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Floria Tosca, a celebrated singer - soprano Mario Cavaradossi, a painter - tenor Baron Scarpia, chief of police - baritone Cesare Angelotti, former Consul of the Roman Republic - bass A Sacristan - baritone Spoletta, a police agent - tenor Sciarrone, a gendarme - bass A Jailer - bass A Shepherd boy - alto Soldiers, police agents, altar boys, noblemen and women, townsfolk, artisans 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! Scarpia's apartment on an upper floor of the Farnese Palace (A table set for supper. A wide window opening on the palace courtyard. It is night. Scarpia is at the table taking his supper; every now and again he pauses to reflect. He looks at his watch; he is angry and preoccupied.) SCARPIA Tosca is a good falcon! Surely by this time my hounds have fallen on their double prey! And tomorrow's dawn will see Angelotti on the scaffold and the fine Mario hanging from a noose. (He rings a bell. Enter Sciarrone.) Is Tosca in the palace? SCIARRONE A chamberlain has just gone to look for her. SCARPIA (points towards the window) Open the window. It is late. (The sound of an orchestra is heard from the lower floor, where Maria Carolina, the Queen of Naples, is giving a party in honour of Melas.) The Diva's still missing from the concert. And they strum gavottes. (to Sciarrone) Wait for Tosca at the entrance: tell her I shall expect her after the concert. Or better... (rises and goes to write a note) Give her this note. (Exit Sciarrone. Scarpia resumes his seat at the table.) She will come for love of her Mario! And for love of her Mario she will yield to my pleasure. Such is the profound misery of profound love... For myself the violent conquest has stronger relish than the soft surrender. I take no delight in sighs or vows exchanged at misty lunar dawn. I know not how to draw harmony from guitars, or horoscopes from flowers, nor am I apt at dalliance, or cooing like the turtle dove. I crave, I pursue the craved thing, sate myself and cast it by, and seek new bait. God made diverse beauties as he made diverse wines, and of these God-like works I mean to taste my full. (He drinks. Enter Sciarrone.) SCIARRONE Spoletta's here. SCARPIA Show him in. In good time, too. (Enter Spoletta. Scarpia questions him without looking up from his supper.) Well, my fine man, how did the hunt go? SPOLETTA (aside) Saint Ignatius help me! (to Scarpia) We kept on the lady's trail, following her to a lonely villa lost in the woods. She entered there and soon came out alone. At once with my dogs I vaulted over the garden wall and burst into the house. SCARPIA Well done, Spoletta! SPOLETTA I sniff... I scratch... I rummage SCARPIA (sensing Spoletta's hesitation, rises scowling and pale with anger) And Angelotti? SPOLETTA Nowhere to be found. SCARPIA (in a rage) Ah, dog! Traitor! Snout of a snake. To the gallows! SPOLETTA Jesus! (trying to appease Scarpia's wrath) The painter was there... SCARPIA Cavaradossi? SPOLETTA (nods and quickly adds) And he knows where the other is. He showed such taunting irony in every word and gesture that I arrested him. SCARPIA (with a sigh of satisfaction) Not bad, not bad. SPOLETTA (waving towards the antechamber) He is there. (Scarpia paces up and down, pondering. He stops abruptly as he hears, through the open window, the choral cantata being sung in the Queen s apartment.) SCARPIA (to Spoletta) Bring in the Cavalier. (Exit Spoletta. To Sciarrone) Fetch Roberti and the judge. (Exit Sciarrone. Scarpia sits down again. Spoletta and four bailiffs bring in Mario Cavaradossi; then enter Roberti the executioner, the judge with a scribe, and Sciarrone.) CAVARADOSSI (with disdain) Such violence. SCARPIA (with studied courtesy) Cavalier, please be seated. CAVARADOSSI I want to know... SCARPIA (indicating a chair at the other side of the table) Be seated. CAVARADOSSI (declining) I'll stand. SCARPIA As you wish. Are you aware that a prisoner... (Tosca's voice is heard in the cantata.) CAVARADOSSI Her voice! SCARPIA (who has paused on hearing Tosca's voice) You are aware that a prisoner fled today from Sant'Angelo Castle? CAVARADOSSI I did not know it. SCARPIA And yet it's reported that you sheltered him in Sant'Andrea, gave him food and clothing... CAVARADOSSI (unflinching) Lies. SCARPIA (still quite