Tosca

by Giacomo Puccini

Dates:

May 15, 18, and 20 at 7:30 p.m
May 22 at 2:00 p.m.

Location:

Louis-Fréchette Hall at the Grand Théâtre de Québec

Language:

In Italian with French surtitles

Duration:

2 hours and 45 minutes, including an intermission

Programme La Cenerentola

By phone:

Grand Théâtre de Québec box office
418 643-8131 / 1 877 643-8131

In person:

269 René-Lévesque Blvd. East,,
Quebec City, Quebec)

A production of the Opéra de Québec

Opera in three acts

Music: Giacomo Puccini

Libretto: Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa (based on the play by Victorien Sardou)

With the Opéra de Québec Chorus and the Orchestre symphonique de Québec

With Tosca, Puccini drives opera to a shattering level of dramatic intensity. Against a backdrop of power, jealousy, corruption and betrayal, the work sustains an almost unbearable tension, where the personal and the political intertwine at every turn.

To do justice to this masterpiece, Opéra de Québec has assembled a top-tier vocal cast, capable of revealing all its beauty, its violence, and its truth. At the helm, Jean‑Marie Zeitouni will draw out the full theatrical and musical power of this score, one of the most gripping in the repertoire.

SYNOPSIS

Rome, 1800. The painter Mario Cavaradossi helps a political prisoner on the run, Cesare Angelotti. This act of generosity brings him into conflict with the Machiavellian Baron Scarpia, the chief of police. A hypocritical bigot and unscrupulous tyrant, Scarpia covets the painter’s lover, the opera singer Floria Tosca. He decides to exploit the young woman’s consuming jealousy to bring down the painter, track down the fugitive, and make Tosca his own.

Act I

In a Roman church, the painter Cavaradossi secretly hides the political prisoner Angelotti. Soon, Tosca, his lover, bursts in. The fearsome police chief, Scarpia, then makes his entrance. Is he after the fugitive or after Tosca? Sensing betrayal, he decides to skillfully stir up the singer’s jealousy so that she will, unwittingly, become his spy.

Act II

At the Farnese Palace, Scarpia has Cavaradossi tortured to extract a confession about Angelotti’s hiding place. Unable to bear her lover’s screams, Tosca finally gives in and reveals the secret. Upon learning of the Republicans’ victory, Cavaradossi rejoices and is sentenced to death. To save his life, Scarpia then imposes a heinous bargain on Tosca. At first she accepts, but then changes her mind just as she is about to seal the deal: Tosca grabs a knife and stabs Scarpia to death.

Act III

On the roof of Castel Sant’Angelo, at dawn. Tosca joins Cavaradossi and tells him they are saved: she has killed Scarpia and secured a promise of a fake execution. But this is the tyrant’s final trap: the firing squad’s shots are very real. Discovering her lover’s body and surrounded by Scarpia’s men, a desperate Tosca throws herself into the void, defying him for all eternity.