The Lighter Classics in Music by David Ewen

19th century; the dramatic episodes involved murder, horror, suicide, sadism. The heroine, Floria Tosca, is an opera singer in love with a painter, Mario Cavaradossi; she, in turn, is being pursued by Scarpia, the chief of police. To save her lover’s life, she stands ready to give herself to Scarpia. The latter, nonetheless, is responsible for Cavaradossi’s execution. Scarpia is murdered by Tosca, who then commits suicide. Two tenor arias by Cavaradossi are lyrical highlights of this opera. The first is “_Recondita armonia_,” in the first act, in which the painter rhapsodizes over the beauty of his beloved Tosca; the second, “_E lucevan le stelle_,” comes in the last act as Cavaradossi prepares himself for his death by bidding farewell to his memory of Tosca. The third important aria from this opera is that of Tosca, “_Vissi d’arte_,” a monologue in which she reflects on how cruel life had been to one who has devoted herself always to art, prayer, and love. In addition to these three arias, the opera score also boasts some wonderful love music, that of Cavaradossi and Tosca (“_Non la sospiri la nostra casetta_”) and the first act stately church music (“_Te Deum_”). Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Rachmaninoff was born in Oneg, Novgorod, Russia, on April 1,