As news of Scarpia’s murder spreads, Tosca realises there is no way out and leaps off the parapet of the Castel Sant’Angelo to her death. At the subsequent execution Tosca discovers all too late that Scarpia tricked her, and that Cavaradossi was shot with real bullets. As soon as Scarpia has written out their passport, however, Tosca stabs him to death. Scarpia agrees, explaining that he still needs to appear to have killed Cavaradossi, and so (apparently) instructs his agent Spoletta to stage a mock execution, after which they can both escape. She is naturally prone to jealousy and Scarpia taps into this, but in the process he becomes obsessed with possessing her.Īfter Scarpia sentences Cavaradossi to death for hiding a fugitive, Tosca promises the Chief to give herself to him if he will release her lover and allow both of them to leave Rome.

Rome’s Chief of Police, Baron Scarpia, attempts to squeeze information as to Angelotti’s whereabouts from Cavaradossi’s lover, the celebrated singer Floria Tosca. Angelotti, a consul of the city when it was a republic but a prisoner since Neapolitan forces occupied it, escapes from the Castel Sant’Angelo and turns to the painter Cavaradossi to hide him. Tosca is set around the hours when the conflicting messages arrive in Rome. Anna Pirozzi (Floria Tosca) © The Royal Opera, 2021.

Tosca opera set