Puccini’s “Tosca”: Four Key Excerpts

Giacomo Puccini’s three-act opera, Tosca, blends “intrigue, love, lust, politics, and religion.” (James Conlon) Set in Rome in June of 1800, amid the turbulence of the Napoleonic wars, the action takes place over a breakneck sixteen hours. The story centers around three principal characters: Floria Tosca (soprano), a star opera singer, her lover Mario Cavaradossi (tenor), a painter and republican, and the corrupt and sadistic chief of police, Baron Scarpia (baritone), a …

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Mozart’s “Don Giovanni”: Zerlina’s Tenderly Seductive Aria, “Vedrai, Carino”

Blending comedy, melodrama, and the supernatural, Mozart’s 1787 opera, Don Giovanni, tells the story of an arrogant, promiscuous nobleman, who, before the final curtain, receives the ultimate hellish comeuppance. Don Giovanni attempts to seduce the peasant girl, Zerlina, and disarm her jealous fiancé, Masetto. At the beginning of the second act, Masetto and his friends look for Don Giovanni in order to kill him, but they are outsmarted by the cunning, disguised …

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Handel’s “Stille Amare”: The “Poison” Aria from “Tolomeo”

Handel’s opera, Tolomeo, HWV 25, was first performed at the King’s Theatre in London on April 30, 1728, and featured a spectacular and renowned cast, which the composer imported from Italy. Set in 108 BC, its plot is ripe for high drama: The story of Tolomeo is set in Ancient Egypt and follows Tolomeo, the son of a deposed king, who is forced to marry Seleuce, who is already married to his …

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Handel’s “Esther,” “Tune Your Harps”: Cheerful Pizzicato Strains

Handel’s 1732 oratorio, Esther, tells the story of a Jewish orphan who becomes Queen of Persia. When the villainous Haman becomes enraged by a personal slight and, in retaliation, orders the extermination of all Jews throughout the Persian Empire, Esther saves her people from massacre. The work originated in 1718 as a semi-staged masque, performed for the Duke of Chandos, who employed Handel as resident composer for two years. Later, Handel expanded it …

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Remembering Steve Davislim

Steve Davislim, the renowned operatic tenor, passed away “after a prolonged illness” last Sunday, August 11. He was 57. Born in Malaysia to a Chinese father and Irish mother, Davislim moved with his family to Australia shortly after birth. In later years, he settled in Vienna, Austria. In a statement, Davislim’s manager wrote, Steve was a man of great humanity and keen intellect who possessed a voice of rare beauty and facility. …

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Mussorgsky’s “Boris Godunov”: Two Recordings of Pimen’s Monologue

In the haunting opening measures of Dmitri Shostakovich’s Ninth String Quartet, an undulating line, emerging first in the second violin and then sliding stealthily into other inner voices, snakes forward, as if to draw us into an unfolding musical narrative. The line which wanders into Shostakovich’s String Quartet of 1964 is the same undulating figure we hear throughout Pimen’s Monologue, which opens the first act of Modest Mussorgsky’s opera, Boris Godunov, composed between …

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Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” Overture: A Wild and Exhilarating Ride

Mozart’s 1786 comic opera in four acts, The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492, is filled with trickery, deception, overheard conversations, cunning disguises, and crazy schemes. Unfolding over the course of a single “day of madness,” it tells the story of two servants, Figaro and Susanna, who succeed in getting married despite the efforts of their lecherous employer, Count Almaviva. The play by Pierre Beaumarchais, on which the opera was based, faced censorship because …

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