NBC OPERA THEATRE: TOSCA (TV)
Summary
One in this series of NBC Opera Company productions. This installment, the television debut of soprano Leontyne Price, presents the full score of Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca," a tale of love, intrigue, and betrayal in Rome in 1800. Conducted in English, the action begins in the Church of Sant'Andrea, into which Angelotti, an escaped political prisoner, steals to hide. The Sacristan greets artist Mario Cavaradossi, who is at work on a portrait of the virgin Mary. His model, whom he has seen in church but does not know, turns out to be Angelotti's sister. When the Sacristan leaves, Angelotti makes himself known to Cavaradossi, an old friend and fellow rebel, who promises to help. Angelotti hides again when the two hear the voice of Cavaradossi's beloved, the singer and actress Floria Tosca. Tosca jealously questions Cavaradossi about the woman in his painting, and she makes him promise to meet her that evening. After her departure, Cavaradossi gives the key to his villa to Angelotti, offering to hide him. When they hear the town cannon fire, they realize that his escape his been detected, and both flee to Cavaradossi's house. The nefarious Baron Scarpia, the chief of Rome's secret police, arrives at the church and tricks the Sacristan into revealing the link between Cavaradossi and Angelotti. When Tosca returns, he fans the flames of her jealousy, suggesting that her lover has gone off to meet the woman in the picture. He instructs his minions to follow her as she pursues Cavaradossi -- and he gloatingly predicts that he will get both the rebels and the lovely singer in the end. The scene shifts to evening in Scarpia's quarters at the Farnese Palace. As he prepares to dine and listens to Tosca sing in the distance, he relishes the thought of possessing her against her will. His spy, Spoletta, reports that a search of Cavaradossi's villa found Mario himself but not Angelotti. Scarpia questions Cavaradossi, who refuses to reveal his friend's hiding place. Scarpia then orders the prisoner tortured and questions Tosca with hearing distance of the interrogation. Although Cavaradossi urges her to be silent, Tosca eventually breaks under the sounds of her lover's torture and tells Scarpia of the hiding place near Cavaradossi's villa. Cavaradossi is led off to prison. Scarpia tells Tosca that she can save her lover from execution -- if she will yield to the baron's advances. At first refusing, she sings of her dedication to beauty and art. When word comes that Angelotti has killed himself and Scarpia indicates that she has no choice, the singer finally agrees to Scarpia's demands. He promises that the bullets that the firing squad will send into Cavaradossi's body at dawn will be blanks, and he agrees to give her a pass that will enable her and her companion to leave the country. As soon as he has signed it, the desperate Tosca stabs Scarpia. She grabs the pass, places candles and a crucifix near his body, and leaves the palace. The next morning, Cavaradossi bribes his jailer to take a letter to Tosca. He sadly pours out his recollections of their past happiness and his love of life. Suddenly, Tosca appears and tells him what she has done. She urges him to pretend to fall down dead when the executioners shoot the blank bullets, and the two look forward to the happiness they will experience in liberty. When Cavaradossi goes out to the mock execution, however, it proves all too real. Pursued by Scarpia's henchmen, Tosca delivers a final message to her dead foe. Commercials deleted.
Details
- NETWORK: NBC
- DATE: January 23, 1955 Sunday 2:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 1:47:50
- COLOR/B&W: B&W
- CATALOG ID: T:02664
- GENRE: Music
- SUBJECT HEADING: Operas; African-American Collection - Music
- SERIES RUN: NBC - TV series, 1950-1966
- COMMERCIALS: N/A
CREDITS
- Samuel Chotzinoff … Producer
- Kirk Browning … Director
- Victorien Sardou … Writer, Based on the play by
- Giacomo Puccini … Composer
- Luigi Illica … Librettist
- Giuseppe Giacosa … Librettist
- Peter Herman Adler … Conductor, Artistic Director
- John Gutman … Music (Misc. Credits), English text by
- Thomas Stewart … Singer, Cast, Angelotti
- Emile Renan … Singer, Cast, A Sacristan
- David Poleri … Singer, Cast, Mario Cavaradossi
- Leontyne Price … Singer, Cast, Floria Tosca
- Josh Wheeler … Singer, Cast, Baron Scarpia
- Michael Pollock … Singer, Cast, Spoletta
- Francis Monachino … Singer, Cast, Sciarrone