DESCRIPTION:
Tosca - Maria Caniglia
Cavaradossi - Beniamino Gigli
Scarpia - Armando Borgioli
Angelotti - Ernesto Dominici

Orchestra del Teatro Reale dell'Opera di Roma
Conducted by Oliveiro de Fabritiis

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Act I: Inside the church of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome

00:00 Ah!... Finalmente!
05:58 Recondita armonia
10:32 Mario! / Son qui!
28:04 Un tal baccano in chiesa!
37:41 Tre sbirri... una carrozza / Te Deum

Act II: Scarpia's apartment in the Palazzo Farnese

41:44 Tosca è un buon falco! / Tal violenza!
51:54 Ed or fra noi parliam da buoni amici
55:27 Orsù, Tosca, parlate
58:41 Floria!... / Amore / Vittoria!
1:02:39 Quanto? Il prezzo!...
1:06:43 Vissi d'arte, vissi d'amore
1:09:50 Vedi,... le man giunte io stendo a te
1:13:03 Per qual via uscirete?
1:14:32 Tosca, finalmente mia!
1:15:35 Or gli perdono! / E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma!

Act III: The upper parts of the Castel Sant' Angelo

1:18:25 Io de' sospiri...
1:23:43 Mario Cavaradossi? A voi...
1:28:21 E lucevan le stelle... Oh, dolci baci
1:33:21 O dolci mani
1:38:20 E non giungono
1:40:50 Com'è lunga l'attesa

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The complete June 1938 "Tosca" (14 double-sided shellac discs), recorded in Rome... Fred Gaisberg, the producer of the HMV recording has written in his autobiography of the many difficulties that beset the project. Permission was grudgingly obtained to use the vast Teatro Reale for the recording venue, but a strict time limit was imposed. Half way through the recording schedule the original Tosca, Iva Pacetti, collapsed. Maria Caniglia was summoned, at Gigli's suggestion, and the chorus, orchestra and remaining soloists began all over again. Trouble with a four-minute section of Act 1 then proved troublesome. Ten "takes" were abandoned, and a further ten the following day were attempted before a satisfactory result was obtained. Then playbacks revealed a mysterious tapping noise, traced after much searching to a tinsmith repairing part of the vast roof. Somehow the project was completed on time, and a booking made to use the same venue for a recording of "Madama Butterfly" the following year.

Gigli... What soaring, liquid, golden flow of beautiful tone! and the most beautiful mezza voce, for sure... Franco Corelli said in an interview that the recordings can't really tell you just how beautiful Gigli's voice was live in the theater. The acting is in the VOICE - This is opera, and this is the problem with the crappy singers of today, who can act but not sing. (One critic, rather cruelly, once described Gigli's appearance on stage as resembling a peasant farmer following a plow.)

A great strength in the project is the conductor Oliviero de Fabritiis (1902-1982), engaged for his first complete opera recording. Rarely have I been so aware of the niceties of the orchestral parts of this magnificent score. De Fabritiis was conductor at the Teatro dell'Opera di Roma from 1932 until 1943. He inaugurated the summer performances at the Baths of Caracalla in 1937, with Lucia di Lammermoor. He conducted widely in Italy, notably in Verona from 1948 until 1980, and in 1951 a series of performances in Mexico City with Maria Callas. He was admired for his italianate warmth of expression, and for his skills at balancing consideration for voices and instrumental details.

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For more information on the opera, please visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tosca
Tosca 1903: Quanto? Il prezzo!... Emma Carelli & Mario Sammarco https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ND0DnRBtp8
Vissi d'arte - Salomea Krusceniski (1902) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYIITT9oBOU
Vissi d'arte - Regina Pacini (1906) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CMdGUbD1co
Vissi d'arte - Maria Callas (1956) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8J36cQbjk34
E lucevan le stelle - Enrico Caruso (1904 Victor Record) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBabT0Wj6to
E lucevan le stelle - Beniamino Gigli (1918) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wN4wBRGmfPw
Gigli in Sonnambula, Cavalleria Rusticana, Gioconda: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V0iZPf1rixs

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Una primadonna che più primadonna non esiste, ovvero la primadonna verista che in Floria Tosca trova la più alta e completa espressione in quanto primadonna, che incarna una primadonna... Eroina liberty di quelle che secondo l'iconografia coeva si aggrappava alle tende e si riversava, o veniva riversata, sul canapè. Con buona pace del teatro di regia date alla protagonista di Tosca tenda e canapè e avrete, appunto TOSCA. Poi, anzi prima bisogna dare all'eroina voce, tecnica, gusto e sensibilità...

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