Tosca's Rome in the 19th century
Living in the nineteenth century was not easy, especially for the people living in the city of Rome at the time. The opera by Giacomo Puccini takes place in the city of Rome where at the time was unstable. Giacomo Puccini was a descendant of a family of musicians, he is considered to be the most important Italian opera composer in the generation after Verdi. Tosca is an opera that deals with the love of a singer for the painter Cavaradossi. Cavaradossi gets involved with revolutionary activities and is questioned and tortured by Scarpia, the chief of police. Scarpia is a ruthless man that after seeing Tosca wants her for himself and will do anything to get his way. After sending to have Tosca's lover Cavaradossi executed, Scarpia tells Tosca that the only way that she can save him is that if she gives in to him. Tosca is a strong believer that she belongs to the man she loves, she plays his games after she asks him to write a safe passage note for her and her lover. Tosca then murders Scarpia and hurries to tell her lover the good news. Cavaradossi execution was only supposed to be pretended but he is really killed, at the same time the body of Scarpia is found and they go after Tosca. In the final act Tosca leaps to her
Romanticism expresses the strong emotions of love and sense of religion of the characters in Puccini's opera "Tosca". On one part Scarpia uses religion to hide his evilness as the other characters use religion and love to come to life in the opera. "The chief of police is a straightforward villain whose only use for religion is as a cover for crime; the operatic Scarpia is portrayed as a man who uses the power of the Church for his own ends..." (Nicassio, 18.) Nicassio mentions in her book that when Puccini mentions religion as an institution it is almost always related in a negative sense. When religion is mentioned in a personal way it is related if a positive or good way. Scarpia on the other had only uses religion to be an evil person. Here she illustrated on how Scarpia uses the power of the church to get his ways. On the other had Scarpia also uses religion for his won personal beliefs. "'Tosca, you make me forget god!'" (Nicassio, 2.) Here it clearly shows how Scarpia uses religion to his own advantage, as he wants to win over Tosca's heart. It is shown here that evil never prevails even when Scarpia tries to use religion as a cover. Neo-classicism expresses political and historical references that were going on in Rome at the time that Puccini wrote his opera. Nicassio illustrates how Puccini uses historical references for the establishment of his characters. Nicassio does this by giving references of the events that were occurring at the time. The historical references are very important in this opera, because Puccini uses people as references for the characters in his opera. "The story contained in both is historically-oriented, with action that begins just before midday on 17 June 1800 and ends just after dawn on 18 June," (Rice). As stated here by Rice, this Opera by Puccini follows history very closely, because even the dates are closely accurate. Nicassio does a very good gob illustrating this concept trough the chapters in her book, Tosca's Rome. Nicassio first starts with giving a brief history of the time when the opera was written. This includes the late 18th century when Rome was taken over by the French who overturned the
Some common words found in the essay are:
Tosca Puccini, Puccini's Tosca, Tosca Scarpia, Cavaradossi Cavaradossi, Neo-Guelphism-that Italy, Rome Puccini, Cavaradossi Tosca's, Europe Nicassio, Rome Nicassio, Nicassio Political, historical references, sense religion, opera tosca, scarpia religion, political historical references, political historical, city rome, tosca's rome, strong emotions, love sense religion, papal ruling, lover cavaradossi, emotions love sense, strong emotions love, neo-classicism expresses political,
Approximate Word count = 1466
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)
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