calm) ...and took him to a suburban place of yours. CAVARADOSSI I deny that. What proof have you? SCARPIA (sweetly) A faithful servant... CAVARADOSSI The facts! Who's my accuser? In vain your spies ransacked my villa. SCARPIA Proof that he is hidden well. CAVARADOSSI Suspicions of a spy! SPOLETTA (offended) He laughed at our questions... CAVARADOSSI And I laugh still! SCARPIA (harshly) Beware! This is a place for tears! Enough now. Answer me! (He rises and angrily shuts the window to be undisturbed by the singing from the floor below, then turns imperiously to Cavaradossi.) Where is Angelotti? CAVARADOSSI I don't know. SCARPIA You deny you gave him food? CAVARADOSSI I deny it. SCARPIA And clothes? CAVARADOSSI I deny it. SCARPIA And refuge in your villa? And that he's hidden there? CAVARADOSSI (vehemently) I deny it! I deny it! SCARPIA (craftily, becoming calm) Come, Cavalier, you must reflect. This stubbornness of yours is not prudent. A prompt confession saves enormous pain. Take my advice and tell me: where is Angelotti? CAVARADOSSI I don't know. SCARPIA Be careful. For the last time, where is he? CAVARADOSSI I don't know. SPOLETTA (to himself) Oh, for a good whipping! (Enter Tosca breathless.) SCARPIA (to himself) Here she is! TOSCA (sees Cavaradossi and runs to embrace him) Mario, you here? CAVARADOSSI (speaking low) Of what you saw there, say nothing. Or you will kill me! (Tosca indicates she understands.) SCARPIA (solemnly) Mario Cavaradossi, the judge awaits your testimony. (to Roberti) First, the usual formalities. And then... as I shall order. (Sciarrone opens the door to the torture chamber. The judge goes in and the others follow. Spoletta stations himself at the door at the back of the room. Tosca and Scarpia are now alone together.) SCARPIA And now let's talk together like good friends. Come now, don't look so frightened. TOSCA (with studied calm) I am not afraid. SCARPIA What about the fan? (passes behind the sofa where Tosca is sitting and leans upon it. He still adopts a gallant air.) TOSCA (with feigned indifference) That was foolish jealousy. SCARPIA So, the Attavanti was not at the villa? TOSCA No, he was alone. SCARPIA Alone? Are you quite sure? TOSCA Nothing escapes a jealous eye. Alone. Alone. SCARPIA (Taking a chair he places it in front of Tosca, sits down, and studies her face.) Indeed! TOSCA (annoyed) Yes. Alone! SCARPIA You protest too much! Perhaps you fear you may betray yourself. (to Sciarrone) Sciarrone, what does the Cavalier have to say? SCIARRONE (appearing) He denies everything. SCARPIA (raising his voice, towards the open door) Keep pressing him! (Sciarrone goes out and shuts the door.) TOSCA (laughing) You know it's quite useless. SCARPIA (serious, pacing back and forth) We shall see, Madam. TOSCA It seems that one must lie to please you? SCARPIA No, but the truth might shorten an extremely painful hour for him... TOSCA (surprised) A painful hour? What do you mean? What are you doing in that room? SCARPIA The law must be enforced. TOSCA Oh, God! What's happening? What is happening? SCARPIA Your lover's bound hand and foot. A ring of hooked iron at his temples, so that they spurt blood at each denial. TOSCA (bounds to her feet) It isn't true! It isn't true! Oh, leering devil! (a prolonged groan from Cavaradossi) He groans! Oh, pity! Pity! SCARPIA It is up to you to save him. TOSCA Good, good! But stop it! Stop it! SCARPIA (shouting) Stop, Sciarrone! SCIARRONE (appearing) Stop everything? SCARPIA Everything. (Sciarrone returns to the torture chamber, shutting the door.) And now the truth! TOSCA Let me see him. SCARPIA No! TOSCA (managing to get near the door) Mario! CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE Tosca! TOSCA Are they still torturing you? CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE No. Courage... and be silent. I despise pain! SCARPIA Come on, Tosca, speak! TOSCA (strengthened by Mario's words) I know nothing. SCARPIA Wasn't that enough for you? Roberti, start again... TOSCA (throwing herself in front of the door, to keep him from giving the order) No! Stop! SCARPIA Will you speak? TOSCA No, no! Ah, monster! Murderer... you're killing him! SCARPIA It's your silence that's killing him. TOSCA Monster, do you laugh at this ghastly torment? SCARPIA (with fierce irony) Tosca on the stage was never more