Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 18 hedged
("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
Evening Standard's corrections and
hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Entertainment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
When it came to writing operas, exact chronology didn’t matter a great deal to Puccini, but the action in Tosca (first performed in 1900) can be dated with unusual precision: it unfolds in three acts over the afternoon and evening of June 17 1800 and the morning of June 18.
asserted
it → come → June
That’s when Napoleon’s invading army liberated Rome from the tyranny of its Austrian occupiers.
asserted
army → ’ → occupiers
The opera isn’t really about that historical event, which becomes merely a backdrop to the sexually charged conflict between Cavaradossi, the would-be revolutionary artist; his lover Floria Tosca, an opera singer; and Scarpia, the predatory chief of police in an authoritarian regime.
asserted
which → become → regime
The sundry tensions, amorous and political, have invited many dramatic interpretations: in 1992, Plácido Domingo starred in a TV version, broadcast live, each act taking place at the actual location and time specified in the opera’s libretto.
asserted
act → invite → libretto
Others have taken a less literal approach.
asserted
Others → take → approach
Several stagings have located the drama in pre-WWII fascist Italy, while Annilese Miskimmon’s new production for English National Opera takes us to “somewhere in Eastern Europe in the 1980s”: plenty of subtext there.
asserted
production → locate → subtext
Rosanna Vize’s single set depicts an awkwardly laid-out, split-level concert hall that has clearly seen better days.
asserted
that → depict → days
This particular regime seems to have it in for music: musicians are harassed, instruments are brutalised and broken, and in the final act are piled up in what looks like a funeral pyre.
asserted
what → seem → pyre
Crowds of people rush across the stage or wander aimlessly; a small army of men in black uniform strut around, waving nasty-looking guns, threatening an energetic chorus of kids (drawn from Marlborough Primary School) who try very hard to act unruly.
asserted
who → rush → School
Amid all this too-busy business, the ENO orchestra under Ben Glassberg delivers a spacious, finely detailed account, savage at times, at others luminous and lyrical.
asserted
orchestra → deliver → others
The singers, meanwhile, often struggle to impose themselves.
asserted
singers → struggle → themselves
As Tosca, Axelle Fanya produces moments of quiet vocal grace, but Chaz-men Williams-Ali’s Cavaradossi seems an unfocused presence.
asserted
Cavaradossi → produce → grace
Both voices fray under pressure – and this being Puccini, there is pressure aplenty.
asserted
this → fray → pressure
The body language between them is clumsy, no surprise when they’re frequently many yards apart, expressing their passion at a distance across the vast Coliseum stage.
asserted
they → ’re → stage
The most impressive stage presence is Christopher Purves, who, without needing to snarl, makes Scarpia a figure of subdued menace, barely able to suppress his panting lust.
asserted
Scarpia → need → lust
Not for the first time, the villain of the piece is what sticks in the mind.
asserted
what → stick → mind
That, and Tosca’s demise: inevitably – this is opera, after all – she must die and her death is spectacular and disturbing.
asserted
death → die → ?
Too much else feels cold and detached.
asserted
much → feel → ?
The Aporia
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