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feb. 21, 23, 26 classical series SEGERSTROM CENTER FOR THE ARTS renée and henry segerstrom concert hall concerts begin at 8 p.m. preview talk with alan chapman begins at 7 p.m. presents 2012-2013 HAL & JEANETTE SEGERSTROM FAMILY FOUNDATION CLASSICAL SERIES Carl St.Clair, conductor | Eric Einhorn, director Pacific Chorale — John Alexander, artistic director Robert M. Istad, assistant conductor and chorusmaster Southern California Children’s Chorus — Lori Loftus, director Tosca giacomo puccini (1858-1924) libretto by luigi illica and giuseppe giacosa act i: the church of sant’andrea della valle INTERMISSION act ii: palazzo farnese act iii: the platform of the castel sant’angelo CAST tosca Claire rutter, soprano cavaradossi Brian Jagde, tenor scarpia George gagnidze, baritone angelotti Ryan kuster, bass-baritone spoletta Dennis petersen, tenor sacristan Michael gallup, bass sciarrone Ralph cato, baritone Jailer Emmanuel miranda, baritone Kathy Pryzgoda, lighting designer Julia Noulin-Merat, scenic designer Paul DiPierro, digital media designer PACIFIC SYMPHONY PROUDLY RECOGNIZES ITS OFFICIAL PARTNERS official airline official hotel official television station pacific symphony broadcasts are made possible by a generous grant from the saturday, feb. 23, performance is broadcast live on kusc, the official classical radio station of pacific symphony. the simultaneous streaming of this broadcast over the internet at kusc.org is made possible by the generosity of the musicians of pacific symphony. pacific symphony gratefully acknowledges the support of its 12,500 subscribing patrons. thank you! Pacific Symphony • 5 notes by michael clive the title role over 3,000 times. closer to our own day, the 20th- century diva maria callas was equally legendary as floria tosca, and scarpia’s epithet for tosca — la divina — became the affectionate italian nickname for callas. The Story of the Opera Act I. the church of sant’ andrea della valle. cesare angelotti rushes in breathlessly; an escaped political prisoner, he is looking for a hiding place and ducks into his family chapel. an old sacristan and the painter mario cavaradossi enter, both unaware of angelotti’s presence. cavaradossi contemplates a miniature of his lover, the raven- haired floria tosca, comparing her beauty to that of the model for CCINI his blonde magdalene — angelotti’s sister, the marchesa attavanti. (“recondita armonia.”) after the sacristan grumblingly finishes his chores, angelotti emerges. mario gives his friend food and hurries him PU back into the chapel as tosca calls from outside and then enters the church, her jealousies aroused. no sooner has cavaradossi calmed her and she completed her prayers than she recognizes the marchesa in the painting and renews her accusations, but he again reassures her. (“Qual’ occhio al mondo.”) she leaves, and cavaradossi signals his IACOMO friend to leave the chapel. a cannon signals the alarm for angelotti’s G (1858-1924) escape, prompting the two to leave for cavaradossi’s villa. choirboys and the sacristan enter the church, excitedly preparing for a te deum Prepare to be swept away. to be performed later that day, but their gaiety is suddenly squelched ven if you’ve never had the thrill of seeing it in live by the entrance of the terrifying baron scarpia, the chief of police, performance before tonight, you already know much about looking for angelotti. When tosca returns looking for cavaradossi, E Tosca. its principal characters have become paradigms scarpia — who secretly desires her — inflames her jealousy by of romance. floria tosca is the charismatic diva, beautiful but showing her the marchesa’s fan. she departs in a fury, leaving vulnerable, victim of her own jealousy. her lover, mario cavaradossi, scarpia to mull his scheme for entrapping both tosca and angelotti is the hunky artist, virile yet sensitive. their antagonist is one of by exploiting the diva’s jealous nature. oblivious to the te deum now the greatest of all stage villains — baron scarpia, the corrupt, in rehearsal, he becomes increasingly excited until he remembers he is aristocratic police chief who ruthlessly wields power for his own in church, exclaiming “tosca, you have made me forget god!” (“va, gratification. tosca.”) all the essentials of great melodrama are here: sex, violence and Act II. in his elegant offices in the farnese palace, scarpia muses political intrigue. Tosca is set in rome in 1800, with europe in turmoil on his pleasure in dominating tosca. (“ha piu forte sapore.”) his and italy longing for national unification. the action takes place in lieutenant spoletta arrives after unsuccessfully searching for angelotti, June, on the day of napoleon’s victory at the battle of marengo. and brings cavaradossi instead. as cavaradossi is interrogated about against this tumultuous background, the opera juxtaposes a romantic angelotti’s whereabouts, tosca sings in distant counterpoint at a triangle against the struggle between entrenched political power and royal gala