“Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini libretto (English)

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three

ACT ONE

The Church of Sant'Andrea della Valle
(To the right, the Attavanti chapel. To the left, a
painter's scaffold with a large painting covered with
a cloth. Painter's tools. A basket. Enter Angelotti in
prisoner's clothes, dishevelled, tired, and shaking
with fear, nearly running. He looks quickly about.)

ANGELOTTI
Ah! At last! In my stupid fear I thought
I saw a policeman's jowl in every face.
(stops to look around more attentively, calmer now
that he recognises the place. Sighs with relief as
he notices the column with its basin of Holy Water
and the Madonna.)
The column...and the basin...
"At the base of the Madonna"
my sister wrote me...
(goes up to the Madonna and searches about at
the base. He gives a muffled shout of joy as he
picks up the key.)
This is the key, and this is the chapel!
(With the utmost care, he puts the key in the lock
of the Attavanti chapel, opens the gate, goes in,
closes the gate and disappears within. Enter the
sacristan from the rear, carrying a bunch of
painter's brushes, and muttering loudly as though
he were addressing someone.)

SACRISTAN
Forever washing! And every brush is filthier
than an urchin's collar.
Mister Painter...There!
(looks toward the scaffold with its painting and is
surprised on seeing nobody there)
No one...I would have sworn
the Cavalier Cavaradossi
had come back.
(puts down the brushes, mounts the scaffold and
examines the basket, remarking:)
No, I'm mistaken.
The basket has not been touched.
(The Angelus sounds. The sacristan kneels and
prays in hushed voice.)
Angelus Domini nuntiavit Mariae,
et concepit de Spiritu Sancto.
Ecce ancilla Domini;
fiat mihi secundum Verbum tuum
et Verbum caro factum est
et habitavit in nobis...
(Enter Cavaradossi from the side door. He sees the
sacristan kneeling.)

CAVARADOSSI
What are you doing?

SACRISTAN (rising)
Reciting the Angelus.
(Cavaradossi mounts the scaffold and uncovers
the painting: it is of a Mary Magdalene with great
blue eyes and a cascade of golden hair. The
painter stands in silence before it and studies it
closely. The sacristan turns to speak to
Cavaradossi and cries out in amazement as he
sees the uncovered picture.)
Oh, holy vessels!
Her picture!

CAVARADOSSI
Whose?

SACRISTAN
That strange girl who has been coming here
these past few days to pray.
Such devotion...such piety.
(He waves towards the Madonna from whose base
Angelotti has taken the key.)

CAVARADOSSI
It is so. And she was so absorbed
in fervent prayer that I could paint
her lovely face unnoticed.

SACRISTAN (to himself)
Away, Satan, away!

CAVARADOSSI
Give me my paints.
(The sacristan does so. Cavaradossi paints rapidly,
with frequent pauses to observe his work. The
sacristan comes and goes; he carries a small
basin in which he continues his job of washing the
brushes. Suddenly Cavaradossi leaves his painting:
from his pocket he takes a medallion with a
portrait in miniature, and his eyes travel from the
miniature to his own work.)
Oh hidden harmony
of contrasting beauties! Floria
is dark, my love and passion...

SACRISTAN (to himself)
Jest with knaves and neglect the saints...

CAVARADOSSI
And you, mysterious beauty...
crowned with blond locks.
Your eyes are blue
and Tosca's black!

SACRISTAN (to himself)
Jest with knaves and neglect the saints...

CAVARADOSSI
Dissimilar beauties are together blended
by the mystery of art:
yet as I paint her portrait, Tosca,

my sole thought is of you.

SACRISTAN (to himself)
These various women
in rivalry with the Madonna
smell of the devil.
Jest with knaves and neglect the saints...
But we can have no truck
with these agnostic dogs.
Enemies of the Holy Government!
Jest with knaves and neglect the saints...
Yes, they are sinners, the whole pack of them!
Let us rather make the sign of the cross.
(to Cavaradossi)
Excellency, may I go?

CAVARADOSSI
As you wish.
(He resumes his painting.)

SACRISTAN
Your basket's full...
Are you fasting?

CAVARADOSSI
I'm not hungr y.

SACRISTAN
(ironically rubbing his hands)
Oh! So sorry!
(He cannot contain a gleeful gesture as he glances
avidly at the full basket. He picks it up and places
it to one side.)

Be sure to close up when you leave.

CAVARADOSSI
Run along!

SACRISTAN
I'm going.
(Exit at the rear. Cavaradossi continues working,
his back to the chapel. Angelotti appears at the
gate there, and puts the key in the lock, believing
the church is still deserted.)

CAVARADOSSI
(turns at the creaking of the lock)
Someone in there!
(Startled by the painter's movement, Angelotti
stops as though to return to his hiding-place, but
looks up and cries out in joy as he recognises
Cavaradossi. Smothering his cry, he stretches out
his arms towards the painter as toward an
unexpected friend in need.)

ANGELOTTI
You! Cavaradossi!
Heaven itself has sent you!
Don't you recognise me?
Has prison, then, wrought such a great change in
me?

CAVARADOSSI
(He looks closely at Angelotti's face and finally
remembers. Quickly drops his palette and brushes,
and comes down from the scaffold. He looks about
warily as he goes up to Angelotti.)

Angelotti! The Consul
of the lamented Roman Republic!
(He runs to close door at right.)

ANGELOTTI
I have just escaped from Castel Sant'Angelo.

CAVARADOSSI
I am at your service.

TOSCA (from without)
Mario!
(At Tosca's call, Cavaradossi motions Angelotti to
be quiet.)

CAVARADOSSI
Go and hide! It's a jealous woman!
Only a moment and I'll send her away.

TOSCA
Mario!

CAVARADOSSI
(in the direction of her voice)
Here I am.

ANGELOTTI
(Feeling suddenly weak, he leans against the
scaffold.)
I'm faint with exhaustion. I can't stand up.

CAVARADOSSI
(He fetches the basket from the top of the scaffold
and pushes Angelotti towards the chapel with
words of encouragement.)

There's food and wine in this basket.

ANGELOTTI
Thanks!

CAVARADOSSI
Quick now!
(Angelotti enters the chapel.)

TOSCA
(still from without, calling angrily)
Mario! Mario! Mario!

CAVARADOSSI (opening the gate)
I am here...

TOSCA
(bursts in with a kind of violence, thrusting
Cavaradossi aside as he tries to embrace her, and
looks around suspiciously)
Why was it locked?

CAVARADOSSI
That was the sacristan's wish.

TOSCA
With whom were you talking?

CAVARADOSSI
With you!

TOSCA
You were whispering with someone else.

Where is she?...

CAVARADOSSI
Who?

TOSCA
She! That woman!
I heard her quick steps
and her dress rustling.

CAVARADOSSI
You're dreaming!

TOSCA
Do you deny it?

CAVARADOSSI (trying to kiss her)
I deny it and I love you!

TOSCA (with gentle reproach)
Oh no! Before the gentle Madonna,
no, Mario!
First let me pray and offer these flowers.
(She approaches the Madonna, arranges artfully
about her the flowers she has brought, and kneels
to pray; then rises to address Mario, who has
resumed his work.)
Now listen: tonight I am singing,
but the programme will be brief. Wait for me
at the stage entrance, and we two shall go
alone together to your villa.

CAVARADOSSI (his thoughts still elsewhere)
Tonight?

TOSCA
It is the time of the full moon,
when the heart is drunk with the nightly fragrance
of the flowers. Are you not happy?

CAVARADOSSI
(still somewhat distraught and thoughtful)
So very happy!

TOSCA (struck by his tone)
Say it again!

CAVARADOSSI
So very happy!

TOSCA
How faintly you say it!
(sits on the steps next to Cavaradossi)
Do you not long for our little house
that is waiting for us, hidden in the grove?
Our refuge, sacred to us and unseen by the world,
protected with love and mystery?
Oh, at your side to listen there
to the voices of the night
as they rise through the starlit,
shadowed silences:
from the woods and from the thickets
and the dry grass, from the depths
of shattered tombs
scented with thyme,
the night murmurs
its thousand loves

and false counsels
to soften and seduce the heart.
Oh wide fields, blossom! And sea winds
throb in the moon's radiance, ah,
rain down desire, you vaulted stars!
Tosca burns with a mad love!

CAVARADOSSI
Ah! Sorceress, I am bound in your toils...

TOSCA
Tosca's blood burns with a mad love!

CAVARADOSSI
Sorceress, I will come!

TOSCA
Oh, my love!

CAVARADOSSI
(looks towards where Angelotti went out)
But now you must let me work.

TOSCA
You dismiss me?

CAVARADOSSI
You know my work is pressing.

TOSCA
I am going!
(Glancing up she sees the painting.)
And who is that blond woman there?

CAVARADOSSI
Mary Magdalene. Do you like her?

TOSCA
She is too beautiful!

CAVARADOSSI (laughing)
Ah, rare praise!

TOSCA (suspicious)
You laugh?
I have seen those sky-blue eyes before.

CAVARADOSSI (unconcerned)
There are so many in the world!

TOSCA (trying to remember)
Wait... wait...
Its the Attavanti!

CAVARADOSSI
Brava!

TOSCA (blindly jealous)
Do you see her? She loves you! Do you love her?

CAVARADOSSI
By pure chance...

TOSCA
Those footsteps and whispers...
Ah... She was here just now...

CAVARADOSSI
Come here!

TOSCA
The shameless flirt! And to me!

CAVARADOSSI (serious)
By pure chance I saw her yesterday...
she came here to pray...
and I, unnoticed, painted her.

TOSCA
Swear!

CAVARADOSSI
I swear!

TOSCA (her eyes still on the painting)
How intently she stares at me!

CAVARADOSSI
Come away!

TOSCA
She taunts and mocks me.

CAVARADOSSI
What foolishness!
(holding her close and gazing at her)

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, resting her head on his shoulder)
Oh, how well you know the art
of capturing women's hearts!
(still persisting in her idea)
But let her eyes be black ones!

CAVARADOSSI
My jealous Tosca!

TOSCA
Yes, I feel it, I torment you
unceasingly.

CAVARADOSSI
My jealous Tosca!

TOSCA
I know you would forgive me
if you knew my grief.

CAVARADOSSI
You are my idol, Tosca.
All things in you delight me:
your storming anger
and your pulsing love!

TOSCA
I know you would forgive me
if you knew my grief.
Say again
those consoling words...
Say them again!

CAVARADOSSI
My life, my troubled one, beloved.
I shall always say: "I love you, Floria".
Set your uneasy heart at rest,
I shall always say: "I love you".

TOSCA
(disengaging, lest she be won completely)
Good heavens! What a sin!
You have undone my hair.

CAVARADOSSI
Now you must leave me!

TOSCA
You stay at your work until this evening.
And will you promise that, blond locks
or black, by chance or otherwise,
no woman shall come here to pray?

CAVARADOSSI
I swear it, beloved. Go now!

TOSCA
How you do hurry me along!

CAVARADOSSI
(mildly reproving, as he sees her jealousy return)
Come, again?

TOSCA
(falling into his arms, with up-turned cheek)
No, forgive me!

CAVARADOSSI (smiling)
Before the Madonna?

TOSCA
She is so good!
But let her eyes be black ones!
(A kiss, and Tosca hurries away. Cavaradossi
listens to her withdrawing footsteps, then carefully
opens the door half-way and peers out. Seeing that
all is clear, he runs to the chapel, and Angelotti at
once appears from behind the gate.)

