Class 9: The Puccini Persuasion

A. Sant’Andrea della Valle

1. Title Slide 1 (San Francisco Opera)

I thought “The Power of Puccini” and advertised “The Impact of Puccini,” but have come to realize that both titles are wrong. For all his melodrama, Puccini does not hit you over the head; he sucks you in. Even those of us who steel ourselves to resist get inevitably drawn into his web; tears come to the eyes; we are lost. So “The Puccini Persuasion.”

2. Puccini posters

Once more, I shall devote this class to a single opera, Tosca (1900), the third great success of Giacomo Puccini (1858–1924), after Manon Lescaut and La Bohème. I have played parts of it before in other classes, I know, but then I have played a lot of Puccini, and could hardly leave him out on those grounds. My main focus, however, is going to be on the third act, which I have hardly touched before but shall play complete in our second hour. In this first act, I will offer three excerpts from Act I, only one of which I have shown before, and two from Act II, which are justifiably familiar.

3. The Roman settings of Tosca

By the time Puccini was writing, Italian opera had been taken over by the verismo, or ultra- realist movement, launched by Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana in 1890. I will point out some musical fingerprints as we go, but Puccini was not in every respect a verismo composer; this opera, at least, is certainly not about common people. But he certainly follows the verismo prescription for violent action; with torture, murder, execution, and near-rape, this is not PG-13 material. And he—or rather the writer Victorien Sardou (1831–1908), on whose play the opera is based—was fanatical about accuracy of detail. The setting is Rome in June 1800, a police state under Neapolitan rule. The three acts, morning, evening, and the following dawn, are set in three real Roman landmarks: the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the Palazzo Farnese, and the Castel Sant’Angelo. Furthermore, I am going to use a 1992 film by the director Giuseppe Patroni Griffi, who films each scene in the actual location and exact time of day specified in the score.

4. Tosca scene breakdown

Here is a rough breakdown of the action. In Act I, I will start with the tenor aria “Recondita armonia,” sung by the painter and revolutionary Mario Cavaradossi, and then skip ahead about two minutes to the love scene between him and the opera singer Floria Tosca. I then cut to the end, for the aria by the corrupt police chief, the Baron Scarpia, who sings of his lust while the church is filling for a service; this I have certainly shown before. The main thing I need to play

— 1 — from Act II is Tosca’s murder of Scarpia at the end of it, but if time I’ll also throw in her aria, “Vissi d’arte.” Act III will be complete.

5. Act I title 6. Plácido Domingo as Mario Cavaradossi

I won’t say too much about the aria, since I just want you to get the general style into your head. Cavaradossi is comparing the unknown blonde worshipper he has been using as a model for Mary Magdalene against the dark beauty of his own lover, Tosca. You will hear a theme that will be associated with their love. But most interesting to me is the fact that this aria, which is always performed in concert by the tenor alone, is in fact a scene involving the Sacristan as well. You can hear his muttered complaints between Cavaradossi’s lines. More wonderfully, the orchestra goes on playing almost the whole aria again as a background for the Sacristan after the tenor has finished. Puccini has a special genius for codas, almost never leaving a piece high and dry after the climax has passed. I’ll play first the love theme, and then the whole aria.

7. Cavaradossi’s love theme 8. Puccini: Tosca, Act I. “Recondita armonia” 9. Catherine Malfitano as Tosca

I have to skip the short scene in which Cavaradossi helps an escaped political prisoner who has taken refuge in the church, though it is the start of the political plot that will result in his own arrest and execution. I’ll pick it up at the entrance of Tosca.

10. — the above, with duet breakdown 11. — the above, with musical examples

Long ago, when I could not afford complete operas, I bought this scene on a disk with Maria Callas and Giuseppe di Stefano entitled “Great Love Duets.” But the strange thing is how seldom they actually sing together. Much of the scene, as you will see, is more or less recitative in which Tosca expresses her jealousy of the woman whom Cavaradossi painted as the Magdalene. There are, however four distinct sections where the composer takes control of the clock; I have recorded them on a short video: 1. The opening, in which the lovers are still exchanging dialogue, but the orchestra maintains a continuous flow, developing the pure tune for flutes and harps that is always associated with Tosca, and will become the basis for her Act II aria. 2. Her arietta, “Non la sospiri la nostra casetta,” in which Tosca cajoles Cavaradossi into a date at her country cottage, not understanding his hesitation, since he has told Angelotti to hide there. Note the little cadential phrase used for punctuation between the verses. And especially the little ornament with which it begins; many of the themes we shall hear today contain similar ornaments. And note especially that though Tosca rises to a climax, it is Cavaradossi who sings it.