downstairs. afterward she arrives at scarpia’s offices still idealistic rebel spirits. in full dress as her lover, already beaten, is to be removed for more extreme questioning. tormented by the sound of his screams, she Which is more important, ideology or love? When is violence justified? reveals angelotti’s hiding place. cavaradossi is carried back in and these questions are embedded in a whirlwind of a libretto; the drama understands that tosca has informed on him and angelotti, but his spans about 18 hours in three breathless acts. in act i we meet the anger turns to exultation when an officer rushes in to announce that glamorous tosca; her lover, the painter mario cavaradossi; the napoleon has won the battle of marengo, a defeat for scarpia’s allies. ruthless police chief, baron scarpia; and cesare angelotti, the hunted defiantly shouting “vittoria!”, cavaradossi is dragged to prison and political activist who is cavaradossi’s friend. all four are enmeshed in tosca is suddenly alone with her nemesis, scarpia. he calmly resumes the power struggle between scarpia and tosca; by the end of act iii, his interrupted supper, suggesting to tosca that she possesses the all four will be dead. power to save her lover’s life — if she will give herself to scarpia first. the locations where tosca is set are well-known roman architectural in despair, tosca turns to god, asking why her piety and dedication attractions: the church of sant’ andrea della valle, where we meet to art have been repaid in this way. spoletta enters with news that painter mario cavaradossi at work on a commissioned painting of angelotti, faced with capture, has killed himself. cornered and mary magdalene; the farnese palace, command central for the desperate, tosca accepts scarpia’s terms. scarpia pretends to order sinister baron scarpia; and castel sant’ angelo, with its historic a mock-execution for cavaradossi and writes a safe-conduct for him dungeons and ramparts. theatergoers were well aware of these and tosca. as he shouts “tosca, finally mine!” she grabs a letter-knife landmarks when puccini’s source for Tosca, victorien sardou’s five- from his desk and stabs him, countering “this is tosca’s kiss!” she act play La Tosca, toured europe in the late 1880s. sensational and wrests the safe-conduct from his stiffening hand, places candles at his melodramatic, it was a great vehicle for sarah bernhardt, who played head and a crucifix on his chest, and leaves. 6 • Pacific Symphony notes in their construction; only Tosca flows with the natural pulse of a taut police drama, consistently ratcheting up the tension. in its use of motifs to express character and action, Tosca is puccini’s most modern work. scarpia’s motif is a perfect example — quick, intense and unmistakable. small wonder we feel we know these characters so intimately; then again, they may have been on the way to broad popularity before puccini even started to compose. sarah bernhardt had already established the tempestuous, charismatic tosca as an indelible character in sardou’s five-act playLa Tosca. looking back further, we can see the suavely sinister scarpia forebears in characters at least as early as shakespeare’s iago and richard iii, whose sheer evil becomes strangely erotic. henry kissinger might well have been describing scarpia when he called power the ultimate aphrodisiac. and sources as diverse as vasari and berlioz have given us the hunky artist: strong yet sensitive, he’s both a lover and a fighter. but without puccini’s swoon-inducing evocation of cavaradossi’s character in his arias “recondita armonia” and “e lucevan le stelle,” this archetype might never have become the ubiquitous modern hero that he is. Tosca has been popular since its premiere and remains near the top of most every list of favorite operas. yet its success has not come without controversy. the first complaints from critics and fans sounded much like the discussions surrounding certain video games and television shows these days: too much sex and violence. are they necessary or gratuitous, or even harmful? are they artistically valid, or do they demean puccini and opera as a whole? most famous among the naysayers was the eminent american music critic Joseph kerman, whose objections are famously associated with just three words: “shabby little shocker.” this was kerman’s snide epithet for Tosca in his landmark book of 1956, Opera As Theater. in characterizing Tosca’s subject as inappropriate and too undignified for opera, kerman added new energy to a debate that was already decades old: Were puccini and his collaeagues — as exponents of Act III. as dawn breaks over the castel sant’ angelo, a shepherd verismo opera — legitimate heirs of italy’s great operatic tradition? boy sings a morning song and church bells toll. cavaradossi is verismo, or “real-life” operas, focus on common people rather than awaiting his execution and bribes a guard to convey a farewell note gods and nobles, and often explicitly include sex, gore and death.

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