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Project collects

• Performers of the First Tosca Premieres
• Greatest performers
• Persons are sorted on this page by roles and birth years

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Puccini: Tosca

• Opera in three acts, Italian
• Music by Giacomo Puccini
• Libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
• Based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, La Tosca
• Time and place: Set in Rome in the afternoon, evening, and early morning of 17 and 18 June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. The Act I takes place in the afternoon in Basilica di Sant'Andrea della Valle, the Act II in the same evening in Palazzo Farnese, and the Act III next morning at 4 o'clock on the upper platform of Castel Sant'Angelo.
• World Premiere at Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. Teatro Costanzi is today known as Teatro dell'Opera di Roma (Rome Opera).
• Roles
  • Floria Tosca, a celebrated singer, soprano lirico spinto
    • Hariclea Darclée, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
    • Milka Ternina substituted Darclee
    • Emma Calvé
    • Emma Eames
    • Aino Ackté
    • Emmy Destinn
    • Carmen Melis
    • Maria Jeritza
    • Valentina Bartolomasi
    • Claudia Muzio
    • Gilda Dalla Rizza
    • Rosa Raisa
    • Mercedes Capsir
    • Gina Cigna
    • Maria Caniglia
    • Zinka Milanov
    • Lina Bruna Rasa
    • Licia Albanese
    • Magda Olivero
    • Birgit Nilsson
    • Renata Tebaldi
    • Maria Callas
    • Maaria Eira
    • Virginia Zeani
    • Anita Välkki
    • Galina Vishnevskaya
    • Leonie Rysanek
    • Leontyne Price
    • Régine Crespin
    • Shirley Verrett
    • Anna Moffo
    • Montserrat Caballé
    • Renata Scotto
    • Mirella Freni
    • Kiri Te Kanawa
    • Katia Ricciarelli
    • Karita Mattila - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karita_Mattila
    • Angela Gheorghiu
  • Mario Cavaradossi, a painter, tenore lirico spinto
    • Emilio De Marchi, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
    • Fernando De Lucia
    • Giuseppe Cremonini
    • Giuseppe Borgatti
    • Carlo Albani
    • Enrico Caruso (Young Caruso hoped to create the role of Cavaradossi for the World Premiere, but the role was passed over in favour of the more experienced De Marchi.)
    • Aroldo Lindi
    • Beniamino Gigli
    • Jussi Björling
    • Mario Del Monaco
    • Alvinio Misciano
    • Franco Corelli
    • Giuseppe di Stefano
    • Veikko Tyrväinen
    • Carlo Bergonzi
    • Bernabé Martí
    • Fritz Wunderlich
    • Luciano Pavarotti
    • Plácido Domingo
    • José Carreras
    • Roberto Alagna
  • Baron Vitellio Scarpia, chief of police, baritono drammatico
    • Eugenio Giraldoni, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
    • Antonio Scotti
    • Pasquale Amato
    • Giuseppe Danise
    • Carlo Galeffi
    • Leonard Warren
    • Tito Gobbi
    • Giuseppe Taddei
    • Robert Merrill
    • George London
    • Cornell Hill MacNeil
    • Ettore Bastianini
    • Piero Cappuccilli
    • Usko Viitanen
    • Ingvar Wixell
    • Tom Gunnar Krause
    • Renato Bruson
    • Antonio Blancas
    • Ruggero Raimondi
  • Cesare Angelotti, former Consul of the Roman Republic, basso cantante
    • Ruggero Galli, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
    • Tom Gunnar Krause
    • Jorma Hynninen
  • A Sacristan, baritono
    • Ettore Borelli, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
    • Fernando Corena
  • Spoletta, a police agent, tenore
    • Enrico Giordani / Giordano?, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
  • Sciarrone, another agent, basso
    • Giuseppe Gironi, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
  • A Jailer, basso
    • Aristide Parassani, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
    • Piero Cappuccilli
  • A Shepherd boy, boy soprano
    • Angelo Righi, World Premiere cast, 14 January 1900
  • Soldiers, police agents, altar boys, noblemen and women, townsfolk, artisans
• Scenographers
  • Adolfo Hohenstein, World Premiere 14 January 1900
• Costume designors
  • Adolfo Hohenstein, World Premiere 14 January 1900
• Stage directors
  • Nino Vignuzzi, World Premiere 14 January 1900
  • Victorien Sardou himself took charge of the French premiere at Opéra-Comique, Paris, on 13 October 1903
  • Alfredo De Antoni (1918 film)
  • Carmine Gallone (1956 film)
  • Jean Renoir (1941 film)
  • Giuseppe Patroni Griffi (1992 world wide telecast from the real locations in Rome)
  • Franco Zeffirelli (at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden for over 40 years 1964-2006)
  • Luigi Magni (1973 film)
  • Luca Ronconi (1996 at La Scala)
  • Jonathan Miller (1986 for the 49th Maggio Musicale Fiorentino)
• Conductors
  • Leopoldo Mugnone, World Premiere 14 January 1900
  • Arturo Toscanini
  • Tullio Serafin
  • Victor de Sabata
  • Dimítri Mitrópoulos
  • Oliviero De Fabritiis
  • Herbert von Karajan
  • Francesco Molinari Pradelli
  • Erich Leinsdorf
  • Georg Solti
  • Arturo Basile
  • Nicola Rescigno
  • Georges Prêtre
  • Bruno Bartoletti
  • Mstislav Rostropóvich
  • Lorin Varencove Maazel
  • Claudio Abbado
  • Zubin Mehta
  • Riccardo Muti
  • James Lawrence Levine
  • Giuseppe Sinopoli