tragic! (to Spoletta) Open the door so she can hear his groans better. (Spoletta opens the door and stands stiffly on the threshold.) CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE I defy you. SCARPIA Harder! Harder! CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE I defy you all! SCARPIA (to Tosca) Speak now... TOSCA What can I say? SCARPIA Come, speak... TOSCA Oh, I know nothing! Must I lie to you? SCARPIA Where's Angelotti? TOSCA No, no! SCARPIA Speak up, come, quickly. Where's he hiding? TOSCA I can stand no more. Oh, horror! Stop this torture... It's more than I can bear... I can stand no more... no more... CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE Ah! TOSCA (turns imploringly to Scarpia, who signals to Spoletta to let her come near; she goes to the open door and is overwhelmed by the horrible scene within. She cries out in anguish to Cavaradossi.) Mario, will you let me speak? CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE No. TOSCA (pleading) Listen, I can bear no more... CAVARADOSSI'S VOICE Fool! What do you know and what can you say? SCARPIA (enraged at this, shouts furiously at Spoletta) Shut him up! (Spoletta goes into the torture chamber, returning after a moment. Tosca, overcome with emotion, has fallen prostrate on the sofa. Sobbing, she appeals to Scarpia. He stands silent and impassive. Spoletta, meanwhile, mumbles a prayer under his breath: Judex ergo cum sedebit quidquid latet apparebit nil inultum remanebit.) TOSCA What have I done to you in my life? It is I you tor ture so. It is my spirit... (bursts into convulsive sobs) Yes, my spirit you are torturing. SPOLETTA (continues to pray) Nil inultum remanebit! (Scarpia, profiting from Tosca's breakdown goes towards the torture chamber and orders the resumption of the torment. There is a piercing cry, Tosca leaps up, and in a choking voice says rapidly to Scarpia:) TOSCA In the well, in the garden... SCARPIA Angelotti is there? TOSCA Yes. SCARPIA (loudly, towards the torture chamber) Enough, Roberti! SCIARRONE (re-opening the door) He has fainted! TOSCA (to Scarpia) Murderer! I want to see him. SCARPIA Bring him in here. (Sciarrone re-enters and then Cavaradossi, in a faint, carried by the policemen, who lay him on the sofa. Tosca runs up, but on seeing her lover spattered with blood, covers her face in fright and horror. Then, ashamed of her show of weakness, she kneels beside Cavaradossi, kissing him and weeping. Sciarrone, Roberti, the judge and the scribe go out at the rear. At a sign from Scarpia, Spoletta and the policemen stay behind.) CAVARADOSSI (as he comes to) Floria! TOSCA (covering him with kisses) Beloved... CAVARADOSSI It is you? TOSCA How you have suffered. Oh, my soul! But this just God will punish him! CAVARADOSSI Did you speak? TOSCA No, beloved... CAVARADOSSI Truly not? TOSCA No! SCARPIA (loudly to Spoletta) In the well... in the garden. Get him, Spoletta. (Exit Spoletta. Cavaradossi has heard; he rises threateningly towards Tosca, but his strength fails him and he falls back on the sofa, bitterly reproachful as he exclaims:) CAVARADOSSI Ah, you have betrayed me! TOSCA (beseeching) Mario! CAVARADOSSI (rejecting her embrace and thrusting her from him) Accursed woman! TOSCA (beseeching) Mario! SCIARRONE (bursting in, very perturbed) Excellency! Bad news! SCARPIA (taken aback) What are you looking so worried about? SCIARRONE It is news of defeat! SCARPIA How? Where? What defeat? SCIARRONE At Marengo. SCARPIA (impatient) Blockhead! SCIARRONE Bonaparte has won! SCARPIA And Melas? SCIARRONE No. Melas has fled! (Cavaradossi, having listened to Sciarrone with anxious expectation, now, in sheer enthusiasm, finds the strength to rise threateningly towards Scarpia.) CAVARADOSSI Victory! Victory! The avenging dawn now rises to make the wicked tremble! And liberty returns, the scourge of tyrants! TOSCA (trying desperately to calm him) Mario, be still! Have pity on me! CAVARADOSSI You see me now rejoice in my own suffering... And now your blood runs cold, hangman, Scarpia! (Tosca clutches Cavaradossi and with a rush of broken words tries to calm him, while Scarpia answers with a sardonic smile.) SCARPIA Go, shout your boasts! Pour out the last dregs of your vile soul! Go, for you die, the hangman's noose awaits you. (shouts to the policemen) Take him away! (Sciarrone