Murder, They Wrote

Operatic subjects and plots are drawn from many sources: plays, fairy tales, novels— even the lives of tabloid celebrities. In all cases, however, an opera librettist is faced with challenges unique to the art form, since the libretto must be sung rather than spoken or read.

In this activity, students will examine how the libretto for Puccini’s Tosca compares to its source play, La Tosca (1887) by Victorien Sardou, through an acting exercise, guided close reading, and an optional creative writing assignment—thereby inviting them to consider the dramatic priorities of different art forms.

STEP 1. REVIEW

Begin by briefly explaining the many tasks that go into creating an opera.

• An existing story is selected, or an original story is written; the story may exist in any form: play, novel, movie, video game, etc. In the case of Puccini’s opera, the source story comes from Sardou’s play La Tosca.
• A script is crafted for the opera; this opera script is called a libretto, and the person who writes it is a librettist.
• A composer takes the libretto and writes melodies for all the words to be sung, as well as music for the orchestra.

In the course of this activity, students will follow this same creative process from beginning to end: Step 1 focuses on the storyline, steps 2–3 on the libretto, and steps 4–5 on the music.

To ensure that students have an adequate understanding of Tosca’s plot, distribute the synopsis to your students and ask them to take turns reading it aloud. For younger students, the Tosca illustrated synopsis (metopera.org/tosca-illustrated) will be more accessible.

STEP 2. EXPLORE

Explain that writing a libretto presents special challenges because of opera’s unique characteristic: Its words are sung rather than spoken. Students should consider these important points regarding singing:

• It is much easier to sing rhymed poetry with a regular rhythm than it is to sing irregular poetry or prose. By way of example, have your students sing “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Then, have them use the following text when singing the same tune:

Galileo watched the stars
Through a telescope he built.
For this reason he’s been called
“Father of astronomy.”
Galileo watched the stars
Through a telescope he built.

• It takes much longer to sing a line of text than it takes to say it. Have one of your students read the “Galileo” text above while the rest of the class times how long it takes. (Or have several students read the passage aloud and then calculate the average of all their times.) By way of comparison, have a group sing “Twinkle, Twinkle“ and time how long that takes. Both the spoken and sung text have exactly the same number of syllables, but singing “Twinkle, Twinkle“ will likely take much longer than reading about Galileo.

STEP 3. COMPARE

Distribute the handouts included with this guide to compare the text of a real play with a real opera libretto. The scene depicted in both versions is Scarpia’s murder, but one comes from Sardou’s play while the other comes from Giacosa and Illica’s libretto. Note that the opera libretto includes text in both Italian and English; students should focus only on the English portion for now.

In small groups, have your students act out the two versions, assigning individual parts as well as stage directions and narration, and ask them to consider how the two versions differ, specifically:

• Which version feels more dramatic?
• Which version is longer? What material was added or cut?
• Which version is easier to follow?
• How important are the stage directions in helping you understand what is going on? Would the words alone suffice?

Reconvene as a class and invite students to share their observations. Can they apply what they learned in the “Twinkle, Twinkle” exercise to explain some of the differences?

STEP 4. LISTEN

The final step in creating an opera is to add the music. Play for your students the scene that they have just acted out (Tracks 1–2 or MOoD clips 23–24), and ask them to follow along with the Italian text on their handout. As they listen, they should keep in mind everything they discovered and discussed in steps 2 and 3. Encourage students to consider the following questions:

• Does the Italian text rhyme?
• Is the singing constant, or are there moments when only the orchestra is playing? What happens during those moments? Does the music seem to follow the action described in the stage directions?
• Does the music make the scene more exciting?
• Tosca is considered to be a role for a “dramatic soprano.” Why might this be?

STEP 5. REFLECT

To bring the activity to a close, ask your students to consider how the libretto might have to change if the opera were set to a different kind of music: pop, hip-hop, or country. Would they like to hear a version of Tosca that used music from another genre?

Divide your students into groups and ask them to pick a dramatic scene from a novel, movie, or other kind of storytelling medium and turn it into an operatic scene. They will need to craft a libretto and come up with basic melodies, all while considering the many issues outlined above. (Should the libretto rhyme? What should the music sound like?) Finally, ask them to perform their new scene for the class.