La Tosca

La Tosca is a five-act drama by the 19th-century French playwright Victorien Sardou. It was first performed on 24 November 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. Despite negative reviews from the Paris critics at the opening night, it became one of Sardou's most successful plays and was toured by Bernhardt throughout the world in the years following its premiere. The play itself is no longer performed, but its operatic adaptation, Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, has achieved enduring popularity. There have been several other adaptations of the play including two for the Japanese theatre and an English burlesque, Tra-La-La Tosca (all of which premiered in the 1890s) as well as several film versions.

La Tosca is set in Rome on 17 June 1800 following the French victory in the Battle of Marengo. The action takes place over an eighteen-hour period, ending at dawn on 18 June 1800. Its melodramatic plot centers on Floria Tosca, a celebrated opera singer; her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, an artist and Bonapartist sympathiser; and Baron Scarpia, Rome's ruthless Regent of Police. By the end of the play, all three are dead. Scarpia arrests Cavaradossi and sentences him to death in the Castel Sant'Angelo. He then offers to spare her lover if Tosca will sleep with him. She appears to acquiesce, but as soon as Scarpia gives the order for the firing squad to use blanks, she stabs him to death. On discovering that Cavaradossi's execution had in fact been a real one, Tosca commits suicide by throwing herself from the castle's parapets.

La Tosca (film)

La Tosca (also known as Tosca) is a 1973 Italian comedy-drama film written and directed by Luigi Magni. It is loosely based on the drama with the same name by Victorien Sardou, reinterpreted in an ironic-grotesque style.

Plot

Rome, 14 June 1800. Napoleon's army threatens to conquer Italy, including the Papal States. Rome is reeking with corruption, especially among the clergy, determined to retain their privileges based on the exploitation of the poor ignorant people.

The fugitive patriot Cesare Angelotti, escaped from Castel Sant'Angelo, is sheltered by painter Mario Cavaradossi. Baron Scarpia, regent of the Pontifical Police, hunts him down by duping Floria Tosca, Cavaradossi's mistress, into thinking that her lover is cheating on her. The woman, trailed by Scarpia, heads for Cavaradossi's house, hoping to catch him in the act, but finds him instead in Angelotti's company. Realizing she's been deceived, Tosca tries her best to save her lover, but it is too late. Scarpia reaches the house and surprises Angelotti, who commits suicide rather than being taken in.

La Tosca (1918 film)

La Tosca is a 1918 American drama silent film directed by Edward José and written by Charles E. Whittaker after the play La Tosca by Victorien Sardou. The film stars Pauline Frederick, Frank Losee, Jules Raucourt, Henry Hebert and W.H. Forestelle. The film was released on March 25, 1918, by Paramount Pictures.

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Tosca

Tosca (Italian pronunciation: [ˈtoska; ˈtɔska]) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, La Tosca, is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias.

Puccini saw Sardou's play when it was touring Italy in 1889 and, after some vacillation, obtained the rights to turn the work into an opera in 1895. Turning the wordy French play into a succinct Italian opera took four years, during which the composer repeatedly argued with his librettists and publisher. Tosca premiered at a time of unrest in Rome, and its first performance was delayed for a day for fear of disturbances. Despite indifferent reviews from the critics, the opera was an immediate success with the public.

Tosca (band)

Tosca is an electronic music project of Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber formed 1994 in Vienna. It is Dorfmeister's second such project, the first being Kruder & Dorfmeister. Tosca's first album, Opera, was released in 1997 by G-Stone Recordings.

History

Richard Dorfmeister and Rupert Huber first met in school, and began experimenting with tape machines, Indian music, and poetry lyrics, under the name of Dehli9. After school, Dorfmeister and Huber went their separate ways: Dorfmeister began producing and DJing with Peter Kruder, and Huber worked in the experimental music scene. His compositions were featured by Wiener Festwochen (Private Exile, 2004), Centre Pompidou (Sonic Process, 2002) and Ars Electronica (Radiotopia, 2002) as well as in TV series (C.S.I.: Miami, Sex and the City) and radio (signations for the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company).

In 1994, Dorfmeister and Huber released their first 12", entitled "Chocolate Elvis", on Kruder and Dorfmeister's G-Stone label. A string of critically acclaimed albums and remix collections followed - Opera (1996), Suzuki (1999), Dehli9 (2003) J.A.C. (2005) and No Hassle (2009) are considered milestones of the downtempo genre. The musical trademark of Tosca is a cheerful laid-back feel that emanate a warm, and occasionally melancholic atmosphere. The music of Tosca is played in clubs and living rooms, boutiques and wineries alike.

Tosca (film)

Tosca is a 2001 French drama film directed by Benoît Jacquot based on the opera by Giacomo Puccini.

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