1899 original libretto cover for Tosca
We went to see Tosca yesterday afternoon at Seattle Opera. Puccini was already a big star when he wrote Tosca, and had a huge success with La Boheme the year before. Everyone couldn't wait to see what he would do next. It was like the next Star Wars movie coming out.
Audiences loved Tosca from the first performance. What's not to like? Jealousy, love, violence, deception, rape, torture. One of the most depraved villains in all of opera (Scarpia) gets what's coming to him when the knife-wielding Tosca screams, "This is Tosca's kiss!" There is no middle ground in Tosca and Puccini tells it like it is. Violence is ugly. The entire opera is one big rush of action.
When Tosca first came out the critics savaged it. One called it "three hours of noise" and another said it was a "tawdry little shocker.” Today, Puccini's Tosca is the fifth most popular opera in the world.
The furnace repair man "Andrew" will cometh again today. The problem was not fixed, despite paying a hefty bill on Friday and assurances that everything was fine. The "intermittent" failure is now even more "intermittent."
Isn't it is so much better when things just out-and-out break, instead of torturing you along with false hope and frustration? Life is opera.
No comments:
Post a Comment