Opera Daily 🎶 — The Love Duet from Tosca

Good morning, friends! If you missed any of the previous pieces (this turned out to be Tosca month!), you can catch up here:

• "E lucevan le stelle"
  

Today we’re listening to…

The love duet from Puccini’s Tosca. In this scene, Tosca is convinced she overheard Cavaradossi talking to another woman. Then she sees Cavaradossi’s new painting of a woman (that is not her!) and turns super jealous. Cavaradossi attempts to calm her down with “Qual’occhio al mondo”, telling her “what eyes in the world could compare to yours!” She leaves, still demanding that he change the eyes in the painting. 🤪

We are featuring tenor Luciano Pavarotti and soprano Shirley Verrett in this scene from the 1978 Metropolitan Opera production of Tosca.

🎧 Listen here (5 minute listen): Luciano Pavarotti (Mario Cavaradossi), Shirley Verrett (Tosca), James Conlon, conductor, Tito Gobbi, director, Metropolitan Opera production, 1978

TOSCA (insisting) Ah, those eyes...

CAVARADOSSI What eyes in the world can compare
with your black and glowing eyes?
It is in them that my whole being fastens,
eyes soft with love and rich with anger...
Where in the whole world are eyes
to compare with your black eyes?

TOSCA (won over)
Oh, how well you know the art
of capturing women's hearts!
(still persisting in her idea)
But let her eyes be black ones!

Here are some other interpretations of the piece:

Giuseppe di Stefano, Maria Callas [**HIGHLY RECOMMEND**] Here’s a link to the full Tosca production with Callas/Di Stefano/Gobbi from 1953.
Placido Domingo, Mirella Freni
Jonas Kaufmann, Angela Gheorghiu

If you want to get a behind-the-scenes look into what goes into these productions, you can watch a rehearsal for the 1978 Met production with Pavarotti, Verrett and Conlon here.

Thank you for reading (and listening),

Michele

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