She is lusted after by the authoritarian chief of police, Baron Scarpia. The singer Floria Tosca is in love with the painter (and republican) Mario Cavaradossi. The opera that Puccini and his librettists produced was a leaner version of Sardou’s play, concentrating more on the themes of lust, jealousy and corruption than the politics of the Napoleonic Wars. Come October 1899, with the score at last almost complete, Ricordi had by now lost confidence in the opera, writing gloomily to the composer that it would herald financial disaster for both of them.

Puccini, meanwhile, was often away travelling and slow to meet his compositional deadlines.

The librettist Giuseppe Giacosa declared it ‘not a good subject for operatic treatment’ and threatened to pull out of the project. Unfortunately, his collaborators did not share his enthusiasm. Puccini was attracted to La Tosca’s atmosphere of mounting suspense and believed it contained all the ingredients of great drama: sex, violence, politics and lies.

Tosca opera reference in story