TOSCA
First Show: 08/08/08 - Time: 21.30
Reply: 10/08/08
Location: Teatro Antico
Tosca by Giacomo Puccini
with Martina Serafin (Tosca), Marcello Giordani (Cavaradossi), Renato Bruson (Scarpia) Alessandro Guerzoni (Angellotti) Angelo Nardinocchi (Sacristan) Aldo Bruni (Spoletta)Antonio Barbagallo (Sciarrone)
Francesco Cilea Lyric Chorus
Conductor Bruno Tirotta
Choirboy "Progetto Suono"
Conductor Giulia Pino
Orchestra from Vittorio Emanuele Theatre in Messina
Conductor Eugene Kohn
Director & Scene Enrico Castiglione
Costume Sonia Cammarata
New Production
Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou's drama, La Tosca. The work premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on January 14, 1900.
One of the most dramatic of operas and a staple of the standard operatic repertoire, Tosca appears as number 8 on Opera America's list of the 20 most-performed operas in North America.
A performance of Tosca will be featured in the 2008 James Bond film "Quantum of Solace."
The original play by Victorien Sardou was produced in Paris in 1887, and first seen by Puccini in Milan in 1887 with Sarah Bernhardt performing as Tosca. Puccini immediately asked his editor Giulio Ricordi to buy Sardou's rights, but these were finally bought only in 1893 to be given to Alberto Franchetti, another composer. Illica wrote his libretto, and in October 1894, Franchetti, Ricordi, Illica and Giuseppe Verdi met Sardou to present him the libretto. Verdi was particularly fascinated by this tragedy, but he refused to compose music for it unless Sardou could come up with another ending.
After a few months Franchetti finally admitted he was not able to compose music for the work; Giulio Ricordi then asked Puccini to do it. Puccini was still offended and only Verdi's intercession convinced him to accept. He started working on it in 1896, after the completion of La Bohème; Ricordi set Giuseppe Giacosa to work with Luigi Illica for the libretto, but Giacosa did not perform up to his own standards, and had several personal disputes with Sardou. Puccini too had disputes with Illica, Giacosa and Ricordi together. They had proposed a triumphal "Latin hymn" for Act III, but Puccini finally convinced them to reduce it to only the eighteen measures of Trionfal... di nuova speme.
In October 1899, after three years of difficult collaboration, the opera was ready for production. Since it is a story about Rome, it was decided that the prima would be set in the eternal city, at Teatro Costanzi. A notable curiosity had surrounded the work, whose preparation had been so long and troubled. Soprano Hariclea Darclee was Tosca, tenor Emilio De Marchi was Cavaradossi, baritone Eugenio Giraldoni was Scarpia. Leopoldo Mugnone served as Director. Queen Margherita, prime minister Pelloux and many composers, among them Pietro Mascagni, Francesco Cilea, Franchetti and Sgambati, were among the public.
The success was complete, even if the difference between Tosca's and La bohème 's atmospheres was quite surprising.
Cast:
