“Tosca” by Giacomo Puccini libretto (English)

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

ACT THREE

The platform of Castel Sant'Angelo
(At left, a casemate: there is a lamp, large registry
book with writing materials, a bench and a chair. A
crucifix hangs on one of the casemate walls with a
lamp in front. To the right, the door to a small
stairway leading up to the platform. In the
distance, the Vatican and the Basilica of St Peter's.
It is still night, but gradually darkness is dispelled
by the grey, uncertain light of the hour before
dawn. Church bells toll for matins. The voice of a
shepherd passing with his flock can be heard.)

(Orchestra)
VOICE OF SHEPHERD
I give you sighs,
there are as many
as there are leaves
driven by the wind.
You may scorn me, and my heart is sick.
Oh lamp of gold, I die for you.
(Orchestra)
(A jailer with a lantern mounts the stairs from
below. He goes to the casemate and lights the
light in front of the crucifix, and then the one or the

table. He sits down and waits, half drowsing. Soon
a picket of guards, led by a sergeant, emerges
from the stairway with Cavaradossi. The picket
halts as the sergeant leads Cavaradossi to the
casemate and hands a note to the jailer. The latter
examines it, opens the registry book and writes, as
he questions the prisoner.)
(Orchestra)

JAILER
Mario Cavaradossi?
(Cavaradossi bows his head in acknowledgement.
The jailer hands the pen to the sergeant.)
For you.
(to Cavaradossi)
You have one hour.
A priest awaits your call.

CAVARADOSSI
No... but I have a last favour to ask of you.

JAILER
If I can...

CAVARADOSSI
One ver y dear person
I leave behind me. Permit me
to write her a few lines.
(taking a ring from his finger)
This ring is all that remains
of my possessions.
If you will promise to give her
my last farewell,
then it is yours.

JAILER
(hesitates a little, then accepts. He motions
Cavaradossi to the chair at the table, and sits
down on the bench.)
Write.

CAVARADOSSI
(begins to write, but after a few lines a flood of
memories invades him)
And the stars shone and the earth was perfumed.
The gate to the garden creaked and a footstep
rustled the sand to the path...
Fragrant, she entered
and fell into my arms...
Oh, soft kisses, oh, sweet abandon,
as I trembling
unloosed her veils and disclosed her beauty.
Oh, vanished forever is that dream of love,
fled is that hour...
and desperately I die.
And never before have I lovedlife so much!
(He bursts into sobs, Spoletta appears at the
stairhead, the sergeant at his side and Tosca
following. Spoletta indicates where Cavaradossi is
and then calls the jailer. He warns the guard at the
rear to keep careful watch on the prisoner, and
then leaves with the sergeant and the jailer. Tosca
sees Cavaradossi weeping, his head in his arms.
She lifts his head, and he jumps to his feet in
astonishment. Tosca shows him a note but is far
too overcome with emotion to speak.)

(Orchestra)

CAVARADOSSI
(reading)
Ah! A safe-conduct for Floria Tosca...
...and for the Cavalier accompanying her.

TOSCA
(reading with him in a hoarse and shaken voice)
... and for the Cavalier accompanying her.
(to Cavaradossi with an exultant cry)
You are free!

CAVARADOSSI
(studies the pass and sees the signature)
Scarpia!
Scarpia yields? This is his first
act of clemency...

TOSCA
And his last!

CAVARADOSSI
What?

TOSCA
Either your blood or my love
he demanded: my entreaties and my tears were
useless.
Wild with horror, I appealed in vain
to the Madonna and the Saints.

The damnable monster told me
that already the gallows
stretched their arms skyward!
The drums rolled and
he laughed, the evil monster, laughed,
ready to spring and carry off his prey!
Is it yes? He asked, and yes, I promised
myself to his lust. But there at hand
a sharp blade glittered:
he wrote out the liberating pass,
and came to claim the horrible embrace...
That pointed blade I planted in his heart.

CAVARADOSSI
You, with your own hand you killed him?
You tender, you gentle - and for me!

TOSCA
My hands were reeking with his blood!

CAVARADOSSI
(lovingly taking her hands in his)
Oh, sweet hands pure and gentle.
Oh, hands meant for the fair works of piety,
caressing children, gathering roses,
for prayers when others meet misfortune...
Then it was in you, made strong by love,
that justice placed her sacred weapons?
You dealt out death, victorious hands,
oh, sweet hands pure and gentle.

TOSCA (disengaging her hands from his)
Listen, the hour is near. I have already
collected my gold and jewels. A carriage is waiting...
But first...Oh, laugh at this, my love...First
you will be shot, in play and pretence, with
unloaded arms...
mock punishment. Fall down at the shot,
the soldiers leave, and we are safe!
And then to Civitavecchia, and there a ship,
and we're away by sea!

CAVARADOSSI
Free!

TOSCA
Free!

CAVARADOSSI
Away by sea!

TOSCA
Where now have pain and sorrow fled?
Do you smell the aroma of the roses?
Do you feel that all things on the earth
await the sun enamoured?

CAVARADOSSI
(with tender exaltation)
Only for you did death taste bitter for me,
and only you invest this life with splendour.
All joy and all desire, for my being,

are held in you as heat within flame.
I now shall see through your transfiguring eyes,
the heavens blaze and the heavens darken;
and the beauty of all things remarkable
from you alone will have their voice and colour.