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3. Cavaradossi’s even shorter arietta, “Qual’occhio al mondo,” in praise of her eyes. This sounds like a new melody, but it is really her tune again, sung in a different rhythm. I’ll demonstrate. 4. Another long lyrical passage for the orchestra, picking up on that Love Theme from Cavaradossi’s aria. The singers now sing along with the tune in phrases which eventually overlap, until finally they are singing together!

12. Puccini: Tosca, Act I. Love duet 13. Wagner and Puccini

Two weeks ago, I did a class called “The Wagner Orchestra,” making the point that the orchestra in Wagner was responsible for maintaining the continuity, and was at least as important as any of the singers. Here we have Puccini apparently doing the same thing—and there is no doubt he was influenced by Wagner—but what is the difference between them? Wagner’s orchestra always remains instrumental, but Puccini’s sings songs. In scenes like the one we’ve just heard, he gives the orchestra long melodies that could as easily be sung. This enables him to keep the voices more natural, until finally they pick up the tune too and blaze out. He is a more vocal composer than Wagner, because the singing quality starts with the orchestra. Many, many of his arias begin with the singer almost in monotone, only picking up the melody at the end. We will hear one of these from Cavaradossi in Act III, but there is a striking example in the last minutes of this act, as Scarpia sets his sights on Tosca.

14. Ruggero Raimondi as Scarpia

Entering the church in pursuit of Angelotti, Scarpia finds evidence that he has been there, and suspects Cavaradossi of having helped him. By making Tosca believe that her lover is betraying her with the blonde woman in the picture, he learns about their little love nest. Tosca leaves, distraught. Ordering his henchmen to follow her, Scarpia rejoices in anticipation of taking Tosca and arresting her lover both on the same night, as the church fills for a solemn Te Deum.

15. Scarpia aria demo 1

Musically, the entire scene is held together by two deep bell tones, B-flat and F, tolling without pause to the end of the act. Over it, the orchestra plays snatches of melody, sometimes in the key, sometimes out of it, building to the choral Te Deum. This gives the scene both scale and a sense of inevitability. Scarpia’s voice-over starts on a monotone, and for a long time you could not call this an aria. But then, as he picks up these melodic fragments and makes them his own, it absolutely is. One final point. The act ends as it had begun, with a sequence of three chords, always associated with Scarpia’s evil. A Leitmotif, if you will. I am demonstrating it from a wind- band arrangement by Johan de Meij.

16. Scarpia aria demo 2 17. Puccini: Tosca, Act I. Scarpia aria

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B. Palazzo Farnese

18. Act II title

In Act II, Scarpia has had Tosca brought to his rooms in the Palazzo Farnese, after her concert below. He has already arrested Cavaradossi, and is having him tortured in the room next door, so that his screams come through the walls. He makes it clear to Tosca that the price for his release will be her body. Her famous aria, “Vissi d’arte” (I have lived for art), asks God for why He repays her good works in such a way. After the first two lines of music, Puccini takes up the pure theme of her first entrance, where she came to lay flowers on the altar. It is a marvelous example of how he can lay down a melody in the orchestra that will be taken up by the voice only much later.

19. Puccini: Tosca, Act II. “Vissi d’Arte” 20. Malfitano and Raimondi

Tosca agrees. Scarpia says that, for the sake of appearances, Cavaradossi must still go before a firing squad—but with blank bullets, “just like we did with Palmieri” as he explains to his henchman. In hindsight, we can see that is code; Palmieri must really have been shot. But Tosca believes him. Her one remaining condition is that Scarpia write them both a note of safe- passage. As he is doing so, she notices a knife on the supper table, and when he comes to take her, she stabs him.

21. Themes in the Act II finale (slide)

The picture is from a different production, but it gives me room for my captions. In this final scene, there is no occasion for arias. Much of it, actually, is business: Scarpia writing the note, Tosca noticing the knife, and concealing it. And more business after the murder: Tosca cleaning herself up, looking for the note and not finding it, making a clear exit—but not before giving Scarpia some kind of last rites; she is a religious woman. Another composer might have kept the music pretty much in the background, but not Puccini. He writes a completely new tune, a kind of slow march, steady but with emotional outbursts, and plays this twice: once before the murder and once after. There is also the theme of Scarpia’s lust, and if you listen closely, a snatch of Cavaradossi’s Act I arietta. The scene ends with very quiet repetitions of the Scarpia chords, until an offstage side-drum reminds Tosca that she had better get out of there. I have made a little video to preview the themes, after which we’ll watch the scene.

