Tosca

Workshop: June 10, 1:00 PM-2:30 PM

Watch Ahead: Met Opera on Demand (rent or try free trial of Met on Demand)

Be sure to watch the 2018 production.

Cast and Crew: Composer: Giacomo Puccini | Librettist: Giuseppe Giacosa & Luigi Illica | Conductor: Emmanuel Villaume | Director: Sir David McVicar | Starring: Sonya Yoncheva, Vittorio Grigolo, Željko Lučić

Run time: 2 ¼ hours

Critical Thinking Prompts

1. Tosca and Sweeney both respond to injustice with violence. Although striking back rarely works, are they justified?

2. All four of the main characters are betrayed; how does each one cope with that turn of events?

3. Tragedy is defined as a story in which the main character is destroyed - as a consequence of a tragic flaw, either moral weakness or an inability to cope with misfortune - for the purpose of eliciting a catharsis of fear or pity from the audience. Does the opera accomplish this? ​

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Supplemental Resources

• Maria Callas is regarded as the finest Tosca ever to take the stage: Tosca – Act Two excerpt @ Covent Garden with Maria Callas, Tito Gobbi

• Why Tosca is opera’s greatest thriller – with footage of Puccini!

• NYT Arts: Musical Motifs in Tosca – Anthony Thommasini