CAVARADOSSI
(opening the gate for Angelotti, who has naturally
heard the foregoing dialogue)
She is good, my Tosca, but, as she trusts
her confessor, she hides nothing.
So I must say nothing. It's wiser so.

ANGELOTTI
Are we alone?

CAVARADOSSI
Yes. What is your plan?

ANGELOTTI
As things stand now, either to flee the State

or stay in hiding in Rome. My sister...

CAVARADOSSI
The Attavanti?

ANGELOTTI
Yes, she hid some women's clothes
under the altar there,
a dress, a veil, a fan. As soon as it gets dark
I'll put these garments on...

CAVARADOSSI
Now I understand!
That prudent behaviour
and that fervent prayer
in so young and beautiful a woman
had made me suspect
some secret love!
Now I understand!
It was the love of a sister!

ANGELOTTI
She has dared all
to save me from that scoundrel Scarpia!

CAVARADOSSI
Scarpia? That licentious bigot who exploits
the uses of religion as refinements
for his libertine lust, and makes
both the confessor and the hangman
the servant of his wantonness!
I'll save you, should it cost my life!
But delaying until nightfall is not safe.

I fear the sunlight!

CAVARADOSSI
The chapel gives onto a vegetable garden:
beyond that is a canefield that winds along through
meadows to my villa.

ANGELOTTI
Yes, I know.

CAVARADOSSI
Here is the key. Before evening
I shall join you there. Take
the woman's costume with you.

ANGELOTTI
(bundling together the clothes from under the altar)
Should I put them on?

CAVARADOSSI
You needn't now, the path's deserted.

ANGELOTTI (about to go)
Good-bye!

CAVARADOSSI (running towards him)
If there's any sign of danger, go to the garden well.
There's water at the bottom,
but half-way down, a little passage
leads to a dark room. It's a sure,
impenetrable hiding place!
(The report of a cannon. The two men look at each
other in alarm.)

The cannon of the castle!

CAVARADOSSI
They've discovered your escape!
Now Scarpia lets loose his pack of spies!

ANGELOTTI
Good-bye!

CAVARADOSSI (with sudden resolve)
I will come with you. We must be on guard!

ANGELOTTI
Someone's coming!

CAVARADOSSI
If we're attacked we fight!
(They leave quickly by the chapel. Enter the
sacristan running, bustling and shouting.)

SACRISTAN
Joyful news, Excellency!
(He looks towards the scaffold, and is surprised
that once again the painter is not there.)
He's gone. I am disappointed.
He who aggrieves a misbeliever
earns an indulgence!
(Priests, pupils and singers of the chapel enter
tumultuously from every direction.)
The whole choir is here!
Hurr y!
(Other pupils arrive tardily, and at length all group
themselves together.)

PUPILS (in great confusion)
Where?

SACRISTAN
(pushing some of the priests along)
In the sacristy.

SOME PUPILS
But what's happened?

SACRISTAN
You haven't heard?
Bonaparte...the scoundrel...
Bonaparte...

OTHERS
Well? What?

SACRISTAN
He was plucked and quartered
and thrown to Beelzebub!

CHORUS
Who says so? It's a dream! It's nonsense!

SACRISTAN
It's a true report.
The news just reached us.

CHORUS
Let's celebrate the victory!

SACRISTAN
And tonight
a mighty torch procession,
a gala evening at Farnese Palace,

and a new cantata for the great occasion
with Flora Tosca!
And in the churches,
hymns to the Lord!
Now get along and dress,
and no more shouting.
On with you to the sacristy!

CHORUS (laughing and shouting gaily)
Double pay...Te Deum...Gloria!
Long live the King! Let's celebrate the victory! etc.
(Their shouting is at its height when an ironic voice
cuts short the uproar of songs and laughter. It is
Scarpia. Behind him, Spoletta and several
policemen)

SCARPIA
Such a hubbub in church!
A fine respect!

