PUCCINI, GIACOMO.   Term Paper ID:26902 Click to get this paper

Essay Subject: Life & career of 19th-20th Cent. Italian composer, focusing on plot & themes of opera "Tosca."... More...

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Paper Abstract: Life & career of 19th-20th Cent. Italian composer, focusing on plot & themes of opera "Tosca." Paper Introduction: INTRODUCTION The opera Tosca was based on a play written in 1887, La Tosca by Victorien Sardou, a play in five acts with more subplots than the opera. Arguably, the opera is an improvement over the complex play (Plotkin 207-208). However, the opera aroused more opposition than any of Puccini's works "by reason of its alleged coarseness and brutality" (Sadie, The New Grove Book of Operas 621), though at the same time, Tosca remains one of Giacomo Puccini's most popular operas. The libretto has a political plot, with the evil Scarpia on the side of the bourbons who were ruling Rome at the time, while the conspirators Angelotti and Mario support Napoleon, whom they hope will be successful and will free Rome from is oppressors. On one level, the opera is Text of the Paper: The entire text of the paper is shown below. However, the text is somewhat scrambled. We want to give you as much information as we possibly can about our papers and essays, but we cannot give them away for free. In the text below you will find that while disordered, many of the phrases are essentially intact. From this text you will be able to get a solid sense of the writing style, the concepts addressed, and the sources used in the research paper. What it lacks is theincandescent phrase, and this is probably why it has not entered the normalrepertory outside Italy (Sadie The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music). He received a scholarship and financial support from an uncleand so was able to enter the Milan Conservatory in 188 , where he remainedfor three years. Puccini and hislibrettist, Ferdinando Fontana, failed to win, but their opera Le villicame to the attention of the Giulio Ricordi, a publisher, who arranged asuccessful production at the Teatro del Verme in Milan and commissioned asecond opera. The family liveduntil 1921 in the house at Torre del Lago which Puccini had acquired in1891. While working on it, Puccini also began the composition ofIl tabarro, the first of three one-act operas performed as Il trittico.The three follow the scheme of the Parisian Grand Guignol, with the patternbeing a horrific episode, a sentimental tragedy (Suor Angelica), and acomedy or farce (Gianni Schicchi). The treatment seemedsuccessful, but Puccini's heart could not stand the strain and he died,leaving Turandot unfinished (Sadie The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music). The first act is set in the Church of Sant'Andrea dellaValle where Cesare Angelotti, Consul of the fallen "Repubblica Romana," hasescaped from the prisons in Castel Sant'Angelo and now seeks help in theChurch. TOSCA The libretto takes place in three acts. BIOGRAPHY Giacomo Puccini was born in Lucca on December 22, 1858 and died inBrussels on November 29, 1924. His chief teachers were Bazzini and Ponchielli. Some conventions are obvious, such as the drum rolls thataccompany the deaths of Scarpia and Cavaradossi. She arrives toexplain to him that the execution will be false and that they will then begiven safe passage. A court case established the girl's innocence, butthe publicity affected Puccini deeply and was the main reason for the longperiod before his next opera. This is a society which is verging on death and destruction because of theoppression brought by the Bourbons to a people who would rather be free todetermine their own lives. Opera 1 1. This opera achieved asuccess such as Puccini was never to repeat, and it made him known outsideItaly. However, Angelotti hides again when Tosca is heardarriving. Whilestill a student, Puccini entered a competition for a one-act opera in 1882,a competition held by the publishing firm of Sonzogno. He suspects that Cavaradossi is involved with Angelotti's escape.Tosca returns looking for mario. Because Puccini had differences with Tito Ricordi, head of the firmsince 1912, he accepted a commission for an operetta from the directors ofthe Vienna Karltheater. Mario Caravadossi is a painter andis working in the Church, painting a picture of Maria Maddalena thatresembles a mysterious devotee (actually Marchesa Attavanti). It is known that Napoleon has beensuccessful in one major battle, and this gives the impression that the tidehas shifted and that those who oppress rather than fitting into the societyof Rome and the culture of the people will be ejected. Toscahas to listen at Mario's cries while he is being tortured off-stage, andwhen she