The opera takes place in Rome in June 1800. Sardou indicates more precise dates: day, evening of the 17th and early morning of the 18th of June. Italy has long been a number of independent cities and lands, in the center of the country was the Papal Region. In 1796, the French army under the command of Napoleon invaded Italy, in 1798 entered Rome and established a republic there. The republic was ruled by seven consuls; one of which, Libero Angelucci, could be the prototype of Cesare Angelotti. The French defending the republic in 1799 left Rome, which was occupied by the troops of the Kingdom of Naples. In May 1800, Napoleon again sent troops to Italy, and on June 14 his army met with the Austrian at the Battle of Marengo. The Commander-in-Chief of the Austrians Melas, being confident in his victory, sent a messenger to Rome, but Napoleon received reinforcements in the evening and managed to win, and Melas had to send a second messenger after the first. After these events, the Neapolitans left Rome, and the French captured the city for fourteen years.
Initially, the composer Alberto Franchetti obtained the rights to write the opera Tosca based on the Frenchman’s play of the same name, Victorien Sardou. But thanks to the efforts of the publisher Tito Ricordi, these powers passed to Giacomo Puccini, who in 1889 saw the production of this drama with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. The maestro began work in 1895 together with the librettists Luigi Illiki and Giuseppe Giacosa during a short break in work on the score of Bohemia. “Puccini perfectly understood the value of the drama of Sardou – the rapid progress of its development and extraordinary expressiveness. He sharply objected when the librettist Illika wanted to put a long farewell speech into the mouth of the tenor, and instead wrote a short, but highly expressive and emotional aria “E lucevan le stelle” (“Stars burned in the sky”), ”writes musicologist Heinrich W. Simon. At the same time, the composer removed from the plot of the play minor details and accelerated the action as much as possible. The image of the main character underwent changes. If Sardo Floria Tosca is a diva who considers her love for a freethinking artist to be a sin, then Puccini has a talented singer and patriot of Italy. The premiere of “Tosca” took place in 1900 in the Roman theater “Constance” (in the title role – Romanian Harikley Darkle). In the same year, December 15, the opera was first presented in Odessa, on the stage of the City Theater. Floria Toscu was sung by Ms. Mendiorots, Mario Caravadossi – Giovani the Apostle. “Puccini tried to introduce action into the sound, light, color and moral atmosphere of Rome at the beginning of the 19th century. A friend of the composer Don Panicelli helped him recreate the authentic sound of the bells in the vicinity of Sant’Angelo Castle. And a resident of Lucca and also a friend of the composer Alfredo Vandini told him verses of an old folk song (shepherd’s song), ”writes musicologist Gustavo Marquezi. His colleague Abram Gosenpood adds: “Puccini’s music gave flesh and blood to Sardou’s melodramatic figures. Passionate, impetuous, indomitable Tosca, noble, courageous, romantically dreamy Cavaradossi, evil, treacherous and cruel Scarpia – three bright images expressively embodied in the music. ” However, at first the opera was received without enthusiasm. Some critics have pointed out that the play is too dramatic to serve as an ideal libretto. Composer Pietro Mascagni said: “I was a victim of bad libretto. Puccini fell victim to too good. ” However, Sardou’s play has long died, and Puccini’s opera continues to live on the stages of all the opera houses of the world for more than a hundred years after the premiere, after more than three thou