TOSCA
The love that found the way to save your life
shall be our guide on earth, our pilot on the waters,
and make the wide world lovely to our eyes;
until together we shall fade away
beyond the sphere of earth, as light clouds fade,
at sundown, high above the sea.
(They are stirred and silent. Then Tosca, recalled to
reality, looks about uneasily.)
They still! don't come...
(turning to Cavaradossi with affectionate concern)
And be careful!
When you hear the shot
you must fall down at once...

CAVARADOSSI (reassuring her)
Have no fear,
I'll fall on the instant, and quite naturally.

TOSCA (insisting)
But be careful not to hurt yourself.
With my experience in the theatre
I'd know how to manage it.

CAVARADOSSI (interrupting and drawing her to him)
Speak to me again as you spoke before.
So sweet is the sound of your voice.

TOSCA (carried away with rapture)
Together in exile
we shall bear our love through the world.
Harmonies of colour...

TOSCA and CAVARADOSSI
And harmonies of song!
(ecstatically)
Triumphant,
the soul trembles
with new hope
in heavenly
increasing ardour.
And in harmonious flight
the spirit soars
to the ecstasy of love.

TOSCA
With a thousand kisses I shall seal your eyes,
and call you by a thousand names of love.
(Meanwhile a squad of soldiers has entered from
the stairway. The officer in command ranges them
to the rear. Enter Spoletta, the sergeant and the
jailer, Spoletta giving the necessary orders. The sky
lightens; dawn appears; a bell strikes four. The
jailer goes to Cavaradossi, removes his cap and
nods towards the officer.)

JAILER
It is time.

CAVARADOSSI
I am ready.
(The jailer takes the registry of the condemned and
leaves by the stairway.)

TOSCA
(to Cavaradossi, speaking low and laughing
secretly)
Remember: at the first shot, down...

CAVARADOSSI
(in a low voice. also laughing)
Down.

TOSCA
And don't get up before I call you...

CAVARADOSSI
No, beloved!

TOSCA
And fall down properly...

CAVARADOSSI
Like Tosca on the stage...

TOSCA
You mustn't laugh...

CAVARADOSSI
So?

TOSCA

So.
(Their farewells over, Cavaradossi follows the
officer. Tosca takes her place on the left side of
the casemate, in position, however, to observe
what is happening on the platform. She sees the
officer and the sergeant lead Cavaradossi towards
the wall directly facing her. The sergeant wishes to
blindfold Cavaradossi who declines with a smile.
The grim preparations begin to strain Tosca s
patience.)

TOSCA
How long is this waiting!
Why are they still delaying? The sun already rises.
Why are they still delaying? It is only a comedy,
I know, but this anguish seems to last for ever!
(The officer and the sergeant marshal the squad of
soldiers before the wall and impart their instructions.)
There! They are taking aim!
How handsome my Mario is!
(The officer lowers his sabre, the platoon fires and
Cavaradossi falls.)
There! Die! Ah, what an actor!
(The sergeant goes up to examine the fallen man.
Spoletta also approaches to prevent the sergeant
from delivering the coup de grace, and he covers
Cavaradossi with a cloak. The officer realigns the
soldiers. The sergeant withdraws the sentinel from
his post at the rear and Spoletta leads the group
off by the stairway. Tosca follows this scene with
the utmost agitation, fearing that Cavaradossi may
lose patience and move or speak before the proper
moment. In a hushed voice she warns him:)

Oh Mario, do not move...
They're going now. Be still. They are going down...
(Seeing the platform deserted, she goes to listen
at the stairhead. She stands there for a moment in
fear and trepidation as she thinks she hears the
soldiers returning. Again in a low voice she warns
Cavaradossi:)
Not yet, you mustn't move...
(She listens: they have all gone. She runs towards
Cavaradossi.)
Quickly! Up, Mario! Mario! Up! Quickly. Come. Up!
Up!
(She kneels and quickly removes the cloak and
leaps to her feet, pale and terrified.)
Mario! Mario! Dead! Dead!
(sobbing, she throws herself on Cavaradossi's
body)
Oh Mario, dead? You? Like this? Dead like this? etc.
(From the courtyard below the parapet and from
the narrow stairway come the confused voices of
Spoletta, Sciarrone and the soldiers. They draw
nearer.)

CONFUSED VOICES
Scarpia stabbed?

SCIARRONE
Yes, stabbed, I tell you!

CONFUSED VOICES
The woman is Tosca!
Don't let her escape.
Keep an eye on the way out via the stairs!
(Spoletta rushes in from the stairway, and behind
him Sciarrone shouting and waving at Tosca.)

SCIARRONE
There she is!

SPOLETTA (charging towards Tosca)
Ah, Tosca, you will pay
for his life most dearly!
(Tosca springs to her feet, pushing Spoletta
violently, answering:)

TOSCA
With my own!
(Spoletta falls back from the sudden thrust. Tosca
escapes and runs to the parapet, she leaps onto it
and hurls herself over the ledge, crying:)
Oh, Scarpia! Before God!
(Sciarrone and soldiers rush in confusion to the
parapet and look down. Spoletta stands stunned
and pale.)

End of the opera

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