Tosca, an opera by Giacomo Puccini runs at the Hummingbird Centre until Oct. 11

By Alidė Kohlhaas

While Giacomo Puccini worked on his last opera, Turandot, a piece he left unfinished, he became discouraged about the turn that the art of opera had taken. "By now the public for new music has lost its palate," the composer wrote in 1922, just two years before his death from throat cancer. "It loves or puts up with illogical music devoid of sense. Melody is no longer practiced — or if it is, it is vulgar." He observed that the public of the day believed the symphonic elements must rule, "and I, instead, believe this is the end of opera."

He wasn't quite right. There have been many famous operas created since then. None, however, are as popular, or as unreservedly loved – by the public, if not by the critics — as for example Puccini’s Tosca. This opera is currently being presented by the Canadian Opera Company (COC), alternating with Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes. For the COC Tosca's popularity has translated into sold-out performances.

Puccini was not what we would now describe as an intellectual composer, but the man knew how to write melodies, and was a stickler for detail, for historical authenticity. Not that he was a member of the verismo (life-as-it-is) school, which by the way, produced few composers that managed to turn out more than one popular work. Tosca, however, does contain some elements of this movement. Puccini's musical . . .

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