Tosca

Composer: PUCCINI, Giacomo
  • Tosca, a “melodramma lirico” in three acts, premiered on January 14, 1900, at the Teatro Constanzi in Rome.1
  • The opera was based on Victorien Sardou’s French play, La Tosca (1887), which was set in the aftermath of the French Revolution, during the Napoleonic Wars. The opera is specifically set right after the Battle of Marengo.2
  • Puccini’s research for Tosca included consulting with a priest regarding the correct plainchant melodies to which the Te Deum is sung in Rome, and ascertaining the pitch of the bell at St. Peter’s Basilica from a musician who worked at the Vatican.4
  • Synopsis from The Metropolitan Opera 

Sources

  1. Michele Girardi, “Puccini, Giacomo (ii),” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 26, 2021,  https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-6002278242.
  2. Ibid.
  3. Julian Budden, “Tosca,” Grove Music Online (2002), accessed March 26, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-5000005948. 
  4. Ibid.

Cut IDs

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