His delay in commencing the music for Tosca was largely the result of his flagging interest in the play, perhaps brought on by Sardou's admission of his dislike for Puccini's music. Puccini first came into contact with Sardou's play in 1889. Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa based their libretto for Tosca on Victorien Sardou's play La Tosca (1887), which actress Sarah Bernhardt made famous in performances throughout Europe.

Tosca was premiered in 1900 at Rome's Teatro Costanzi to a temperate critical reception. In Tosca, Puccini explored the dark side of human emotion, a marked change from the late Romantic sentimentality of La Bohème. After the poor reception of Puccini's first two operas, Le villi and Edgar, Manon Lescaut brought him considerable fame and financial success, and La Bohème was popularly (although not always critically) well received.

Probably the best contemporary soprano-tenor combination (a couple in real life, too) – Daniela Dessì and Fabio Armiliato – are ranged against a worthy opponent in the form of Claudio Sgura as Baron Scarpia.Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) had composed four operas before officially taking up his pen with Tosca in 1895. It should be made clear from the outset that the 2010 production at the Teatro Carlo Felice zu Genua, with its stage set based on Adolf Hohenstein’s original design for the work’s premiere, ticks all the boxes. For the three main roles – the unscrupulous police chief Vitellio Scarpia and the painter Mario Cavaradossi, who provide a framework for Floria Tosca, “a famous singer” (both on stage and in real life), all you need is star performers of the required virtuosity, although they do need to display a certain enjoyment in performing – something one has never been able to take for granted in music theatre. The task of putting Tosca on the stage in a way that is credible and timeless is both straightforward and difficult. A tragic tale of doomed love interlaced with the age-old themes of jealousy, lust and intrigue, has ensured Tosca its place in the top ten of opera favourites. This production from the historic Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Italy, stars the opera world’s power couple, Daniela Dessì and Fabio Armiliato, as lovers Tosca and Cavaradossi.

Tosca opera dvd