Puccini: Tosca

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Orchestra and Chorus of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden

Carlo Felice Cillario

There are obvious parallels between Tosca – the passionate, but vulnerable Roman diva – and Maria Callas. “Vissi d’arte” (I lived for art), the character’s moving Act 2 aria, has acquired a particular symbolism since the soprano’s death in 1977. Tosca was the last opera that Callas performed at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. It afforded her a triumphant return to the opera stage after an absence of nearly 18 months. Scarpia was sung by her beloved colleague Tito Gobbi, another natural stage animal, and the sumptuous production was by Franco Zeffirelli. As the critic John Warrack wrote: “In sum, this was one of those precious occasions when the disparate parts of opera mysteriously fuse into the total experience we always await.”

Floria Tosca: Maria Callas

Mario Cavaradossi: Renato Cioni

Scarpia: Tito Gobbi

Cesare Angelotti: Victor Godfrey

Spoletta: Robert Bowman

Sagrestano: Eric Garrett

Sciarrone: Denis Wicks

Un carceriere - A Jailer: Edgar Boniface

Un pastore - A Sheperd: David Sellar