"Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore" (1900)
"I lived for art, I lived for love" — the soprano asks God why she is being repaid like this
Recording: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) Emmy Destinn (1878-1930), soprano · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Opera · Italian opera
Tosca
14 January 1900, Teatro Costanzi, Rome
Giacomo Puccini · libretto by Illica and Giacosa, after Sardou
Rome in June 1800, over eighteen hours: a painter hides an escaped republican, the chief of police tortures him, and the painter's lover the singer buys his life with a promise she settles with a knife. The mock execution turns out to be real, and she jumps from the battlements.
How to spot them
- ▸Three real Roman locations in order: a church, a palace, and a castle roof at dawn
- ▸Soprano diva, tenor painter, and one of opera's great baritone villains
- ▸The famous moment: the villain writes a safe-conduct while the soprano picks up a knife from the supper table
- ▸Quiz clues: Sardou's play for Sarah Bernhardt, the Battle of Marengo, a Te Deum, and "a shabby little shocker"
Arias & moments — listen
"E lucevan le stelle" (1900)
The condemned painter, writing a last letter on the castle roof, remembers a summer night; a clarinet carries the tune
Recording: Giacomo Puccini · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"Recondita armonia" (1900)
The painter compares his blonde Magdalen on the canvas with his own dark-eyed lover
Recording: Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924) Enrico Caruso (1873–1921) · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
The Act I Te Deum (1900)
A cathedral procession and cannon fire while the villain mutters his plan over the chant
Recording: Pasquale Amato · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"Già, mi dicon venal" (1900)
Scarpia says he may be called venal, but it is not with money that he takes what he wants
Recording: Antonio Scotti · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
"Vissi d'arte" sung by a 1913 Italian soprano (1900)
An Adelina Agostinelli disc of the same prayer, for comparison with Destinn's
Recording: Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) * Adelina Agostinelli (1882-1954) · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Quick-fire facts
- •The premiere was at the Teatro Costanzi, Rome, on 14 January 1900.
- •The source is Victorien Sardou's 1887 play La Tosca, written for Sarah Bernhardt.
- •The three acts are set in the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle, the Palazzo Farnese, and the roof of the Castel Sant'Angelo.
- •The action takes place in June 1800, around the news of Napoleon's victory at Marengo.
- •The principals are Floria Tosca (soprano), Mario Cavaradossi (tenor) and Baron Scarpia (baritone).
- •Puccini opens with three loud chords — the Scarpia motif — before a word is sung.
- •The musicologist Joseph Kerman called it "a shabby little shocker", a phrase quiz-setters love.
- •Cavaradossi is shot by a firing squad Tosca has been told will use blanks; she then leaps from the battlements.
- •Act III opens with a shepherd boy's song and the real bells of Rome ringing matins, which Puccini had pitched on the spot.
Drill it — 9 cards
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Sources
- Grove Music Online (Oxford University Press) — Tosca
- Julian Budden — Puccini: His Life and Works
- Joseph Kerman — Opera as Drama Source of the "shabby little shocker" verdict.