Plot and Creation: Tosca

The Play La Tosca by Victorien Sardou

Victorien Sardou’s play La Tosca premiered at Paris’s Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in 1887. With a shamelessly thrilling plot and Sarah Bernhardt—the most famous actress in the world—in the lead role, its commercial success was all but assured. Puccini must have come across the play shortly after its premiere, since he tried to secure the rights for an operatic adaptation as early as 1889. But it was not until he saw Bernhardt perform the play in 1895 (in French) that Puccini seriously set to work. While the opera sticks closely to Sardou’s plot, Puccini’s librettists Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica excised much of the political backdrop to Sardou’s play; the result is an opera utterly saturated with drama and emotion.

In his work, Sardou included biographical details for the main characters that provide further insight into their backgrounds and motivations. Angelotti and Cavaradossi hail from the Roman nobility, although both are supporters of Napoleon and the French Revolution. Angelotti’s ancestors helped found the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, where Angelotti takes refuge at the beginning of the opera. Cavaradossi was raised by Roman parents in Paris, where he studied art with the revolutionary painter Jacques-Louis David. Scarpia is a Sicilian, sent by the Queen of Naples to quell the revolutionary movement in Rome. And then there is Floria Tosca, the riveting heroine. Unlike the male leads, she is not of noble birth: She spent her childhood raising goats. After being taken in by a convent of Benedictine nuns, her musical talents were discovered by the (real-life) composer Domenico Cimarosa; he was so impressed by her singing that he convinced the pope to let her leave the convent and pursue a musical career.

Act I

Rome, June 17, 1800, midday, the Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle.

The revolu­tionary Cesare Angelotti has just escaped from the Castel Sant’Angelo, a prison in the heart of Rome run by the sadistic Baron Scarpia, the corrupt chief of police. Angelotti seeks refuge in a nearby church. As it happens, the artist Mario Cavaradossi, himself a revolutionary sympathizer, has been painting a portrait in the very same church. When Cavaradossi sees Angelotti, he promises to help him escape, but, hearing someone approaching, he tells Angelotti to hide. It is Cavaradossi’s girlfriend, the opera singer Floria Tosca. She coldly asks Cavaradossi why the door was locked; she heard him talking to someone and assumes it was a woman. Then she sees Cavaradossi’s painting and flies into a jealous rage, since the woman in the painting looks nothing like her. Cavaradossi swears he does not even know the woman, much less love her. His heart belongs to Tosca alone. He manages to placate Tosca by complimenting her shame­lessly, and the two plan to meet later that evening.

Tosca departs, and Cavaradossi lets Angelotti out of his hiding place. Angelotti reveals that his sister has hidden women’s clothes, a veil, and a fan for him in the church so he can escape Rome in disguise. Cavaradossi says that there is a hiding place in his garden well, and he and Angelotti head to the painter’s house. Just then, word arrives: Napoleon has been defeated, and a great celebration has been planned for that evening. The joyful mood is quickly dampened, however, by the entrance of Scarpia. Guessing that Cavaradossi has helped Angelotti flee, he decides to take advantage of Tosca’s jealousy to locate the escaped prisoner. Finding the fan left by Angelotti’s sister, he suggests to Tosca that Cavaradossi must be having an affair with the owner of the fan. Blind with jealousy, Tosca storms out to confront Cavaradossi. Scarpia sends his agent Spoletta to follow her. As the curtain falls, he revels in the knowledge that not only will Cavaradossi and Angelotti be in his power, but Tosca will soon be his as well.

Act II

That evening, the Palazzo Farnese.

Scarpia waits in his chambers. Soon, Spoletta enters. He found no trace of Angelotti, he says, but he did find and arrest Cavaradossi, who adamantly denies any knowledge of Angelotti’s whereabouts. Tosca arrives just as Cavaradossi is being dragged away to the torture chamber. As Cavaradossi’s screams reach her ears, Tosca becomes desperate. Scarpia says only she can save her beloved—by revealing where Angelotti is hidden. Confused and exhausted, Tosca reveals the location of the political prisoner: in the well in the garden. When a bloody Cavaradossi is brought back from the torture chamber, he is horrified to learn that Tosca has betrayed Angelotti. Just then, a messenger arrives to announce that Napoleon was not, in fact, defeated at Marengo; rather, his forces have taken northern Italy. Cavaradossi exults in Napoleon’s victory as he is dragged away to prison.

