Loving but jealous heroine, faithful and honorable hero, evil villain -- everyone in Tosca dies singing some of the loveliest music ever written.
Listen while you read: Vissi d'Arte sung by Maria Callas
 |
| Ourselves wandering to the buildings used as settings for Tosca, which Puccini set in Rome. |
Tosca premiered in Rome at Teatro Constanzi in 1900. Last night in the same theater, we heard Opera Roma perform a production based on the original 1900 world premier. Puccini set his story in Rome, and specifically identified the locations of each act. Today, we had the pleasure of wandering Rome to see the buildings where the three acts were set. Tourism doesn't get any better than this.
 |
| Waiting for Tosca to begin in the same theater where it premiered |
Tosca remains one of my favorite operas. The music, like other Puccini music, is deeply satisfying with near harmony, reprises of themes for each character, duets and arias which have become part of the canon for opera lovers. I wish I had the knowledge and words to describe the musical techniques that Puccini uses so well in this opera; the music reflects and explores the complex moralities of each character. The rising/falling of the orchestra and voices and their play off each other pull us into the tension between good and evil and between differing forms of good.
I enjoy how the music, character, plot and lyrics all carry the theme in a way that is rarely achieved in any art. I enjoyed even more that this production recreates the original premier and that each act is set in a recognizable building in Rome.
Act 1--Sant'Andrea della Valle
In this production the sets and costumes also further the dramatic tension. The first act in the Baroque Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle introduces the moralities of Tosca and Mario--moralities which are both "good" but have different bases. Hers is based in traditional religion as well as emotion and love; his is based in the politics and concepts of individual freedom. The conflict of their moralities drives the tension and the drama to its denoument.
I do not know if Puccini chose Sant'Andrea specifically to illustrate the tension between secular and religious morality, but he surely set the act in a church to make his point. Sant'Andrea is not that well-known as a church in Rome; none of its art is recognized as rising above the ordinary baroque of the day. But Act 1 is set there and the gated Barberini chapel is crucial to the scene of Mario's friend escaping from prison as a traitorous Bonapartist. The irony of the secular Bonapartist turning to a religious venue for help is intended.
We had a glorious visit this afternoon. Western sunlight was illuminating the golden mosaics and the shiny pipes of the organ. Maybe it was better that we did not have any specific outstanding paintings to absorb and could appreciate the light, composition and spaciousness of a baroque church with Tosca and Mario's duet in our mind's ear.
 |
| Baroque church Sant'Andrea della Valle |
 |
| Gated chapel, setting for action in Tosca. |
Deep three note musical theme: Scarpia enters the church and plays upon Tosca's love and jealousy. What a guy! Surely the personification of evil. Dressed in strong contrasting black, white and red his costume overpowers Tosca's blue filmy dress, even as he overpowers her emotions.
It turns out that Scarpia has only a few blocks to walk from the church to his home in the Farnese Palace, actually now the French embassy and a French stronghold in Rome for many years. The second act is set in Scarpia's apartment and office there. Again, it is not clear to me whether the building was chosen to illustrate the Bonapartist/monarchist divide or it was a convenient, beautiful building. The actual king referred to in the drama is the Bourbon king of Naples at the time the drama is set in the early 1800's. Nothing is exact; this is fiction.
Act 2--Farnese Palace
The second act, set in the Farnese Palace, is a duel between Scarpia's evil and Tosca's strength. She keeps the upper hand in morality and emotion and conquers him, finally killing him to save Mario. Her aria, Vissi d'Arte is my all time favorite piece of opera music. She asks God: "I have lived for art and love. Why have you forsaken me. I have led a moral life--giving to the poor, supporting the church, using the gift for song that You bestowed upon me. Why must I face these terrible things?" I have to say the English super-titles in this production did not do justice to the content of this aria.
We visited the Farnese palace which is a harmonious Renaissance architectural composition. Partly because we can see it across a wide piazza, we can appreciate its balance. The French keep it up nicely too. The Italian soldiers at the embassy gate, of course, don't let in wandering tourists. We have no idea which windows were Scarpia's so we let our imaginations wander. The nearby Palazzo Spada, which was open to us, had rooms which looked like the opera sets, as if Scarpia could have lived there.
 | ||
Farnese Palace today...
|
Act 3--Castel Sant'Angelo
The Castel Sant' Angelo is a looming, forbidding setting for the third act. Mario is to be shot at dawn but Scarpia convinced Tosca to give herself to him by offering "fake bullets" and a safe passage for Tosca and Mario to Cittavecchia--today the cruise ship port.
Scarpia is dead but his soldiers do not know it--they execute Mario. Tosca and Mario have had some loving moments and glorious duets planning their escape and their future. As she discovers Mario's death and the soldiers come for her because of killing Scarpia we have the stunning finale. Tosca with her cape flying launches herself off the parapet to her death.
The prison ramparts with St. Peter's Basilica in the background are silhouetted against the sky in the opera; in real life Castel Sant'Angelo overpowers everything around it, a bastion, impenetrable. Today, in real life as in the opera, the castle rises in a dense, sheer wall dominating the Tiber river and the entrance to the Vatican. St. Peter's Basilica, the symbol of religious morality, only two blocks away, offers Bernini's colonnade, Michelangelo's dome and a plaza full of pilgrims receiving the Pope's blessing. It is not such a stretch to infer the pull of the varying moralities and the contrasting evil in the opera.
 |
| The rampart where Tosca jumped to her death.
Text by Julianne; Photos by Nancy; Moral support by Olivia
|
No comments:
Post a Comment