By Martin Brisland.
On an evening when Storm Amy was raging outside it felt an appropriate backdrop to experience Puccini’s torrid tale of politics, religion, sex, misogyny, revenge, torture, jealousy, love, and plenty of death. Tosca is a classic Italian opera that makes the Godfather look tame. Yet it contains some of the finest moments of opera such as Tosca’s aria Vissi d’arte and Cavaradossi’s E lucevan le stelle.
In the UK there are currently two Floria Toscas.
The acclaimed Anna Netrebko has just returned to Covent Garden’s Royal Opera House after a six-year absence to sing the role. Natalya Romaniw first performed her Tosca there in 2022.
Interesting that at this time of international conflict, two divas, one Russian and the other Welsh Ukrainian, should perform Tosca.
The plot is straightforward. Painter Mario Cavaradossi (Andrés Presno) gives refuge to his fugitive friend Cesare Angelotti (James Cleverton), who has escaped prison and is sought by baddie-in-chief Baron Scarpia (Dario Solari). Mario’s jealous lover is opera singer and diva Floria Tosca (Natalya Romaniw). Scarpia manipulates Tosca to find out where Angelotti is hiding, then gets Cavaradossi tortured in front of her.
It was seemingly a sign of the difficult financial times facing WNO that they used Tony Burke’s reduced score. However, the orchestra, led by Hungarian Gergely Madaras, delivered the dramatic ebb and flow of Puccini’s score as beautifully as ever.
The set is dominated by the almost haunting painted cupola. It symbolises the ever-present eye of the divine watching all that unfolds and finally provides the opening through which Tosca falls to her death.
The choice to give the production a modern flavour leads to mixed results. The story of Tosca is a very time-specific one and makes full sense in the specific historical context Puccini placed it in. By placing the story in a modern context, Scarpia comes across as a kind of sexual predator. In the original libretto, the opera is set in Rome over the course of twenty-four hours: 17-18 June 1800, the very date Napoleon re-entered Italy.
In this Opera North production, Edward Dick’s modern interpretation has Scarpia showing Tosca footage of Cavaradossi’s torture on a laptop and then lustily recording her on his mobile phone as she sings ‘Vissi d’arte’ in Act II.
Natalya Romaniw, a Swansea-born singer from Morriston (home of the internationally acclaimed Welsh male voice choir, the ‘Morriston Orpheus’) can be added to the growing list of great Welsh singers. She was in superb voice.
It was certainly worthy of the renowned Sarah Bernhardt, for whom Victorien Sardou wrote his original play and whose performance inspired Puccini to compose his opera.
The opera ends with Tosca’s leap to her death. She stands in a Leonardo style Vitruvian woman pose, silhouetted against the rising sun, before falling backward, heartbroken but spirit uncrushed. Despite Tosca’s suffering, she never gives up on love and her final act is one of defiance, not merely defeat.
A strong opener to the new WNO season. Despite current financial constraints the WNO is still at the beating heart of opera excellence in the UK.
Tickets for future WNO performances are available at mayflower.org.uk or 02380 711811.
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