#Tosca opera plot series

Tosca, to an orchestral accompaniment of a musical theme which will be associated with her throughout the opera, enters, exclaiming, “Mario, Mario.” She lays a bouquet of flowers at the feet of the statue of the Madonna and then sings a cheerful aria about a rendezvous she and Cavaradossi will have at his cottage, including a musical theme which will henceforth represent the cottage. Hearing Tosca enter the church, Cavaradossi tells Angelotti to hide again, giving him the basket of food. Hearing him leave, Angelotti emerges from the chapel, and Cavaradossi recognizes him as a leader of the recently overthrown Roman Republic. He then turns to the painter to remind him that a dinner has been prepared for him, but Cavaradossi replies that he is not hungry, and the Sacristan exits to the same melody associated with his entrance. The Sacristan now lets us know (out of Cavaradossi’s earshot) the real reason for his resentment: the painter’s political leanings and lack of conventional piety. In one sense, it is not strictly an aria but a duet – the Sacristan even gets to sing the final line – but the two vocal lines are hardly of equal interest. “Recondita armonia” demonstrates the way in which Puccini was breaking away from the use of formal set pieces in his operas. In the aria “Recondita armonia” Cavaradossi compares his blonde model with his beloved brunette, dark-eyed Tosca, while the Sacristan grumbles in the background about the improper mixing of the religious and profane. The Sacristan is horrified to realize that Cavaradossi has used a real-life worshipper at the church as his model. The Sacristan has many characteristics of a stock comic character, but as we will soon see, the consequences of his actions are far from comic.Ĭavaradossi, who has been working on a mural depicting Mary Magdalene, enters and uncovers the painting. He looks at the basket of food he had prepared for the painter and notices that it has not been touched (a fact which will be significant later). He is grumbling about having to clean Cavaradosi’s paintbrushes. The elderly Sacristan enters to a jaunty melody, descriptive of his uneven walk.

#Tosca opera plot series

A series of descending chords introduces the escaped political prisoner Angelotti, looking for the key to the family’s private chapel, which his sister had hidden away for him. The opera opens with three jarring chords, a motif which will be associated with the villainous Scarpia. June 17, 1800Īs is typical of Puccini, there is no overture, just a brief orchestral passage to set the mood. Act I: Rome, The Church of Sant’Andrea della Valle.