22. Themes in the Act II finale (audio) 23. Puccini: Tosca, Act II finale 24. Class title 2 (Tosca after the murder)

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C. Castel Sant’Angelo

25. Act III title

The third act is 26 minutes long, and I shall play it complete and without interruption; one of Puccini’s skills is the careful proportion of his larger structures. But I’ll say a few words first.

26. Sections in Act Three

The act has four sections, roughly equal in length: a prelude without any onstage singing at all, a scene for Cavaradossi that includes his aria “E lucevan le stelle,” the duet scene between him and Tosca, and the finale with his supposedly-faked execution.

27. Castel Sant’Angelo around 1800

Why so much time given to a prelude where almost nothing happens? It is a verismo fingerprint. Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana, the first verismo opera, opens with a prelude of similar length, showing this little Sicilian town waking up on Easter morning. I would imagine that the area around the Castel Sant’Angelo was getting built up even in 1900, but look at these two pictures that straddle the year in which Tosca is set, 1800. While the city is built up on the opposite side of the river and beyond, the area around the fortress is a sheep meadow. After the grandeur of Sant’Andrea della Valle and the horrors in the Palazzo Farnese, I think Puccini was just glad to get back to the simplicity of ordinary people and the open air. After its striking opening, the prelude has to do with the breaking dawn, the song of a shepher boy below, the ringing of church bells in the distance, and the guards of the prison beginning what for them is like any other day. There is a normalcy about the atmosphere that comes as a great relief. I’ll continue with a few examples at the piano; I edited the video a bit to remove the more egregious wrong notes, so please excuse the obvious splices.

28. Musical themes in Act III (piano demonstration) 29. Sections in Act Three

These are the pages I intend to cover at the piano: 273. Opening declamation in unison brass. It will call the audience to attention before the quiet music begins. Also, Puccini will need the tune for the climax of the duet later, and doesn't want it to come out of nowhere. 274. Clear sky, studded with stars. Just as he had done with Scarpia’s aria, Puccini lays down a stable bass, against which he sets a cacade of parallel chords. This is a no-no in classical harmony, where chords create a strong movement from tension to resolution. Puccini does this too, but in passages like this, which are already anchored by the bass, he treats the score as a blank canvas onto which he can daub any harmony he wants, because he likes the colors. 276. Shepherd’s song, with full voice but very far away. Puccini uses a mezzo-soprano, but singing coarsely, as if to sound like a boy. He also puts one “wrong note” into each phrase to make it sound less sophisticated, and more natural.

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279. Church bells. Puccini has different bells coming in at different speeds and at different times, not necessarily in the same key as one another: B, D, G, Bb, C, F, Ab, E. 282. Fragments of tune begin to emerge against the bells, but this is the first sustained one. Some of you will recognize it as the theme of Cavaradossi’s aria “E lucevan le stelle” (And the stars were shining). True to a pattern we have seen before, Puccini plays this three times, and only in the last of these does it become vocal. This first appearance is well before the aria itself, a preview. 287. Here is the beginning of the aria. Cavaradossi has been given a pen and paper, and begins to write to Tosca, sharing his memories of the first time they made love. The orchestra plays the entire tune for the second time, but Cavaradossi’s words are all monotone, a single pitch for each phrase. But when he sings along with the orchestra the third time around, the effect is marvelous. 292. Tosca arrives with Scarpia’s safe-conduct note, and explains what happened. All the music of the second act comes back as she recounts Scarpia’s bargain and her revenge; I needn’t play it. She feels soiled, and is revolted by the entire episode. 302. So Cavaradossi calms her with a little arioso about her hands, “O dolci mani, mansuete e pure” (O sweet hands, gentle and pure). It has much the same function as the arioso about her eyes in the Act I duet. 305. Now we get a simple tune that plays under the dialogue as Tosca explains the arrangements for the fake execution. It is quite simple, but in the context of what we know or suspect, powerfully ironic. 308. I always ask myself whether Tosca and Cavaradossi really believe in the happy ending; my conclusion is that Tosca does but Cavaradossi probably doesn’t. At any rate, a duet section begins here that has a barcarolle effect, of a boat rocking gently in the water. Here is how it begins… 314. …and here is how it ends, with Tosca’s vision of how it will be when they finally do both die, united in the heavens like little clouds in the setting sun: “nuvole leggere,” again that little turn figure. 319. After Tosca, the actress, gives Cavaradossi some instructions on how to die convincingly, their duet will end with the same tune we heard from the brass at the beginning; probably no need to play it. 323. Now the firing squad enters, and Puccini has one last of those sinister little marches.

30. Puccini: Tosca, Act III complete 31. Class title 3 (Tosca’s suicide)

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