{"product_id":"toscas-rome-the-play-and-the-opera-in-historical-perspective","title":"Tosca's Rome: The Play and the Opera in Historical Perspective","description":"\u003cp\u003eA timeless tale of love  lust  and politics  Tosca is one of the most popular operas ever written. In Toscas Rome  Susan Vandiver Nicassio explores the surprising historical realities that lie behind Giacomo Puccinis opera and the play by Victorien Sardou on which it is based.  By far the most \"historical\" opera in the active repertoire  Tosca is set in a very specific time and place: Rome  from June 17 to 18  1800. But as Nicassio demonstrates  history in Tosca is distorted by nationalism and by the vehement anticlerical perceptions of papal Rome shared by Sardou  Puccini  and the librettists. To provide the historical background necessary for understanding Tosca  Nicassio takes a detailed look at Rome in 1800 as each of Toscas main characters would have seen itthe painter Cavaradossi  the singer Tosca  and the policeman Scarpia. Finally  she provides a scene-by-scene musical and dramatic analysis of the opera.  \"Nicassio must be the only living historian who can boast that she once sang the role of Tosca. Her deep knowledge of Puccinis score is only to be expected  but her understanding of daily and political life in Rome at the close of the 18th century is an unanticipated pleasure. She has steeped herself in the period and its prevailing culture-literary  artistic  and musical-and has come up with an unusual  and unusually entertaining  history.\"Paul Bailey  Daily Telegraph  \"In Toscas Rome  Susan Vandiver Nicassio . . . orchestrates a wealth of detail without losing view of the opera and its pleasures. . . . Nicassio aims for opera fans and for historians: she may well enthrall both.\"Publishers Weekly  \"This is the book that ranks highest in my estimation as the most in-depth  and yet highly entertaining  journey into the story of the making of Tosca.\"Catherine Malfitano  \"Nicassios prose . . . is lively and approachable. There is plenty here to intrigue everyone-seasoned opera lovers  musical novices  history buffs  and Italophiles.\"Library Journal\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44966576488501,"sku":"ByrdShop_0226579719","price":29.37,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780226579719.jpg?v=1770569409","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/toscas-rome-the-play-and-the-opera-in-historical-perspective","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}