PUCCINI ADVANCES THE CAUSE OF DEMOCRACY & HUMAN RIGHTS
When the Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizens was issued in Paris in 1789, the scope of applicability was not limited to France. The declaration was intended to apply to the entire world, or at least to Europe. When Napoleon Bonaparte conscripted Frenchmen into the army, the objective was to topple the monarchs of Europe, who had been responsible for frivolous wars and heinous denials of human rights, in order to install democratic republics in their place. Among the countries eventually liberated was Italy, where a Roman Republic was established when he was merely commander of the French army in Italy. After overthrowing the Directory and establishing the Consulate in 1799, Napoleon defeated the Austrians in 1800 at the Battle of Marengo, Italy. With this historical background, Victorien Sardou published a play in 1887 about an opera singer in love with a painter named Mario Cavaradossi. Mario in turn seeks to aid a Republican, Angelotti, who escapes from prison and thus eludes the Baron Scarpia, the counterrevolutionary chief of police who is purging Rome of all dissident Republicans. Giacomo Puccini, while working on La Bohème, was invited by librettist Ferdinando Fontana to make an opera out of the play, Tosca, about fictional events taking place in June 1800, and his masterpiece premiered in 1900. Although there have been several films of Tosca over the years, most recently in the 1970s, French film producer Daniel Toscan du Plantier followed up his production of Madama Butterfly (1995) and Carmen (2001) by entrusting the adaptation of Tosca to director Benoît Jacquot, whose version has now been released commercially. Those expecting a pure operatic version should be informed that the performing singers and orchestra are occasionally presented in black and white, and the actors lip sync the singing. The actual sites in the opera are reproduced in some cases through antiqued photographs, with sets erected as background for the actors. MH