Título: Tosca
Seção: Background
Background: Tosca (Italian pronunciation: ['toska; 'toska]) is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It premiered at the Teatro Costanzi in Rome on 14 January 1900. The work, based on Victorien Sardou's 1887 French-language dramatic play, La Tosca, is a melodramatic piece set in Rome in June 1800, with the Kingdom of Naples's control of Rome threatened by Napoleon's invasion of Italy. It contains depictions of torture, murder and suicide, as well as some of Puccini's best-known lyrical arias.

Conteúdo: The French playwright Victorien Sardou wrote more than 70 plays, almost all of them successful, and none of them performed today. In the early 1880s Sardou began a collaboration with actress Sarah Bernhardt, whom he provided with a series of historical melodramas. His third Bernhardt play, La Tosca, which premiered in Paris on 24 November 1887, and in which she starred throughout Europe, was an outstanding success, with more than 3,000 performances in France alone.  Puccini had seen La Tosca at least twice, in Milan and Turin. On 7 May 1889 he wrote to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, begging him to get Sardou's permission for the work to be made into an opera: "I see in this Tosca the opera I need, with no overblown proportions, no elaborate spectacle, nor will it call for the usual excessive amount of music."  Ricordi sent his agent in Paris, Emanuele Muzio, to negotiate with Sardou, who preferred that his play be adapted by a French composer. He complained about the reception La Tosca had received in Italy, particularly in Milan, and warned that other composers were interested in the piece. Nonetheless, Ricordi reached terms with Sardou and assigned the librettist Luigi Illica to write a scenario for an adaptation.  In 1891, Illica advised Puccini against the project, most likely because he felt the play could not be successfully adapted to a musical form. When Sardou expressed his unease at entrusting his most successful work to a relatively new composer whose music he did 

user: What is the background of Tosca?

assistant: In the early 1880s Sardou began a collaboration with actress Sarah Bernhardt, whom he provided with a series of historical melodramas.

user: Did Sarah Bernhardt play a role in Tosca?

assistant: His third Bernhardt play, La Tosca, which premiered in Paris on 24 November 1887, and in which she starred throughout Europe,

user: Where all did they take La Tosca in Europe?

assistant: with more than 3,000 performances in France alone.

user: How was it received?

assistant: La Tosca, which premiered in Paris on 24 November 1887, and in which she starred throughout Europe, was an outstanding success,

user: What made it so popular?

assistant: CANNOTANSWER

user: Is there anything else interesting about the background of this opera?

assistant: he wrote to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, begging him to get Sardou's permission for the work to be made into an opera: "

user: Why did he need Sardou's permission?

assistant: When Sardou expressed his unease at entrusting his most successful work to a relatively new composer whose music he did not like, Puccini took offence.