

This book is intended primarily as a guide for the opera goer. It includes a synopsis of the plot, with indications of the themes and motifs used in it, and discusses the style of the opera, Tosca being a typical example of Italian naturalism in operas, verismo. It compares Puccini's libretto with Sardou's play La Tosca, analyses the close-knit structure of the work and examines salient points in the music. It also describes the genesis of the work (quoting wherever appropriate, Puccini's own remarks about it), its first production and early reception. A subsidiary aim of the book is to present the opinions, positive and negative, that have been expressed by various critics about the opera since its first production in 1900. There are contributions from the celebrated singer and producer of Tosca Tito Gobbi, and two other musicologists, Roger Parker and William Ashbrook. Malcolm Walker has provided a discography.
Shelve Alban Berg: Lulu

Shelve Alban Berg: Wozzeck

Shelve Benjamin Britten, the Turn of the Screw

Shelve Benjamin Britten: Billy Budd (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)

Shelve Benjamin Britten: Death in Venice

Shelve Benjamin Britten: Peter Grimes

Shelve C. W. von Gluck: Orfeo

Shelve Claude Debussy: Pelléas et Mélisande

Shelve Claudio Monteverdi: Orfeo

Shelve Georges Bizet: Carmen

Shelve Giacomo Puccini: La Bohème

Shelve Giacomo Puccini: Tosca

Shelve Giuseppe Verdi: Falstaff

Shelve Giuseppe Verdi: Otello

Shelve Hector Berlioz: Les Troyens (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)

Shelve Igor Stravinsky: The Rake's Progress

Shelve Leoš Janáček: Kát'a Kabanová

Shelve Ludwig van Beethoven: Fidelio

Shelve Modest Musorgsky and Boris Godunov: Myths, Realities, Reconsiderations

Shelve Richard Strauss: Arabella

Shelve Richard Strauss: Elektra

Shelve Richard Strauss: Salome

Shelve Richard Wagner. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg

Shelve Richard Wagner: Der Fliegende Holländer

Shelve Richard Wagner: Parsifal

Shelve The Threepenny Opera

Shelve Vincenzo Bellini: Norma

Shelve W. A. Mozart: Così fan tutte

Shelve W. A. Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail

Shelve W. A. Mozart: Die Zauberflöte

Shelve W. A. Mozart: Don Giovanni

Shelve W. A. Mozart: Idomeneo

Shelve W. A. Mozart: La Clemenza di Tito

Shelve W. A. Mozart: Le Nozze di Figaro

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