TOSCA - GIACOMO PUCCINI - OPERA DE PARIS - 09/11/2012

Victorien Sardou’s play in five acts and six scenes, La Tosca, was given its first performance on November 24th 1887 at Paris’s Théâtre de la Porte Saint Martin. Sarah Bernhardt played the title role. The 127 Parisian performances were followed by a tour that was to take the actress to Milan in 1889. Although he knew only a few words of French, Puccini, who saw the play, was able to grasp the essence of the action thanks to the important role played by mime in the production, the cast’s acting skills and the inflections of Sarah Bernhardt’s voice. The ease with which he understood the plot convinced him that the subject was a good one and he subsequently asked his publisher Giulio Ricordi to enquire about rights for a musical adaptation of the play.