Tosca

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou's drama, La Tosca. First performance: Rome, 1900.

Anecdotes

Many anecdotes made this opera even more famous and enjoyable, if possible.

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Puccini had a devotion for precision that could not be fought. For the Te Deum procession, he arranged for one of Ricordi's workers to be sent to Rome, where he stayed several months to find whatever material available on that subject in shops, libraries, museums, etc.; finally, he received from an old friar the precise drawing of the role of each participant, and a set of 18 handpainted tablets describing it.

Related Topics:
Te Deum - Procession

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For the opening of Act III, Puccini asked a priest to decipher the precise tone of the bells of Castel Sant'Angelo, and notably the tone of the large bell of St.Peter's basilica (it is a natural mi (E)) so he was able to perform at Costanzi theatre a sound that was precise as only a recording would have been.

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The tale of the bouncing Tosca: Tosca jumps, as usual, from the walls of Castel Sant'Angelo. But the stage workers had improved her safety by replacing the mattress with a trampoline: and so Tosca appeared two or three times from behind the wall

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The tale of the collective suicide: the stage director gave last-minute instruction to the supers hired as soldiers, who had had no stage rehearsal, and he gave them a standard instruction "exit with the principals". When Tosca leapt from the parapet, seeing no other principals left on stage, they all dutifully jumped after her, giving a Shakespearean greatness to the final tragedy.

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Soprano Renata Tebaldi, one of best Toscas at all, was famous for her exaggerated outcries in final scenes; once, in Tokyo, she decided not to jump for the final suicide, but chose instead to exit by the quinte, walking among astonished policemen as only a diva could.

Related Topics:
Soprano - Renata Tebaldi - Tokyo

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Famous baritone Tito Gobbi, a very original Scarpia, recalled a prima, or premiere, with Maria Callas, in which he also had to improvise to save the diva in Act II. While he was on the floor, freshly killed, he realised that Callas was walking around the stage unable to find her way out, due to her proverbial myopia (she could wear glasses during rehearsal only, and contact lenses were not available yet). Gobbi tried to point out the exit, but started laughing so intensely that both his laughing and his pointing were seen by public. The morning after the newspapers raved about his memorable portrayal of Scarpia's death throes.

Related Topics:
Tito Gobbi - Prima - Maria Callas - Myopia

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In 1964, at London's Covent Garden, Tito Gobbi was again with Callas. In the duet of Act II, the soprano went too near to the table, not realising that she was also too close to the candles. Soon smoke could be seen coming soon from her wig. Gobbi, realizing what was happening, anticipated the embrace they would have normally had several minutes later and extinguished the fire with his hand. Not understanding what he was doing, Callas stared at him with a perplexed expression, so Gobbi extended his burnt hand very near to her face and then pointed to the candles. Callas interpolated her own “grazie.”

Related Topics:
London - Covent Garden

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Gobbi also paid tribute to the ferocity of Callas’ acting in this role, noting that he was often afraid during their performances that she really would kill him in Act II.

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