SACRISTAN (stammering with fright)
Excellency, the joyous news...

SCARPIA
Prepare for the Te Deum.
(All depart crest-fallen; even the sacristan hopes to
slip away, but Scarpia brusquely detains him.)
You stay here!

SACRISTAN (cowering)
I shan't move!

SCARPIA (to Spoletta)
And you search every corner,

track down every clue.

SPOLETTA
Very well.

SCARPIA (to other policemen)
Keep watch at the doors,
without arousing suspicion!
(to sacristan)
Now, as for you...
weigh your answers well.
A prisoner of State
has just escaped from Castel Sant'Angelo.
He took refuge here.

SACRISTAN
Heaven help us!

SCARPIA
He may still be here.
Where is the chapel of the Attavanti?

SACRISTAN
That is it there.
(He goes to the gate and finds it half-open.)
It's open...Merciful Heaven!
And there's another key!

SCARPIA
A good sign. Let's go in.
(They enter the chapel and then return. Scarpia,
balked, has a fan in his hands which he shakes
nervously.)
It was a bad mistake
to fire the cannon. The cheat

has flown the roost, but left behind
a precious clue, a fan.
Who was the accomplice
in his flight?
(He puzzles over the situation, then examines the
fan; suddenly notices the coat of arms.)
The Marchesa Attavanti! It's her crest...
(looks around scrutinising every corner of the
church. His gaze rests on the scaffold, the
painter's tools, the painting...and he recognises
the familiar features of the Attavanti in the face of
the saint.)
Her portrait!
(to the sacristan)
Who painted that picture?

SACRISTAN
The Cavalier Cavaradossi.

SCARPIA
He!
(One of the policemen returns from the chapel
bringing the basket which Cavaradossi gave to
Angelotti.)

SACRISTAN
Heavens! The basket!

SCARPIA (pursuing his own thoughts)
He! Tosca's lover! A suspect character!
A revolutionary!

SACRISTAN
(peering into the basket)
Empty! Empty!

SCARPIA
What do you say?
(on seeing the policeman with the basket)
What's that?

SACRISTAN (taking the basket)
They found this basket
in the chapel.

SCARPIA
Have you seen it before?

SACRISTAN
Yes, indeed!
(hesitant and fearful)
It's the painter's basket...but...even so...

SCARPIA
Spit out what you know!

SACRISTAN
I left it for him filled
with excellent food...
The painter's meal!

SCARPIA
(attentive, seeking to discover more)
Then he must have eaten!

SACRISTAN
In the chapel? No. He had no key,
nor did he want to eat. He told me so himself.

So I put the basket safely to one side.
Libera me domine!
(He shows where he put the basket, and leaves it
there.)

SCARPIA (to himself)
It's all clear now...
The sacristan's food
became Angelotti's booty!
(He sees Tosca, who enters in haste.)
Tosca? She must not see me.
(He hides behind the column with the basin of Holy
Water.)
Iago had a handkerchief, and I a fan
to drive a jealous lover to distraction!

TOSCA
(runs towards the scaffold sure of finding
Cavaradossi, and is taken aback at not seeing him
there)
Mario! Mario!

SACRISTAN (at the foot of the scaffold)
The painter Cavaradossi?
Who knows where the heretic is; and with whom?
He's slipped away, evaporated
by his own witchcraft.
(He slips away.)

TOSCA
Deceived? No...

He could not betray me!

SCARPIA
(circling the column, he advances towards the
astonished Tosca. Dips his finger in the basin, and
offers her the Holy Water. Bells sound outside,
summoning the faithful to the church.)
Divine Tosca,
my hand awaits
your delicate hand.
Not out of idle gallantry
but to offer Holy Water.

TOSCA
(touching Scarpia's hand and crossing herself)
Thank you, Sir!
(Slowly the central nave of the church fills with the
faithful - people of every station, rich and poor,
townsmen and peasants, soldiers and beggars.
Then a cardinal, with the head of the convent,
proceeds to the main altar. Before that altar, the
crowd jams into the central nave.)

