TOSCA - end of the opera (Act III)

From the Bel Canto Opera production, set during the Nazi occupation of Rome, 1944.

TOSCA: Where's the firing squad? Mario.. remember, when they have fired the blanks you must fall over.
CAVARADOSSI Not to worry. I will be so convincing they'll believe they've killed me.
TOSCA But do be careful  you must break your fall. We actors know how to...
it's a technique I'll show you
CAVARADOSSI Show me instead how you kiss when we're parting,
Show me instead how you crave my loving.
TOSCA I promise we'll have time for showing affection when we're out of danger,
when we're safely in Naples, we're forever together all of our lives.
CAVARADOSSI We're forever together all of our lives.
BOTH: Just we two, following destiny, starting anew,
rejoicing in hopes and dreams come true
Until death, never apart. Love... binding our lives...
binding us heart with heart
TOSCA Let Tosca seal your eyes with sweetest kisses,
and call you mon amour a thousand times.
COMMANDANT: Time's up.
CAVARADOSSI I'm ready.
TOSCA Now remember...when you hear gunshot....drop...
CAVARADOSSI ...dead!
TOSCA Hold your breath, and do not move a muscle!
CAVARADOSSI Yes, my darling.
TOSCA And fall correctly
CAVARADOSSI Just like Tosca as Carmen
TOSCA Be serious!
CAVARADOSSI Like this?
TOSCA Don't mock!
FIRING SQUAD ENTER
(to herself) What a tedious ritual. I can't bear the delay. Already daylight...
Why on earth are they waiting? It's just a ritual. A sham. But still it makes me feel uneasy.
(sotto voce) Hurry! We've got to get going. You look wonderful, Mario.
FIRING SQUAD FIRES
TOSCA Now...fall down. What a performance!
(To Mario's body) It's all clear. Come on, Mario. Get up! Let's go! Up! Up!
Mario, Mario....ah! Dead. dead! Murdered!
They've tricked us. Mario! No...Don't go! Don't leave me like this! Don't leave me like this!
Cold...lifeless...dead. Mario....how can I live without you? Mario. Mario.
SCIARRONE (off)
The Colonel's been murdered!
KAPPLER
The assassin was Tosca!
SOLDIERS
Someone stop her.
SCIARRONE & KAPPLER Seal off every means of her escaping
SCIARRONE She's there!
KAPPLER Ah, Tosca, you'll pay dearly for the life of Scarpia
TOSCA
With my own life! May Scarpia repent in Hell!!
(She jumps to her death)

words©Tom Boyd

Category:

Music

Tags:

• bel
• canto
• opera
• tosca
• puccini
• cavaradossi
• black
• fordham
• boyd

[MrTanguerodeley]

Que notable; los soldados alemanes desfilan como soviéticos...

[hughdrover]

@MrTanguerodeley The military goose step style of marching called 'Stechschrit' originated in Prussia, and was used for ceremonial marching in Nazi Germany. The Russians copied the goose step and the Soviet Union and other Communist countries retained it after Nazi Germany's defeat. The East Germans abandoned the goose step after unification in 1990.

[MickaelBest]

in english?...what a shame...our poor italian patrimony...

[hughdrover]

NB Tosca was originally in French before Illica and Giacosa adapted it for the Italian libretto. The value of Tosca (which was dismissed as "a shabby little shocker") is in the glorious music of Puccini, not in the libretto. With the music intact, your Italian heritage would remain unscathed if it was sung in Swahili.

[WWWjuandiegoflorezIT]

Could you tell me please the name of singers?

[hughdrover]

The principal singers' names are on the rolling credits at the end of the clip. TOSCA - Sue Black; CAVARADOSSI - Cato Fordham.

[jetsetjordan]

great vidio. in english, interesting. I'm not sure if these voices are big enough for tosca.

[Rinoa10ita]

Ok, you're right... but I think also that the libretto, such as the music, should remain in its original form. When Puccini composed Tosca, he created music taking into consideration Italian words, which their syllables and accents. Translating the libretto, I think that the value of the opera decreases...

I'm Italian and I think the same thing about those wonderful musicals (for example The Phantom of the Opera and Jesus Christ Superstar), roughly translated in Italian... disgusting!

[elcritico21]

Pero por qué en ingles, la ambientacion en la ocupacion nazzi me parece excelente, pero el idioma es lo que no me gusta, deberia de ser a de ser en italiano.

[RoundenBrown]

Interesting, a modern adaptation.

[davidjohncooke1]

This isn't the best version of Tosca I've seen but it certainly gets marks for originality. It all looks very cramped, though...

[Rinoa10ita]

Very interesting this new setting, during the Nazi occupation of Rome in 1944!