Verismo Puccini Tosca
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The end of the nineteenth century in Europe, known as the fin-de-siecle (end of century) is considered by many historians to have been a decadent time. Rising industrialism, changing economic and political structures, increased value on the arts, and liberalization with respect to sexuality and women’s rights characterized the dynamic and changing period of the final two decades of the nineteenth century. It is within such an environment of liberalization and change that the style of opera known as verismo (truth). Verismo referred to an Italian style of literature that reflected the lifestyles of the lower classes or ordinary people, while embracing Italian culture. The French writer Emile Zola is credited with influencing the style in his novels that illustrate the adversity of unfortunate common souls. This movement in realism and the growing emphasis on the lower classes led to the verismo style of opera. As one music historian notes: “Every age strives to disrupt and discredit its artistic status quo while attempting to carve out for itself a new sense of direction. In the world of late 19th century Italian opera, this effort took the form of verismo for which Pietro Mascagni and Ruggiero Leoncavallo would be the standard-bearers” (Verismo 1).The veristic plays written by French and Italian playwrights like Arrigo Boito, Giovanni Verga, and Victorien Sardou served as the inspiration for many opera composers. The veristic plays were a
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ike Tosca, the story of the jealous, impassioned opera singer Floria Tosca and her doomed love for the painter Mario Cavaradossi, reflect a synthesis of the verismo style and Puccini’s own innovations that would take Italian opera into the next century: “The characters and story of Tosca are generally considered somewhat less ‘ordinary’ than those in La Boheme, so that Tosca, although having elements of verismo, is not generally regarded as an example of the verismo style” (Graham 1999).
Puccini was inspired to compose Tosca for the Rome opera after he twice took in Sarah Bernhardt’s performance in the lead role on the French stage (Mozheitov 1). Love, passion and treachery drive the characters in this play. It is Rome of the 1800s and the evil Chief of Police, Scarpia, is obsessed with his hunt for a fugitive he suspects the artist Cavaradossi is harboring. Tosca loves Cavaradossi, but is tricked by Scarpia into betraying Cavaradossi. Scarpia tortures Cavaradossi in front of Tosca, but the artist reveals nothing. Because of her fear for her lover’s life, Tosca discloses the whereabouts of the fugitive Angelotti. Scarpia promises Tosca he will setup a mock execution of Cavaradossi is she has sex with him. She agrees but
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1285
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page)
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