1/ Well I guess my own Scarpia novel is preempted. What I was going to do was take the TOSCA narrative as given and then ask how Scarpia got that way - taking, as also given, his underlying tho eclipsed piety.
2/ I’ve asked a bunch of singers who have portrayed Scarpia this question:
“‘Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!’ - sincere, or ironic?”
W/o exception, they say sincere. I don’t think it’s just a case of a character seducing his portrayers (tho that happens too). I think it’s...
“‘Tosca, mi fai dimenticare Iddio!’ - sincere, or ironic?”
W/o exception, they say sincere. I don’t think it’s just a case of a character seducing his portrayers (tho that happens too). I think it’s...
3/ a realization that this answer makes S. a 3-dim’l character. Likewise at end if Act 2, when he cries “Soccorso!” it’s not a 911 call - he knows he’s a goner - but a call for help w a tangible act of repentance: grasping his desk-crucifix. The one Tosca later puts at his head.
4/ Well, Read has probably done it better.
