Tosca by Puccini, Dg. 14 Ag. 2016, De (2016/2016), Dirigit per Jakob Peters-Messer,, Director musical Joana Mallwitz, Domstufen, Erfurt, Germany

Puccini's fifth opera focuses on the tragic love affair between the singer Floria Tosca and her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi. The two help the politically persecuted Cesare Angelotti to escape and thus fall into the clutches of the notorious police chief Scarpia. From this constellation, a gripping drama about love and betrayal, state and church, murder and suicide develops against the historical background of the Napoleonic wars. "I'm thinking of Tosca . I implore you to take the necessary steps to obtain Sardou's permission,” wrote Giacomo Puccini in 1899 to friend and publisher Giulio Ricordi. "Because in this Tosca I see the opera that is tailor-made for me." Puccini had seen the play La Tosca (1887) by Victorien Sardou with the legendary Sarah Bernhardt in the title role and was fascinated by the material. Puccini and his librettists Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa worked on the opera version for four years. On January 14, 1900, Puccini's Tosca was performed with great success for the first time in the Teatro Costanzi in Rome.