and the policemen seize Cavaradossi and drag him towards the door. Tosca makes a supreme effort to hold on to him, but they thrust her brutally aside.) TOSCA Mario, with you... SCARPIA Not you! (The door closes and Scarpia and Tosca remain alone.) TOSCA (moaning) Save him! SCARPIA I?...You rather! (He goes to the table, notes his supper interrupted midway, and again is calm and smiling.) My poor supper was interrupted. (sees Tosca, dejected and motionless, still at the door) So downhearted? Come, my fair lady. Sit down here. Shall we try to find together a way to save him? (Tosca bestirs herself and looks at him. Scarpia, still smiling, sits down and motions to her to do the same.) Well then, sit down, and we shall talk. And first, a sip of wine. It comes from Spain. (He refills the glass and offers it to Tosca.) A sip to hearten you. TOSCA (still staring at Scarpia, she advances towards the table. She sits resolutely facing him, then asks in a tone of the deepest contempt:) How much? SCARPIA (imperturbable, as she pours his drink) How much? (He laughs.) TOSCA What is your price? SCARPIA Yes, they say that I am venal, but it is not for money that I will sell myself to beautiful women. I want other recompense if I am to betray my oath of office. I have waited for this hour! Already in the past I burned with passion for the Diva. But tonight I have beheld you in a new role I had not seen before. Those tears of yours were lava to my senses and that fierce hatred which your eyes shot at me only fanned the fire in my blood. Supple as a leopard you enwrapped your lover. In that instant I vowed you would be mine! Mine! Yes. I will have you... (He rises and stretches out his arms towards Tosca. She has listened motionless to his wanton tirade. Now she leaps up and takes refuge behind the sofa.) TOSCA (running towards the window) "Ah! I'll jump out first! SCARPIA (coldly) I hold your Mario in pawn! TOSCA Oh, wretch... Oh, ghastly bargain... (It suddenly occurs to her to appeal to the Queen, and she runs to the door.) SCARPIA (ironically) I do you no violence. Go. You are free. But your hope is vain: the Queen would merely grant pardon to a corpse! (Tosca draws back in fright, her eyes fixed on Scarpia. She drops on the sofa. She then looks away from him with a gesture of supreme contempt.) How you detest me! TOSCA Ah! God! SCARPIA (approaching) Even so, even so I want you! TOSCA (with loathing) Don't touch me, devil! I hate you, hate you! Fiend, base villain! (She flees from him in horror.) SCARPIA What does it matter? Spasms of wrath or spasms of passion... TOSCA Foul villain! SCARPIA You are mine! (trying to seize her) TOSCA Wretch! (retreats behind the table) SCARPIA (pursuing her) Mine! TOSCA Help! Help! (A distant roll of drums draws slowly near, then fades again into the distance.) SCARPIA Do you hear? It is the drum that leads the way for the last march of the condemned. Time passes! (Tosca listens in terrible dread, and then comes back from the window to lean exhausted on the sofa.) Are you aware of what dark work is done down there? They raise a gallows. By your wish, your Mario has but one more hour to live. (He coldly leans on a corner of the sofa and stares at Tosca.) TOSCA I lived for ar t, I lived for love: never did I harm a living creature! Whatever misfortunes I encountered I sought with secret hand to succour. Ever in pure faith, my prayers rose in the holy chapels. Ever in pure faith, I brought flowers to the altars. In this hour of pain, why, why, oh Lord, why dost Thou repay me thus? Jewels I brought for the Madonna's mantle, and songs for the stars in heaven that they shone forth with greater radiance. In this hour of distress, why, why, oh Lord, why dost Thou repay me thus? (kneeling before Scarpia) TOSCA Look at me, oh, behold! With clasped hands I beseech you! And, vanquished, I implore the help of your word... SCARPIA Tosca, you are too beautiful and too loving. I yield to you. And at a paltry price; you ask me for a life. I ask of you an instant. TOSCA (rising, with great contempt) Go, go, you fill me with loathing! (a knock at the door) SCARPIA Who's there? SPOLETTA (entering breathless) Excellency, Angelotti killed himself when we arrived. SCARPIA Well, then, have him hanged dead from the gibbet. The other prisoner? SPOLETTA The Cavalier