Preview from the upcoming TOSCA session

During the first half of the 19th century the flame of Romanticism burned brightly. With the failure of several Romantic plays in Vienna in 1850 we see a dramatic change in the artistic sentiments of Western Europe. This is partially due to the failure of the Revolutions of 1848, 49, when much of the Romantic aspirations were smothered. They were replaced by Realism, the art of observation, incarnate in the novels of Gustave Flaubert and the art of Gustave Courbet. In Italian opera this found its expression in verismo, of which Puccini's masterpiece, Tosca, is a marvelous example. In Realism, the crowd triumphs over the individual, the herd over the hero. In Tosca, the romantic characters, Tosca, Cavaradossi, and Scarpia, are gone, replaced by the herdmen Sacristan and the sycophant, Spoletto. Another aspect of verismo is demonstrated by Puccini's complete faithfulness to the scene. The beginning of the third act simply shows anonymous soldiers in their morning routine. Like all great artists, the composer and librettist mediate truths about their own time through an artifice, in this case Napoleon's surprising victory at the Battle of Marengo in 1800. From a psychological point of view, one of the great tradgedies in the opera is Floria's failure to know herself, a failure which sets into motion the deaths of the main characters.

Thanks to Eric Hanson, our speaker at the next session on February 23 for providing the above preview and preparing us for a stimulating discussion. Please share your thoughts with us on this blog.

Get an introduction to Tosca at Tosca on Wiki