Nuova Orchestra Scarlatti & Coro Lirico Siciliano: "Tosca" by Giacomo Puccini

Date: Oct 20-21 - 7:30 pm

Venue: Daning Theater in Shanghai

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, La Tosca, is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide. Musically, Tosca is structured as a through-composed work, with arias, recitative, choruses and other elements musically woven into a seamless whole. Puccini used Wagnerian leitmotifs to identify characters, objects and ideas. However, some of Puccini's lyrical arias are best-known, like Cavaradossi's "Recondita armonia" in act 1, Tosca's "Vissi d'arte" in act 2 and Cavaradossi's aria "E lucevan le stelle" in act 3. The power of its score and the inventiveness of its orchestration have been widely acknowledged. The dramatic force of Tosca and its characters continues to fascinate both performers and audiences, and the work remains one of the most frequently performed operas. Many recordings of the work have been issued, both of studio and live performances.