can no longer bear it, she reveals the place where Angelotti washidden. He brings guards to arrest Tosca, but she climbs the parapet andjumps from the platform of the castle and joins Mario in death. London: Macmillan, 1994.Sadie, Stanley. At the same moment, Spoletta arrives, having discovered Scarpia'smurder. Indeed, we knowfrom history that Napoleon was largely successful and that Italy would seea political change. Act II is set in the Farnese Palace where Scarpia is dining, makinghis plans. He considered Madama Butterfly the best andtechnically most advanced opera he had written. However,without her knowing, Scarpia orders a real execution. Michele, Lucca, and at other localchurches. Toscaarrives in answer to a note from Scarpia. That sameyear, Puccini visited London and saw David Belasco's one-act play MadamButterfly, and he took this as the basis for his next collaboration withIllica and Giacosa. Among the writers who worked on the libretto were Luigi Illica andGiuseppe Giacosa, who provided the libretti for Puccini's next threeoperas. He was thereforeunprepared for the fiasco attending its first performance in February 19 4when the audience treated the piece with great hostility. The nationalist wave inItaly was called the Risorgimento, or rebirth, and the movement of whichMario and Angelotti are a part can be seen as the beginning of this effort. Act III is set at the place of execution, the Castel Sant'Angelo, atdawn as Cavaradossi is taken from his cell to be executed. The New Grove Book of Operas. The result was La rondine, and though it waswarmly received at Monte Carlo in 1917, it is considered among Puccini'sweakest works. They do not live to see the reintegration of Italy, but others will. His sister, the Marchesa Attavanti, has hidden some clothes forhim in the Attavanti's Family Chapel. Scarpia is the representative ofthe Bourbons who enforces their decrees and does so through brutality andtorture, just as he uses these things against Angelotti and others in theopera, seeing any means as acceptable to achieve his ends. Martin's Press, 1996. Mario asks her not to speak, andSpoletta takes Mario to the torture chamber to force him to talk. Spoletta arrives with Cavaradossi, whom Spoletta has capturedin his villa. Works CitedGentry, Theodore L. Mario is taken away, and Tosca begsfor mercy from Scarpia. He saw a performance of Verdi's Aida at Pisa in 1876, and itmade such an impact on him that he decided pursue operatic composition ashis career. Scandal dogged Puccini beginning in 19 9 when Elvira accused aservant girl of having an intimate relationship with her husband, and thegirl committed suicide. The opera opens with a man who has escaped, andthe motif of escape from oppression is carried through the entire work.The central issue at the end is also escape, and this proves impossible solong as oppressors like Scarpia and Spoletto are able to run roughshod overthe rights of others. In a revisedversion, the opera was given to great acclaim at Brescia the following May(Sadie The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music). He first studied music with his uncle,Fortunato Magi, and with the director of the Istituto Musicale Pacini,Carlo Angeloni, and he then started his career at the age of 14 as anorganist at St. She isquite convinced until she recognizes Marchesa Attavanti in Maddalena'spainting. The opera did set what would be Puccini'slifelong association with the house of Ricordi (Sadie The Grove ConciseDictionary of Music). Others are more subtlebut nonetheless quite forceful in communicating dark drama (Gentry 59). The two plan their future together as the riflemenarrive. Scarpia questions him, but Mario refuses to speak. Martino and St. Tosca runs to Mario andcalls for him to stand up, but then she discovers the truth, that Mario isdead. Spoletta returns to report that Angelotti hascommitted suicide to avoid being captured, and Scarpia cruelly states thatCavaradossi will follow him to his grave. At that moment, however, comes news ofthe unexpected victory of Napoleon at Marengo. New York: Hyperion, 1994.Sadie, Stanley. While thecongregation is celebrating, Scarpia enters, the head of the Vatican'sPolice. Now in his early sixties, Puccini wanted to move in a new directionand so started work on Turandot It was based on a Gozzi play and satisfiedPuccini's desire for a subject with a fantastic, fairy-tale atmosphere butalso with flesh-and-blood characters. Therifleman stand at the ready and fire, then leave. The Italy we know today came into being only with thereunification of Italy in the nineteenth century. These emblems, easily recognized (althoughoften only subconsciously) by Western audiences, transmit tragic messagesefficiently. THEMES Theodore L. New York: St. The Sagrestano