Sardou wrote the play La Tosca for Sarah Bernhardt in 1887. Puccini was drawn to the subject even while still at work on La Boheme (1896). Tosca came out in 1900 in Rome when Puccini was 41. 

 

This opera in three acts is about Floria Tosca and Mario Cavaradossi are in love and all they want is to be left alone. Baron Scarpia, however, wants Floria for his physical needs. He arrests Mario for aiding a fugitive and tells Tosca she can save him by giving herself to him. She agrees, but the kiss he has so longed for is the fatal kiss of a knife blade. He had promised to set up a false execution for Mario, but the treachery of Scarpia is revealed as Mario is killed. Tosca vows to meet Scarpia in front of God as she leaps over the side of the building to her death. 

 

This historic, mono version of Puccini's Tosca was recorded at the Teatro alla Scala in 1953, featuring soprano Maria Meneghini Callas and tenor Giuseppe Di Stefano and The Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala Opera House, Milan conducted by Victor De Sabata. 

 

This is one of the most justly revered operatic recordings ever made -- a dramatic and musical gold standard for Tosca despite its advancing age and monophonic sound. It was the last major recording project for Victor de Sabata, one of opera's greatest, yet least often recorded conductors. He brought a distinctive rhythmic urgency to this performance that you can hear from the very first bars, and he wove the vocal and orchestral textures together so organically that they still sound vivid today. He deserves a lot of the credit for making this one of the rare studio recordings that captures the energy and dramatic tension of a live performance. Maria Callas is at the top of her game, and still very much in her vocal prime. Her dramatic approach to Tosca is arguably even better captured in the live recordings from Covent Garden a decade later, but at that point her voice had lost some of its bloom; depending on your tastes, this may be the better example of her doing the role. Tito Gobbi owned the role of Scarpia, and considered it his finest characterization. Although he and Callas wouldn't perform the opera together on-stage for another 10 years, the chemistry and tension they brought to those later live performances are already in evidence here, as if they have done these roles together many times. The excitement of the second act is electric. And Giuseppe di Stefano still sounds youthful and fresh, not yet vocally worn from years of heavy singing. He makes the perfect partner for Callas, bringing an optimistic passion to the opening scene that sets off her more complicated persona. His final "E lucevan le stelle" is truly heartbreaking.

 

 

Puccini (1858-1924) - Tosca

Opera in three acts

 

Floria Tosca - Maria Meneghini Callas (soprano)

Mario Cavaradossi - Giuseppe di Stefano (tenor)

Scarpia - Tito Gobbi (baritone)

Cesare Angelotti - Franoc Calabrese (bass)

Spoletta - Angelo Mercuriali (tenor)

Shepherd-Boy - Alvaro Cordova (boy-soprano)

Sciarrone & A Gaoler - Dario Caselli (bass)

A Sacristan - Melchiorre Luise (bass)

 

Orchestra and Chorus of La Scala Opera House, Milan

Conducted by Victor de Sabata

Chorus Master: Vittore Veneziani

(Recorded in co-operation with the "E. A. Teatro alla Scala", Milan)

 

SIDE 1

Act 1 (Part 1)

 

SIDE 2

Band 1 - Act 1 (Conclusion)

Band 2 - Act 2 (Part 1)

 

SIDE 3

Act 2 (Conclusion)

 

SIDE 4

Act 3