Tosca
(DVD)

Opera in 3 acts; libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa after Victorien Sardou's play.

Title from disc label.

Filmed for the television series Live from the Met.

Program notes by Richard Evidon, synopsis, and credits (12 pages : portraits) inserted in container.

Extras: Tosca, Zeffirelli and Rome (22 min.); Artists' discussion (15 min.); picture gallery.

Television director, Kirk Browning ; music director, James Levine ; chorus master, David Stivender ; executive producer, Michael Bronson ; television producer, Samuel J. Paul ; set design, Franco Zeffirelli ; costume design, Peter J. Hall ; lighting design, Gil Wechsler ; audio director, Jay David Saks.

Hildegard Behrens (Floria Tosca) ; Plácido Domingo (Mario Cavardossi) ; Cornell MacNeil (Il barone Scarpia) ; James Courtney (Cesare Angelotti) ; Italo Tajo (Il sagrestano) ; Anthony Laciura (Spoletta) ; Russell Christopher (Sciarrone) ; Richard Vernon (Un carceriere) ; Melissa Fogarty (Un pastore) ; Metropolitan Opera Chorus ; Metropolitan Opera Orchestra ; Giuseppe Sinopoli, conductor.

Videorecording of performances taped March 20 and 27, 1985 at the Metropolitan Opera, New York.

The story begins with Napoleon Bonaparte, political enemy of Scarpia advancing upon Rome. Cavaradossi a painter and Angelotti an escaped prisoner are political allies and see Napoleon as a hero. Angelotti has taken refuge in a chapel of a church in Rome in which Cavaradossi is painting a portrait of the Madonna. Cavaradossi has as his lover a famous singer Floria Tosca who attempts to enter the church and finds the door locked. She becomes jealous and demands to know why the door is locked. Angelotti and Cavaradossi engineer an escape plan for Angelotti. Various twists and turns develop involving these major players.

DVD; NTSC; all regions; aspect ratio 4:3, full screen; DTS 5.1, Dolby digital 5.1, PCM 2.0 soundtracks.

Sung in Italian; optional subtitles in Chinese, English, French, German, Italian & Spanish.