The singer Floria Tosca, who is even invited to the royal court, and the painter Mario Cavaradossi are respected and adored artists, yet their standing does not safeguard them against the malicious police chief Baron Scarpia. Cavaradossi dies not only because he, a Voltairean, tries to save the life of Cesare Angelotti, the former Consul of the Roman Republic, but also for being Tosca’s lover, Scarpia’s rival. Giacomo Puccini had mulled over Victorien Sardou’s La Tosca ever since 1889, when he saw in Milan a performance of the drama, starring the celebrated actress Sarah Bernhardt.

Tosca

State Opera

The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich set Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk to a libretto he wrote together with Alexander Preis after the eponymous novella by Nikolai Leskov. He himself referred to the opera as a satirical tragedy. The main character, Katerina, is a murderess haunted by qualms of conscience. Yet, with a touch of bitter humour, Shostakovich also focuses on the moral decay of the inhabitants of a Russian village, revealing the omnipresent torpidity and recklessness. Life without hope and love is the very reason for the heroine’s downfall.

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk

Giuseppe Verdi’s La traviata, to the libretto based on Alexandre Dumas’s novel La Dame aux camélias, about Marie Duplessis, the famous courtesan and idol of Parisian society in the 1840s, is actually the very first major opera treating a contemporary social theme. The work’s premiere in 1863 in Venice was a flop: the audience was appalled that the lead role had been assigned to a courtesan who, what’s more, was portrayed in a positive light. Yet Verdi’s opera soon started garnering plaudits and is now one of the most popular repertoire titles the world over.

La traviata

When, in 1888, the music publisher Edoardo Sonzogno announced a competition for young Italian composers, who were invited to submit a one-act opera, he had not the slightest inkling that the victorious piece would become a timeless blockbuster. The 25-year-old Pietro Mascagni sent Cavalleria rusticana, which he had just completed. The premiere, in 1890 in Rome, was a true sensation, and the verismo opera, depicting ordinary contemporary people, villagers and low social classes, would remain Mascagni’s greatest success. Ruggero Leoncavallo decided to follow suit and duly composed his very first opera, Pagliacci, in the verismo style. Premiered in 1892 in Milan, the piece met with an enthusiastic response. In 1893, the two operas were first staged as a double bill, and ever since they have been frequently performed together.

Zdeněk Haas

Events

Upcoming events

Aug 29, 2026 - Jan 24, 2027

La traviata · Národní divadlo

Nov 4 - Dec 6, 2026

Tosca · Národní divadlo

Apr 30 - May 6, 2027

Pagliacci / Cavalleria rusticana · Národní divadlo

Past events

Nov 4 - Dec 6, 2026

Tosca · Národní divadlo

4 - 23 Oct, 2026

Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk · Národní divadlo

Future and recently performed repertoire

Servant (duplicate) in La traviata by Verdi

Národní divadlo

Second villager in Pagliacci by Leoncavallo

Národní divadlo

Second workman in Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk by Shostakovich

Národní divadlo

Spoletta in Tosca by Puccini

Národní divadlo

About

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