Tosca′s Rome – The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective - Hardcover

Nicassio, Susan V

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0226579719 ISBN 13: 9780226579719

Publisher: University of Chicago Press, 1999

Synopsis

A timeless tale of love, lust, and politics, "Tosca" is one of the most popular operas ever written. In "Tosca's Rome," Susan Vandiver Nicassio explores the surprising historical realities that lie behind Giacomo Puccini's opera and the play by Victorien Sardou on which it is based. By far the most "historical" opera in the active repertoire, " Tosca" is set in a very specific time and place: Rome, from June 17 to 18, 1800. But as Nicassio demonstrates, history in "Tosca" is distorted by nationalism and by the vehement anticlerical perceptions of papal Rome shared by Sardou, Puccini, and the librettists. To provide the historical background necessary for understanding "Tosca," Nicassio takes a detailed look at Rome in 1800 as each of "Tosca"'s main characters would have seen it - the painter Cavaradossi, the singer Tosca, and the policeman Scarpia. Finally, she provides a scene-by-scene musical and dramatic analysis of the opera.

About this title

About the Author

Susan Vandiver Nicassio is an associate professor of history at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.

From the Inside Flap

In Tosca's Rome, Susan Vandiver Nicassio explores the surprising historical realities that lie behind Giacomo Puccini's immortal opera, Tosca-a timeless tale of love, lust, and politics. For this paperback edition, Nicassio has added an appendix analyzing recently discovered working papers for the libretto.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0226579719
• ISBN 13: 9780226579719
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 344