Giacomo Puccini

A concert of arias and popular songs that Andrea Bocelli with others gave in Pisa.

This series introduces, in words and music, the plot and background of the major operas. Using the principal themes and arias, taken from the Naxos recording of the complete work, Thomson Smillie is informative yet entertaining, enabling the listener to get more from this remarkable art form.

Tosca is set in Rome at the end of the 18th century. Love and jealousy drive the story to its inevitable, tragic end. Tosca, an actress, kills her tormentor, Scarpia, and rushes to save her lover, Mario. All goes awry and Mario is executed. Tosca, in an act of defiance, then throws herself from the roof of Castel Sant'Angelo to her death.

Details the tragic story of Cho-Cho-San, a Japanese geisha, who, after marrying an American Navy Lieutenant, is destroyed by her husband's betrayal when he returns, after leaving her for three years, with his new American wife.