However, after a falling out with Sardou in 1891, Puccini abandoned the project and Ricordi assigned it to a totally different composer. In 1889, Puccini saw the play La Tosca by French playwright Victorien Sardou and wrote to publisher Ricordi asking him for Sardou’s permission for the play to be made into an opera – ‘I see in this Tosca the opera I need’. The composition process was quite convoluted, spanning 11 years in total… Tosca was written by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, who both also worked on La bohème and Madama Butterfly. This motif closes Act I, is heard very softly following Scarpia’s murder in Act II, and even features throughout Act III, depicting his lingering influence – Scarpia is still present, pulling the strings from beyond the grave… Most recognisable is the sequence of three, strident chords that represent the evil Scarpia (the interval is an unsettling tritone, known as the ‘devil’s interval’). Tosca’s score is also full of musical motifs, which represent different characters and ideas in the story. When writing the ‘Te deum’ music, Puccini researched the melodies to which the hymn was set in Roman churches, and adapted the music to the exact pitch of the great bell of St Peter’s Basilica.

– The hugely impressive ‘ Te deum’ which closes Act I contrasts the sacred and the profane – the full chorus sing the ‘Te deum’ hymn while Scarpia gloatingly anticipates his conquest of Tosca, accompanied by vast orchestral forces, organ, church bells, and cannon fire every four bars (which signals that the prisoner Angelotti has escaped). – The heart-wrenching ‘ E lucevan le stelle’ (‘The stars were shining brightly’), is Cavaradossi’s farewell to life, sung as he awaits execution, and is one of the most popular arias in the Italian tenor repertoire. Amazingly, this spellbinding moment of reverence and intense emotion was almost cut by Puccini, who believed the aria ‘held up the action’! Finding both herself and her lover at the mercy of Scarpia, she prays, musing over her darkened fate and asking why God has seemingly abandoned her. – The famous soprano aria ‘ Vissi d’arte’ (‘I lived for art’), which is sung by Tosca during Act II of the opera. Tosca contains some of opera’s most iconic music:

Heroine of puccini opera