Alone with Tosca, Scarpia offers her a deal: He will release Cavaradossi if Tosca will succumb to his advances. Tosca is disgusted; she’d rather die than accept Scarpia’s offer. Spoletta enters, and tells Scarpia that Angelotti killed himself before he could be captured, and Cavaradossi’s execution has been planned for the following morning at dawn. Tosca realizes that with Angelotti already dead, Scarpia has no reason to keep Cavaradossi alive. Left with no other choice, she accepts Scarpia’s offer, demanding Cavaradossi’s immediate release and papers guaranteeing his safe escape from Rome. Scarpia replies that he cannot simply open the prison door and let Cavaradossi walk away; instead, he will order a mock execution, following which Cavaradossi will be able to escape unnoticed. Tosca watches as Scarpia gives instructions for the “execution” and signs the transit papers. On the table near her is a knife. When Scarpia turns to embrace her, she grabs the knife and plunges it into his heart.

Act III

The following morning, the prison at the Castel Sant’Angelo.

Believing he will never see Tosca again, Cavaradossi bribes the jailer to deliver a letter of farewell. To his surprise, however, Tosca enters, carrying the papers that will guarantee their safe escape from Rome. Hurriedly, she tells Cavaradossi about the mock execution that has been planned: At the sound of the guns, Cavaradossi must fall to the ground as though dead. Then, after the soldiers leave, they will be able to flee together. Tosca watches breathlessly as the firing squad gets into position. They fire. Cavaradossi falls. She rushes to him—only to discover Scarpia’s final cruel trick. The execution was all too real, and Cavaradossi is dead. As soldiers storm in to arrest her for Scarpia’s murder, Tosca climbs to the top of the battlements and throws herself to her death.

1858
Giacomo Puccini is born on December 22 in Lucca, a town on the western edge of Tuscany. As the oldest son in a family of seven children, Puccini is expected to go into the business at which his family has excelled for four generations: music.

1874
After completing a classical education, Puccini begins formal music studies with his uncle.

1880
Given his family background, Puccini’s career in Lucca is all but assured. But the young composer has higher aspirations, and he moves to Milan to further his studies.

1883
The publisher Sonzogno announces a competition for young composers and Puccini submits his first opera, Le Villi. To his chagrin, he receives no prize at all, not even an honorable mention.

1884
Despite his disappointment in the Sonzogno competition, Puccini manages to find sponsors for a performance of Le Villi at the Teatro dal Verme, Milan’s second most important opera house after La Scala. In the audience is Giulio Ricordi, head of the Ricordi publishing house, who is so taken with Puccini’s work that he immediately signs an exclusive contract with the young composer.

1887
La Tosca, a new play by the French writer Victorien Sardou, premieres at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris on November 24. In the title role is Sarah Bernhardt, one of the leading actresses of the day. Designed to showcase the dramatic acting style of its star, the play features many scenes of depravity and trauma: torture, attempted rape, execution, and suicide.

1889
Puccini’s second opera, Edgar, premieres at La Scala; it is the only true flop of Puccini’s career. Puccini’s sights are already set on other things, however, and he asks Ricordi to secure the rights to an opera based on Sardou’s La Tosca.

1895
Sardou’s La Tosca is performed in Florence, with Bernhardt in the lead role and Puccini in the audience. Deeply impressed, Puccini finally begins thinking seriously about an opera based on Sardou’s play.

1896
Puccini’s opera La Bohème premieres to resounding acclaim. It is the first of three operas that Puccini will write with the librettists Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, and they soon begin work on their next opera, Tosca.

1898
Giacosa and Illica complete the Tosca libretto. Puccini takes the libretto to Paris for Sardou’s approval, which Sardou happily grants.

On January 14, Tosca premieres in Rome. Despite a chilly critical reception, it is an instant hit with audiences. Two months later, it premieres at La Scala, conducted by Arturo Toscanini. In June, it receives its first international performance, in Buenos Aires; this is followed by a performance in London on July 12. And on February 4, 1901, it has its American premiere at the Metropolitan Opera.

1904
Madama Butterfly, Puccini’s final opera with Giacosa and Illica, premieres at La Scala.

1924
In October, Puccini is diagnosed with cancer and travels to Brussels for treatment. When he dies on November 29, the unfinished score of Turandot is still lying on his bedside table. His body is taken to Milan and temporarily interred in the Toscanini family crypt before being transferred to his estate at Torre del Lago.