Giacomo Puccini: Tosca

ISBN: 9780521296618 (0521296617)
Edition Type: Paperback
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Language: English
Pages: 176
Date Published: 5th Sep 1985
Series: Cambridge Opera Handbooks

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General preface
List of illustrations
1. Sardou and his La Tosca
2. Naturalism in opera: verismo
3. Genesis of Tosca
4. Synopsis
5. Play and opera: a comparison
6. First production and critical history
7. Interpretation: some reflections Tito Gobbi
8. Style and technique
9. Musical and dramatic structure
10. Analysis: Act I in perspective Roger Parker
11. Tosca in the United States William Ashbrook
Notes
Select bibliography
Discography Malcolm Walker
Index.

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This book is intended primarily as a guide for the opera goer. It includes a synopsis of the plot, with indications of the themes and motifs used in it, and discusses the style of the opera, Tosca being a typical example of Italian naturalism in operas, verismo. It compares Puccini's libretto with Sardou's play La Tosca, analyses the close-knit structure of the work and examines salient points in the music. It also describes the genesis of the work (quoting wherever appropriate, Puccini's own remarks about it), its first production and early reception. A subsidiary aim of the book is to present the opinions, positive and negative, that have been expressed by various critics about the opera since its first production in 1900. There are contributions from the celebrated singer and producer of Tosca Tito Gobbi, and two other musicologists, Roger Parker and William Ashbrook. Malcolm Walker has provided a discography.

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