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''La Tosca'' is a five-act drama by the 19th-century French playwright Victorien Sardou. It was first performed on 24 November 1887 at the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin in Paris, with Sarah Bernhardt in the title role. Despite negative reviews from the Paris critics at the opening night, it became one of Sardou's most successful plays and was toured by Bernhardt throughout the world in the years following its premiere. The play itself is no longer performed, but its operatic adaptation, Giacomo Puccini's ''Tosca'', has achieved enduring popularity. There have been several other adaptations of the play including two for the Japanese theatre and an English burlesque, ''Tra-La-La Tosca'' (all of which premiered in the 1890s) as well as several film versions. ''La Tosca'' is set in Rome on 17 June 1800 following the French victory in the Battle of Marengo. The action takes place over an eighteen-hour period, ending at dawn on 18 June 1800. Its melodramatic plot centers on Floria Tosca, a celebrated opera singer; her lover, Mario Cavaradossi, an artist and Bonapartist sympathiser; and Baron Scarpia, Rome's ruthless Regent of Police. By the end of the play, all three are dead. Scarpia arrests Cavaradossi and sentences him to death in the Castel Sant'Angelo. He then offers to spare her lover if Tosca will sleep with him. She appears to acquiesce, but as soon as Scarpia gives the order for the firing squad to use blanks, she stabs him to death. On discovering that Cavaradossi's execution had in fact been a real one, Tosca commits suicide by throwing herself from the castle's parapets. ==Background and premiere== Victorien Sardou's grandfather had served as a surgeon with Napoleon's army in Italy, and Sardou retained a lifelong interest in the French Revolution and the French Revolutionary Wars.〔Richards (2007) p. 172〕 In addition to ''La Tosca'', six of his other plays were set against the events of those times: ''Monsieur Garat'' (1860), ''Les Merveilleuses'' (1873), ''Thermidor'' (1891), ''Madame Sans-Gêne'' (1893), ''Robespierre'' (1899), and ''Pamela'' (1898). He was known for the historical research which he used to inform his plays and had a private research library of over 80,000 books including Piranesi's etchings of late 18th century Rome, where ''La Tosca'' is set.〔Perusse (November 1981) pp. 743–745〕 Sardou wrote ''La Tosca'' specifically for Sarah Bernhardt. She was in her mid-40s by then and France's leading actress. In 1883, she had also taken over the lease on the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin, where ''La Tosca'' was to premiere. It was the third play which Sardou had written for her. Both their first collaboration, ''Féodora'' (1882), and their second, ''Théodora'' (1884), had been highly successful.〔Hochman (1984) p. 312〕 Pierre Berton, who played Baron Scarpia, had been Bernhardt's on and off lover for many years and a frequent stage partner.〔Berton and Woon (1923) pp. 101–104 and ''passim''〕 The elaborate sets for the production were made by a team of designers and painters who had worked with Sardou before: Auguste Rubé, Philippe Chaperon, Marcel Jambon, Enrico Robecchi, Alfred Lemeunier, and Amable Petit.〔Girardi (2000) p. 9. This group of designers, working in various combinations, created the sets for most of the major opera, ballet, and drama productions in Paris in the second half of the 19th century.〕 The costumes were designed by Théophile Thomas, who also designed Sarah Bernhardt's costumes for Hugo's ''Ruy Blas'', Sardou's ''Cléopâtre'' and ''Théodora'', and Barbier's ''Jeanne d'Arc''.〔Joannis (2000) p. 119〕 The period leading up to the premiere was not without problems. As had happened before, once word got out of a new Sardou play, another author would accuse him of plagiarism. In the 1882 caricature of Sardou (left), one of the signs on the wall states, フランス語:"Idées des autres" ("Ideas of others") and another, フランス語:"Bien d'auteur" ("Author's rights"). This time Ernest Daudet (a brother of Alphonse Daudet) made the accusation, claiming that four years earlier, he and Gilbert-Augustin Thierry had written a play, ''Saint Aubin'', which takes place in Paris on the day after the Battle of Marengo (roughly the same time-setting as ''La Tosca'') and whose heroine (like Tosca) is a celebrated opera singer.〔''New York Times'' (18 September 1887) p.1〕 He also claimed that he had read the play to Sarah Bernhardt and Félix Duquesnel, the director of the Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin.〔''Otago Witness'' (2 December 1887) p. 28〕 Nevertheless, he said he would "graciously permit" Sardou's play to go ahead, and had brought up the issue solely to avoid being accused of plagiarism should ''Saint-Auban'' ever be produced. Sardou, in turn, issued a robust denial in the French papers. As the play neared its premiere, Bernhardt discovered to her fury that Sardou had sold the rights for the first American production of the play to the actress Fanny Davenport and threatened to walk out.〔''Otago Witness'' (6 January 1888) p. 28〕 Bernhardt was eventually pacified and rehearsals continued. The Théâtre de la Porte Saint-Martin was packed for the opening night on 24 November 1887, although many in the audience already knew the ending before the curtain went up. While journalists were usually invited to dress-rehearsals, they were expected not to publish details of the play before the premiere. However, the Parisian journal, ''Gil Blas'', had published a complete description of the plot on the morning of 24 November. (Following the premiere, Sardou brought a successful suit for damages against the paper.〔Hart (1913) p. 121; ''Les Archives théâtrales'' (December 1887) p. 346〕) At the end of the performance, Pierre Berton (Scarpia) came on stage for the customary presentation of the author to the audience. As he began his introduction, a large part of the audience interrupted him shouting, "Bernhardt, Bernhardt!" After three failed attempts, he went backstage and asked Bernhardt to come out. She refused to do so until Sardou had been introduced. Berton finally succeeded, after which Bernhardt appeared to thunderous applause and cries of "Vive Sarah!"〔Clapp and Edgett (1902/1980) p. 272〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「La Tosca」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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