comes out to announce Napoleon's defeat. However, he offers Tosca a deal--the price to prevent Mario's death is that Tosca must became Scarpia'slover. Tosca would be Puccini's first excursioninto verismo, a new emphasis on realism, and was more enthusiasticallyreceived by the Roman audience at the Teatro Costanzi in 19 . She resists and hates the idea, but at last she must accept.Scarpia orders that Mario will be executed but that the rifles will fireblanks, after which the lovers will be given safe conduct. Puccini had by that time married Elvira Gemignani, the widow of aLucca merchant, who had borne him a son as early as 1896. This news reverses the moodin the room--Cavaradossi breaks out in a victory hymn, while the angryScarpia signs Mario's death warrant. The Grove Concise Dictionary of Music. "Musical Symbols of Death in Tosca." The Opera Quarterly (July 1, 1998), 59.Plotkin, Fred. INTRODUCTION The opera Tosca was based on a play written in 1887, La Tosca byVictorien Sardou, a play in five acts with more subplots than the opera.Arguably, the opera is an improvement over the complex play (Plotkin 2 7-2 8). In fact, she isfollowed by Scarpia's agent, Spoletta, because Scarpia plans to send Marioto the gallows and to force Tosca to become his lover. The last of the three has proved to bethe most enduring part of the triptych and is often performed without theothers, usually in a double bill (Sadie The Grove Concise Dictionary ofMusic). On onelevel, the opera is about the failure of processes of assimilation as theBourbons indeed ruled with an iron hand rather than trying to fit into thesocial or political structures of Rome. The first opera for which Puccini himself chose the subject was ManonLescaut, which was produced at Turin in 1893. It was while working on this piecethat Puccini moved to Viareggio and developed cancer of the throat. Thiswas in 1923, and he was treated at a Brussels clinic. The libretto has a political plot,with the evil Scarpia on the side of the bourbons who were ruling Rome atthe time, while the conspirators Angelotti and Mario support Napoleon, whomthey hope will be successful and will free Rome from is oppressors. When she demands that he explain, Mario refuses toanswer and calms the lady promising to meet her later that night. The first of these was La bohPme, widely considered Puccini'smasterpiece; however, it was not a success when produced at Turin in 1896,perhaps because of its mixture of lighthearted and sentimental scenes andits largely conversational style. There is a sense at the end, however, that the rule of the Bourbonsis not to be continued for long. Mario does manage to get her calmed enough to send her on herway, but in the meantime, Angelotti's escape has been discovered. Angelottisees Cavaradossi, an old friend and one who shares the same revolutionarypolitical ideals. The opera takes place inRome in June 18 . However, the opera aroused more opposition than any of Puccini'sworks "by reason of its alleged coarseness and brutality" (Sadie, The NewGrove Book of Operas 621), though at the same time, Tosca remains one ofGiacomo Puccini's most popular operas. Scarpia signs thesafe-conduct order and then tries to redeem his pledge with Tosca, but shetakes a knife from the table and kills him before running away, clutchingthe safe-conduct pas. Fontana's libretto for this second work, Edgar, was unsuitedto Puccini's dramatic talent, and the opera was poorly received at La Scalawhen performed in April 1889. That opera would be La fanciulla del West,based on another Belasco drama, and it premiered at the Metropolitan Opera,New York in December 191 : In all technical respects, notably its Debussian harmony andStraussian orchestration, it was a masterly reply to the criticism thatPuccini repeated himself in every new opera. She is a famous opera singer who is also in love with Mario.Tosca is also jealous and suspects that the whispers she heard could meanthat Mario has a lover. Tosca tells Mario to fall as son as he hears the first shot. Mariotherefore must promptly hide his friend in the Villa he owns outside thecity, and they leave to go there. Scarpia is fond of her and hates Mario,and he deliberately encourages her jealousy until Tosca runs out on her wayto Mario's villa, thinking to find him with the Marchesa. Cavaradossi is brought back in and is furious with Tosca forhaving revealed the hiding place. Gentry notes how this opera includes a number of musicalmotifs indicating doom and acting as harbingers of death from the beginningof the opera: Throughout the opera Puccini weaves musical symbols into thescore in order to suggest doom. If this paper is not what you are looking for, you can search again: Search for: or Click here to request an essay written just for you.