![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() It is said that, as a Sicilian, he was in an ambiguous social position in Rome. He appears in the histories of the time as a courageous soldier who took part in the popular uprising that drove the French out of Naples. The young revolutionaries Angelotti and Caravadossi, collaborators with the invading French, are shown as romantic heroes, while the loyal chief of police, Baron Scarpia, is evil incarnate – the sadistic agent of reaction who tortures Caravadossi and barters ruthlessly with Tosca: the surrender of her body for her lover’s life.Ĭan one perpetrate an injustice on a historical character? Could I, a British novelist, undo the calumny of an Italian composer? Little is known of Vitellio Scarpia. S ome years ago, at a performance of Puccini’s opera Tosca, I remembered a book I had read on the opera by a US historian that established just how inaccurate and partisan was its portrayal of the political realities of the time. ![]()
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