Tosca in Full Score (Dover Opera Scores) - Softcover

Puccini, Giacomo

Softcover

ISBN 10: 048626937X ISBN 13: 9780486269375

Publisher: Dover Publications, 1992

Synopsis

When Giacomo Puccini saw Sarah Bernhardt in a production of La Tosca by French playwright Victorien Sardou, he knew immediately that its highly dramatic plot, turning on lust, revenge, and betrayal, was made for opera. When he heard that Verdi was interested in the play, his own interest in the property deepened. It was Puccini alone who ultimately brought the project to fruition and transformed Sardou's work into an operatic tour de force.
Tosca, with a libretto by Giuseppe Giacosa and Luigi Illica, was first presented in Rome at the Teatro Costanzi in January 1900. Since then, audiences drawn by its intense drama (Puccini himself referred to it as a melodrama), sumptuous scoring, and two of opera's most famous arias ―Tosca's "Vissi d'arte" and Cavaradossi's "E lucevan le stelle" ― have made Tosca one of the most performed and recorded operas of all time. This finely made edition is reprinted from the authoritative full-score edition printed shortly after the opera's premiere.

About this title

Review:

Here is one of Puccini's greatest hits, in an affordable version for complete orchestra. This story of love, art and death in Rome during the Napoleonic wars is today considered a classic for such arias as "Vissi d'arte" (I lived for art; I lived for love), but at its premiere in 1900 it was denounced as "a shabby little shocker," for things like Baron Scarpia's lechery and Tosca's termination of him with extreme prejudice. Be aware that Dover's scores are reprints from other companies that are now out of copyright; that means that they're older versions, and lack such amenities as English translations.

From the Back Cover:

In this book you will find:

• The complete opera on two CDs featuring Renata Scotto, Plácido Domingo, Renato Brunson, and James Levine conducting the Philharmonia Orchestra.
• The full libretto in its original language and in the English translation annotated with running commentary on the accompanying music.
• An exciting history of the opera and the composer, a synopsis of the story of the opera broken down by act and scene, and biographical information on the performers.
• Dozens of photographs and drawings depicting performances, singers, stage sets, and more.

Listen. Enjoy. Learn!

About this edition

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Publication date: 1992
• ISBN 10: 048626937X
• ISBN 13: 9780486269375
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 436