Opera-Tosca

This is the second Tosca we’ve seen at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.  To revisit the story, Scarpia is the chief of police and the highest authority in the city.  He and his men search for an escaped political prisoner, Angelotti in the church of Sant’Andrea.  Cavaradossi is an artist painting in the church and helps Angelotti escape.  Tosca is a well-known singer and his lover, but Scarpia also has his eyes on her.  Scarpia throws Cavaradossi in prison under suspicion for helping Angelotti.  Scarpia threatens to execute him unless Tosca succumbs to him.  Tosca makes a deal with him to do what he wants if Scarpia releases Cavaradossi.  He agrees, but warns her that there has to be a fake execution and he will provide a letter for safe passage for the both of them.  Once Scarpia drafts the letter, Tosca stabs him to death.  Then she goes to the prison to let Cavaradossi know about the plan and to pretend to die.  Instead, Scarpia in his death betrays the both of them because the execution is real.  Tosca discovers the betrayal when she urges Cavaradossi to rise, but finds that he is dead.  In the background we hear officials who have discovered Scarpia’s body and they start the hunt for Tosca.  But Tosca climbs to the ramparts and throws herself over the wall.

So both girl and boy are killed in this one.  I was reading the background on this opera and discovered that when it was released, it was considered “vulgar”, “sensationalist” and “overly emotional”.  Aren’t all operas overly emotional?  Anyway, it was considered the cheap thrill in its day, but it is still a well-loved classic.

I personally preferred the first Tosca mostly because of the set.  In the first Tosca, the first scene in the church is a traditional view.  In this Tosca, there is

the face of Tosca in 3 different parts of the scaffolding and I’m not sure what that was supposed to portray.  In the first Tosca, Scarpia’s quarters was a dramatic red with stark opulence.  It provided a visual of his authority and evil.  The setting of this Tosca was as if they were in a warehouse of all the treasures Scarpia and his men had confiscated.  So the impact was not the same as Tosca begs for mercy, then later stabs him as he tries to rape her.  Another scene was the prison and in this performance, they hung Angelotti from the rafters, which was a bit morbid.  The first Tosca was memorable because the star who portrayed Tosca had apparently sprained her ankle in the fall.  So when they were taking their bows, she was hopping around on her good leg.

The singing was still excellent, but the visual impact as not the same.  What made up for it was that Placido Domingo conducted the orchestra.  The man was in the house!