The opera season at Milan's La Scala opened yesterday with Giacomo Puccini's Tosca, directed by Davide Livermore and conducted by Riccardo Chailly, with opera diva Anna Netrebko in the part of Floria Tosca, Francesco Meli as Cavaradossi and Luca Salsi in the role of Scarpia.
Written by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), with a libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, and based on the play "La Tosca" by French playwright Victorien Sardou, the opera takes place in the Italian capital in 1800, with all the action is condensed in less than 24 hours.
The plot centres around Rome's star opera singer Floria Tosca, her lover, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, and the corrupt Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia.
Scarpia desires Tosca and, suspecting Cavaradossi of assisting an escaped political prisoner, he persuades Tosca to reveal the prisoner's hiding place and Cavaradossi's involvement, so that he can have her for himself.
Cavaradossi is captured and Scarpia tells Tosca he will save him if she gives herself to Scarpia, otherwise her lover will die. To escape Scarpia, Tosca takes a brave and tragic decision.
Premiered on 14th January 1900 in Rome, the opera has an interesting story when it comes to staging: one legend says that behind the scenes there was a large pile of mattresses on which Tosca could have landed after she threw herself from the battlements. Yet the pile was so high that the opera singer, rather than simulating a leap to her death, ended up bouncing back, reappearing behind the battlements.
Luckily, nothing comical happened at the premiere in Milan last night, but there was something else to write about, the symbolism behind Tosca's costume, for example.
Costume designer Gianluca Falaschi was inspired for Tosca's gown by Rome's sunsets and created a symbolic costume with an intrinsic duplicity, representing also the turmoil in Tosca's soul.
The upper part of Tosca's gown is therefore sky blue, but the blue then melts into orange and red, hinting at the morning and sunset (as stated above the action in this opera takes place in less than 24 hours), but also at Tosca's destiny, from life to death.
This arty effect, that Falaschi stated was taken from Mark Rothko's works, was recreated by the artisans working at La Scala's costume workshop painting directly on the fabric.
The theme of blood is also present in a red organza scarf donned by Tosca and in the leather coats smeared in red paint worn by Scarpia and his police forces.
As a whole this was a cinematic version of Tosca that, offering a bird's-eye view over Rome through the sets by Cristiana Picco from the study Giò Forma (that also incorporated video installations that kept the attention alive), proved successful and was rewarded with a 16-minute ovation by the audience.