Tosca

ACT I
Cesare Angelotti, a Consul of the former Roman Republic,
has escaped prison and seeks refuge in the Church of
Sant’Andrea della Valle. The painter Mario Cavaradossi, a
Republican sympathizer working in the church, promises to
help him. Angelotti hides as Cavaradossi’s lover Floria Tosca
arrives. The lovers’ meeting reveals Tosca’s passionate love
and jealousy. When Tosca has gone, Cavaradossi instructs
Angelotti to dress in the disguise left for him, and hide at
Cavaradossi’s villa. Baron Scarpia arrives at the church. He
suspects Cavaradossi of hiding Angelotti. When Tosca returns,
Scarpia uses a fan left by Angelotti to make her believe that
Cavaradossi is having an affair. Tosca leaves for Cavaradossi’s
villa, and Scarpia instructs his assistant Spoletta to follow her
and track down Angelotti.

ACT II
Scarpia has arrested Cavaradossi. He summons Tosca to his
apartment, and forces her to listen as Cavaradossi is tortured
in the next room. Tosca reveals Angelotti’s hiding place.
Scarpia condemns Cavaradossi to death but tells Tosca that
he will free her lover if she will offer herself to him. In agony,
Tosca agrees and Scarpia tells her he will arrange a mock
execution. As Scarpia embraces Tosca, she fatally stabs him.

ACT III
As dawn approaches, Cavaradossi waits for his execution at
the top of the Castel Sant’Angelo. Tosca arrives and tells him
what she has done. She instructs him on how to pretend to
die in the mock execution. When the soldiers shoot, Tosca
is impressed with her lover’s acting. But Scarpia has doublecrossed her and Cavaradossi really is dead. As Spoletta’s men
arrive to arrest her for Scarpia’s murder, she leaps from the
battlements to her death.