Tosca

Giacomo Puccini

In Italian with German and English surtitles

Melodramma in three acts · libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica based on the play “La Tosca” by Victorien Sardou · semi-staged production

Synopsis

A political thriller filled with suspense from the first to the last measure: A painter, a famous singer and the powerful police chief of Rome passionately chase each other through a jungle of love, faith, betrayal and murder.

The singer Tosca loves the painter Cavaradossi, who has helped the former Republican consul Angelotti to escape and has thus made an enemy of the equally powerful and sadistic police chief Scarpia. Scarpia confronts Tosca with an impossible choice that is her only chance to save Cavaradossi. She surpasses herself, but Scarpia is even cleverer in his scheming …

Inspired by Victorien Sardou’s play of the same name, Puccini created a masterpiece that is remarkable for its multi-layered characters, in terms of both psychology and music. Puccini’s “Tosca” is more scenic in its composition than most operas. In keeping with the style of verismo, the work does not focus on mythological figures or royal love stories but rather on real settings, everyday milieus and human depravity.

Accompanied by Puccini’s music, the graphic artist Thomas Wizany creates images for the semi-staged production at the Great Festival Hall that are intended to creatively enrich the audience’s musical enjoyment and to stimulate their imagination in a powerful manner.

Puccini’s (1858–1924) opera thriller saw its world premiere in Rome in 1900 and is considered a prime example of verismo, a style that revolutionised Italian opera between 1890 and 1920. Puccini had a profound impact on music history with his dramatic and deeply emotional works. His operas combine gripping plots and memorable melodies with innovative orchestral techniques.

Together with the Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra and the opera ensemble, Carlo Benedetto Cimento, Principal Conductor at the Salzburg State Theatre, presents Puccini’s masterpiece at the Great Festival Hall in a semi-staged production that makes it possible to focus on the manifold layers of music in great concentration. The production is directed and designed by Thomas Mika, supported by drawings by Thomas Wizany.