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by Giacomo Puccini, directed by Paul Curran

Canadian Opera Company, Four Seasons Centre, Toronto

April 30-May 20, 2017

The Canadian Opera Company’s production of Puccini’s Tosca premiered in 2008.   The co-production with the Norwegian National Opera directed by Paul Curran with sets and costumes by Kevin Knight, was revived in 2012 and now has been revived this season.  Three times must be the charm because the current revival is by far the most successful both musically and dramatically. 

The opera, one of the few with an opera singer as the title character, concerns Floria Tosca, who is in love with the painter Mario Cavaradossi.  Tosca does not know it, but Cavaradossi is aiding members of the former Roman Republic who are now being persecuted by Rome’s new master, the Kingdom of Naples.  Heading the secret police in Rome is Baron Scarpia, who is suspicious of Cavaradossi and who lusts after Tosca.  The opera, whose politics have remained relevant since it premiered in 1900, charts the growth of awareness in Tosca from petty jealousies to political action with consequences of life and death.

Knight’s opulent design is thoroughly traditional, setting the action exactly in the time and place specified in the libretto –  June 17 and 18, 1800, in Rome at the time of the Battle of Marengo, when Napoleon quashed Neapolitan rule over Rome.  Anomalies in the set design remain the same.  In Act 2 the entrance to Scarpia’s torture chamber behind a highboy attached to padded wall that slides into the room is too much like something from a James Bond movie.  In Act 3 the location of Cavaradossi’s cell at the Castel Sant’Angelo is absurd since guards constantly have to march through it to do their duties and Curran even has the changing of the guard take place in Cavaradossi’s cell. 

Otherwise, Curran’s direction is more direct and less fussy.  In 2008 and 2013, Tosca used have to struggle with a heavy gown in Act 2 that made moving about Scarpia’s chamber extremely awkward in a scene where their interaction is key.  Now Knight has raised the hem of the gown so that Tosca can even stride about in it rapidly, thus giving the singer much more freedom of expression and Curran more ability to choreograph Tosca’s and Scarpia’s strategies.  Curran no longer has Tosca kneel before Scarpia which had previously made her rising difficult.  In Act 3 he now places Tosca halfway up to the top of the steps of Castel Sant’Angelo so that when the guards enter to chase her she has longer to linger at the edge of the tower before deciding to jump thus heightening the tension of the scene.

Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka, beloved by Toronto audiences, gives a radiant performance in the title role.  As is her wont she sinks completely into the role and beautifully delineates Tosca’s emotional and intellectual arc from the vivacious but superficial creature we first meet to a woman sobered by her

encounter with evil in Act 2 finally to a rebel inspired to heroism and martyrdom.  Her deeply felt “Vissi d’arte” is not presented as a showpiece aria but as the emotional turning point in her character’s development.  Her complete control over the timbre and multiple hues of her voice emphasizes the evolution of her character’s internal life with profound sensitivity.

Argentine tenor Marcelo Puente makes a spectacular COC debut as Cavaradossi.  Besides sporting the looks of a hero, Puente has an enormously powerful voice.  It is marked by a rapid vibrato and in the first two acts tended to lose fullness in its middle register.  That problem disappeared by Act 3 when he delivered an impassioned account of “E lucevan le stelle” that brought down the house.  One audience-pleasing habit Puente will have to unlearn is moving front and centre to deliver his most extended notes and lengthening them for effect beyond what is called for in the score.  At his curtain call youthful screams mingled with bravos as if he were a rock star.  When Pieczonka and Puente sing the defiant “Amaro sol per te m'era il morire” together in Act 3 the effect is tremendous.   

As Scarpia, German bass-baritone Markus Marquardt has an unusual handicap.  Hia voice is so velvety and radiates such warmth that one tends to think how beautifully Scarpia’s lines are sung rather than how evil the character is meant to be.  Marquardt declines to give his voice an edge to growl out certain words, relying almost entirely on his less than forceful acting to communicate the character.  In smaller roles, Italian bass Donato di Stefano sings well as the Sacristan and provides a dose of humour almost devoid of shtick.  South African bass-baritone Musa Ngqungwana wields a large, heroic voice as Angelotti, the escaped prisoner that Cavaradossi harbours, making one wish to hear him in a larger role.         

Completing the musical triumph of the evening is the conducting of Canadian Keri-Lynn Wilson in her COC debut.  Under her baton the score sounded remarkably fresh and vivid.  Despite pauses for applause and Puccini’s frequent changes of rhythm, she imbues each act with tension and an unrelenting forward momentum.  At the same time she brings out such a range of colours that Puccini’s many passages for orchestra alone seem to look forward to the tone poems of Maurice Ravel.  It was heartening to see that she and the COC Orchestra received as much acclaim at the final curtain (minus the screams for Puente) as the three principals.  

On April 30, May 4, 6, 9, 12, 17 and 19, Adrianne Pieczonka, Marcelo Puente and Markus Marquardt sing Tosca, Cavaradossi, and Scarpia.  On May 7, 11, 14, 18 and 20 Keri Alkema, Kamen Chanev, and Craig Coclough sing those roles.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: This is a version of the review that will appear later this year in Opera News.

Photos: (from top) Adrianne Pieczonka as Toosca and Markus Marquardt as Scarpia; Marcelo Puente as Cavaradossi and Adrianne Pieczonka as Tosca. ©2017 Michael Cooper.

For tickets, visit www.coc.ca.