Puccini Tosca with Michael Aspinall, the Surprising Soprano
The heroine of Puccini s Tosca is a prima donna. In this Act 2 scene, her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, is being tortured offstage by the Rome police chief, Baron Scarpia, so as to reveal the whereabouts of an escaped political prisoner called Angelotti. Tosca cannot bear her lover s anguished cries, so she reveals to Scarpia that Angelotti is hiding in the well of her garden. Scarpia has lustful designs on Tosca and tells her that he will only release Cavarodossi if she gives herself to him. In horrified despair, Tosca rejects Scarpia s lecherous advances, pleads with him, and finally says her prayers in the famous aria Vissi It is all to no avail. She is forced to agree to the sickening bargain. However, while Scarpia is writing out the documents that Tosca and Cavaradossi will need for their getaway, she suddenly sees another way out of her difficulties. In this dramatic scene, Tosca is sung by Michael Aspinall, Scarpia is Andrew Lord Miller, and the pianist is
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