Cavaradossi? Everything is ready, Excellency. TOSCA (to herself) God help me! SCARPIA (to Spoletta) Wait. (to Tosca) Well? (Tosca nods assent She weeps with shame and hides her face. To Spoletta) Listen... TOSCA (suddenly interrupting) But I demand that he be freed this instant... SCARPIA (to Tosca) We must dissemble. I cannot openly grant pardon to him. All must believe the Cavalier is dead. (points to Spoletta) This trusted man of mine will see to it. TOSCA How can I be sure? SCARPIA By the orders I give him in your presence. (to Spoletta) Spoletta, shut the door. (Spoletta shuts the door and comes back to Scarpia.) I have changed my mind. The prisoner shall be shot... (Tosca starts with terror.) Wait a moment... (He fixes on Spoletta a hard, significant glance and Spoletta nods in reply that he has guessed his meaning.) As we did with Count Palmieri. SPOLETTA An execution... SCARPIA (significantly stressing his words) ...A sham one! As we did with Palmieri! You understand? SPOLETTA I understand. SCARPIA Go. TOSCA I want to explain to him myself. SCARPIA As you wish. (to Spoletta) You will let her pass... And remember, at four o'clock. SPOLETTA Yes. Like Palmieri. (Exit Spoletta. Scarpia, near the door, listens to his retreating footsteps, and then his whole behaviour changing, advances towards Tosca flushed with passion.) SCARPIA I have kept my promise. TOSCA (stopping him) Not yet. I want a safe conduct, so that he and I can flee the State together. SCARPIA (gallantly) You want to leave? TOSCA Yes, for ever. SCARPIA Your wish shall be granted. (He goes to the desk and begins writing. He stops to ask:) And which road do you prefer? TOSCA The shortest! SCARPIA Civitavecchia? TOSCA Yes. (As he writes, Tosca goes up to the table to take, with shaking hand, the glass of wine that Scarpia has poured, but as she lifts it to her lips, her eye falls on a sharply pointed knife that is lying on the table. She sees that Scarpia at this moment is absorbed in writing, and so, with infinite caution, still answering his questions, and never taking her eye from him, she reaches out for the knife. Finally, she is able to grasp the knife. Still watching Scarpia, she hides it behind her as she leans against the table. He has now finished making out the pass. He puts his seal upon it and folds the paper, and then, opening his arms, advances towards Tosca to embrace her.) SCARPIA Tosca, now you are mine at last! (But his shout of lust ends in a cry of anguish: Tosca has struck him full in the breast.) Accursed one! TOSCA This is the kiss of Tosca! (Scarpia stretches out an arm towards her, swaying and lurching as he advances, seeking her aid. She eludes him, but is suddenly caught between him and the table, and seeing that he is about to touch her, she thrusts him back in horror. Scarpia crashes to the floor, shrieking in a voice nearly stifled with blood.) SCARPIA Help! I am dying! Help! I die! TOSCA (watches him as he struggles helplessly on the floor and clutches at the sofa, trying to pull himself up) Is your blood choking you? And killed by a woman! Did you torment me enough? Can you still hear me? Speak! Look at me! I am Tosca! Oh, Scarpia! SCARPIA (after a last effort he falls back) Help! Help! TOSCA (bending over him) Is your blood choking you? Die accursed! Die! Die! Die! (seeing him motionless) He is dead! And now I pardon him! All Rome trembled before him! (Her eyes still fixed on the body, Tosca goes to the table, puts down the knife, takes a bottle of water, wets a napkin and washes her fingers. She then goes to the mirror to arrange her hair. Then she hunts for the safe-conduct pass on the desk, and not finding it there she turns and sees the paper in the clenched hand of the dead man. She takes it with a shudder and hides it in her bosom. She puts out the candle on the table and is about to leave when a scruple detains her. She returns to the desk and takes the candle there, using it to relight the other, and then places one to the right and the other to the left of Scarpia's head. She rises and looks about her and notices a crucifix on the wall. She removes it with reverent care, and returning to the dead man, kneels at his side and places it on his breast. She rises, approaches the door cautiously, goes out and closes it.) 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 |