Puccini's shocker

Synopsis

On today’s date in 1900, Tosca, a new opera by Giacomo Puccini had its premiere at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome. Rome was, in fact, the opera’s setting and those in the audience would have instantly recognized the real-life landmarks depicted on stage.

Puccini composed Tosca at the height of the “verismo” or “realism” craze in opera. It might seem downright silly that a theatrical form as unreal and stylized as opera could ever be described as “realistic” – but the idea was to depict “a slice of real life” – even if that slice includes melodramatic characters like a sadistic, lecherous police chief and a beautiful opera diva he lusts for.

To be as realistic as possible, Puccini visited Rome to listen to the early morning church bells from the ramparts of the Castel Sant'Angelo, the setting of his opera’s third act and to consult with a Roman priest on the details of the liturgy for the Te Deum that concludes Act I.

Some early audiences for Tosca thought Puccini had taken this realism thing way too far. One proper British reviewer wrote: “Those who were present were little prepared for the revolting effects produced by musically illustrating torture ... or the dying kicks of a murdered scoundrel.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Giacomo Puccini (1858 –1924) Tosca Soloists and Philharmonia Orchestra; Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor. DG 431 775

On This Day

Deaths

• 1676 - Italian opera composer Pier Francesco Cavalli, age 73, in Venice;

• 1949 - Spanish composer and pianist Joaquin Turina, age 66, in Madrid;

• 1984 - German-born Israeli composer Paul Ben-Haim (originally Frankenburger), age 86, in Tel Aviv;

Premieres

• 1725 - Bach: Sacred Cantata No. 3 ("Ach Gott, wie manches Herzeleid" I) performed on the 2nd Sunday after Epiphany as part of Bach's second annual Sacred Cantata cycle in Leipzig (1724/25);

• 1738 - Handel: opera "Faramondo" (Julian date: Jan. 3);

• 1900 - Puccini: "Tosca," in Rome at the Teatro Constanzi;

• 1914 - Stravinsky: "Three Japanese Lyrics," in Paris at the Salle Erard;

• 1932 - Ravel: Piano Concerto in G, at the Salle Pleyel in Paris by the Lamoureux Orchestra conducted by the composer, with Marguerite Long as soloist;

• 1934 - Gershwin: "I Got Rhythm" Variations for piano and orchestra, at Boston's Symphony Hall by the Leo Reisman Orchestra conducted by Charles Previn, with the composer as soloist;

• 1955 - Villa-Lobos: Harp Concerto (with soloist Nicanor Zabaleta) & Sinfonia No. 8, with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the composer conducting;

• 1960 - Creston: Violin Concerto No. 1, in Detroit;

• 1964 - Quincy Porter: Symphony No. 2, in Louisville, Kentucky;

• 1965 - Dutilleux: "Cinq métaboles," in Cleveland;

• 1994 - Michael Torke: Piano Concerto (with the composer as soloist) and Saxophone Concerto (with John Harle as soloist), at the Troy (N.Y.) Music Hall, with the Albany Symphony;

• 1998 - Michael Torke: "Brick Symphony" for orchestra, by the San Francisco Symphony, Alasdair Neale conducting.