Cavaradossi aria * Te Deum
OTHER COMPLETE PRODUCTIONS
	With English titles	* Film 1976 (see above) * Helsinki 2018 (see above)
	Without titles	* Met 1978 (see above; Pavarotti, Verrett, MacNeill) * Vienna 2019 (see above) * Met 2024 (see above; German titles) * Rome 2025 (see above)
	For rent on Amazon	* Baden-Baden 2017 (ultra-modern updating not entirely consistent) * Amsterdam 2022 (updated and stark; my favorite of this group) * Florence 2025 (Fascist Italy, consistent but a bit blah)


IMAGES
The thumbnails below cover the slides shown in class, though there may be a few small discrepancies. Click the thumbnail to see a larger image. Click on the right or left of the larger picture to go forward or back, or outside it to close.