NRR Project: “Tosca”
Composed by Giacomo Puccini
Performed by Maria Callas, Giuseppe Di Stefano, Tito
Gobbi, et al
La Scala Opera Orchestra, Victor de Sabata, conductor
Recorded 1953
1 hr., 48 min.
Wow. It’s simply the best opera recording of all time, that’s all. (Read Paul Gruber's essay on it at the National Recording Registry here.)
Seen as the high-water mark of soprano Maria Callas’ recording career, it’s a ravishing reading of the highly emotional, intensely melodic three-act tragic melodrama of 1900 by composer Giacomo Puccini.
The opera itself was adapted from Victorien Sardou’s 1887 play of the same name by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. The story is gripping. As in most operas, the reactions are exaggerated and the plot is complex. But Puccini keeps things at least plausible as the action snowballs. As always, Puccini’s musical sense is profoundly catchy, so even if you have no idea what’s going on you will still enjoy it.
Basically, it’s Rome, 1800. Napoleon has control, then he doesn’t, then he does again. The chief of police, the evil Scarpia (baritone – usually the bad guy), is hunting Italian freedom fighters. We find the painter Cavaradossi (tenor – the tenor is always the good guy) working on a painting in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle; he is also a friend of the revolution. He hides an escaped prisoner in a nearby chapel.
Then his jealous girlfriend, Tosca (soprano – the soprano is always the heroine), a noted diva, enters. They have a spat; he tells her he loves her. She leaves. Scarpia enters! Quickly, he and his minions search the church. The prisoner has escaped again. Scarpia hates Cavaradossi, lusts for Tosca. Tosca comes back. Scarpia manipulates her jealously, then has her followed. Then Scarpia, as a procession sings the Te Deum in the background, he vows to kill Cavaradossi and have Tosca. Crazy, right?
In Act II, we go to Scarpia’s apartment. He commands Tosca to come to him. He busts Cavaradossi, has him brought in, tortures him, trying to find the hiding place of the escaped prisoner. Cavaradossi refuses to rat out his buddy, of course. Tosca arrives; her lover is dragged off. Scarpia tortures him until Tosca reveals the hiding place. They drag the painter back in; he’s overwrought because Tosca was a stool pigeon.
Cavaradossi is condemned to execution. Off they drag him again. Scarpia now has a proposition. If Tosca will do the nasty with him, he will set Cavaradossi free. She then sings the central aria (aka solo song) the incredible Vissi d’arte, in which she sadly asks God why He has abandoned her. She gives in. Scarpia orders up a mock execution for Cavaradossi. Then, when he’s not looking, she stabs him to death. And leaves.
In the third act, we move to the execution ground high atop the Castel Sant’Angelo. Poor old tortured Cavaradossi is told he has an hour to live. He sings E lucevan le stelle, the other killer aria in the opera, about how sad he is and how he wishes he could snog with Tosca again.
Tosca dashes in tells him to fake dying when they pretend to shoot him. The two sing about how happy they will be. Soon they will snog! Oops, execution time, Tosca hangs out for it. They shoot! Cavaradossi slumps! The bad guys march away. Tosca runs up to the execution post. Hey – he’s actually dead. Scarpia, that skunk! He is avenged from beyond the grave! Those were real bullets. O life is bitter.
Bad guys reenter, tell Tosca to give up. She runs to the top of the castle and flings herself off the top to her death. Curtain. (I have heard of Toscas trampolining back up into view when they’ve flung themselves off the parapet. I personally saw one crossing not so discreetly upstage right after her supposed demise.)
Tosca is the grade-A emotional roller coaster that makes it perfect for the intensity, the dark fatalism that seems to pervade it. Every beat is efficiently carried by the music; there are little themes but it’s not too bad; they are simply markers. The characters are three-dimensional. When properly acted, this work is mesmerizing, impossible to ignore.
Here Maria Callas (1923-1977) shone. She made this a signature piece of hers, her unique property, and you can hear it in this recording. She is more fully developed in the art of acting than any other opera singer before or since. She was vivid and clear, her tone impeccable . . . and not affected by the wobble that plagues her later in her career. Her phrasing, her precision make her a consummate performer whose work transcends its genre.
Her Tosca is many things: imperious, mournful, shocked, elated, and ultimately murderous. In killing she is protecting Cavaradossi, and the revolution, and her autonomy. Her fate is tragic, but in Callas she is fiercely alive.
She is ably supported by the exacting conductor Victor de Sabata, whose only commercial opera recording this was. Her Cavaradossi, Giuseppe Di Stefano, is in peak form. Tito Gobbi, her Scarpia, was masterful portrayer of operatic villains who is always worth a listen. Backed by the prestigious La Scala Opera Orchestra, the entire enterprise is first-rate. The recording is excellent, unlike many memorable but grainy bootleg recordings of Callas.
As always with opera, you need to study up on it a bit. It helps if you can get a translation in front of you. After a while, your brain figures it out and you can follow along. If you must listen to only one opera, listen to this recording of this one.
The National Recording Registry Project tracks one writer’s expedition through all the recordings in the National Recording Registry in chronological order. Next time: Songs by Tom Lehrer.
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