SCARPIA
It is a noble example that you give;
filled with holy zeal, you draw
from Heaven the mastery of art
to revive the faith of men.

TOSCA (distraught and preoccupied)
You are too kind.

SCARPIA
Pious women are so rare...
Your life's the stage...
(significantly)
yet you come to church to pray.

TOSCA (surprised)
What do you mean?

SCARPIA
And you are not
as other strumpets are
(points to the portrait)
who have the dress and face of Magdalene
and come to scheme in love.

TOSCA (at once aroused)
What? In love? Your proof?

SCARPIA (showing her the fan)
Is this a painter's tool?

TOSCA (grabbing it)
A fan! Where was it?

SCARPIA
There on the scaffold. Obviously
somebody surprised the lovers,
and she lost her feathers in her flight!

TOSCA (studying the fan)
The crown! The crest! It's the Attavanti's!

Oh, prophetic doubt!

SCARPIA (to himself)
I've hit the mark!

TOSCA
(forgetting both the place and Scarpia, tries to hold
back her tears)
And I came sadly here to tell him
that in vain, tonight, the sky will darken:
for the lovesick Tosca is a prisoner...

SCARPIA (to himself)
The poison bites home already!

TOSCA
... a prisoner of the royal jubilee!

SCARPIA (to himself)
The poison bites home already!
(sweetly to Tosca)
Oh, gracious lady,
what avails you?
For I see
a rebel tear
mars your fair cheek
and moistens it.
Oh, gracious lady,
why are you grieving?

TOSCA
It is nothing!

SCARPIA (insinuating)
I would give my life

to wipe away those tears.

TOSCA (unheeding)
Here I am heartbroken, while he,
in another's arms, mocks at my anguish.

SCARPIA (to himself)
The poison bites deep.

TOSCA (her anger rising)
Where are they? Could I but catch
the traitors! Oh, dark suspicion!
Double loves now nest
inside this villa!
Oh, traitor!
(with immense grief)
Oh, my fair nest befouled with mud!
(with quick resolve)
I'll fall upon them unexpected!
(turns threateningly towards the portrait)
You shall not have him tonight, I swear!

SCARPIA
(with a scandalised air and tone of rebuke)
In church!

TOSCA
God will pardon me. He sees me weeping!
(She leaves in great distress, Scarpia
accompanying her and pretending to reassure her.
As she leaves, he returns to the column and
makes a sign.)

SCARPIA
(to Spoletta, who emerges from behind the column)
Three men and a carriage...Quick, follow
wherever she goes! And take care!

SPOLETTA
Yes, Sir. And where do we meet?

SCARPIA
Farnese Palace!
(Spoletta hurries out with three policemen.)
Go, Tosca!
Now Scarpia digs a nest within your heart!
Go, Tosca! Scarpia now sets loose
the soaring falcon of your jealousy!
How great a promise in your quick suspicions!
Now Scarpia digs a nest within your heart!
Go, Tosca!
(Scarpia kneels and prays as the cardinal passes.)

CHORUS
Adjutorum nostrum in nomine Domini
qui fecit coelum et terram.
Sit nomen Domini benedictum
et hoc nunc et usque in saeculum.

SCARPIA
My will takes aim now at a double target,
nor is the rebel's head the bigger prize...
Ah, to see the flame of those imperious eyes
grow faint and languid with passion...
For him, the rope,
and for her, my arms...

CHORUS
Te Deum laudamus:
Te Dominum confitemur!
(The sacred chant from the back of the church
startles Scarpia, as though awakening him from a
dream. He collects himself, makes the Sign of the
Cross.)

SCARPIA
Tosca, you make me forget God!
(He kneels and prays devoutly.)

CHORUS, SCARPIA
Te aeternum
Patrem omnis terra veneratur!

Contents: Roles; Act One; Act Two; Act Three