Tosca

The opera is set in 1800 Rome. While painting a portrait of La Madonna in the church of Sant’Andrea della Valle, the painter Mario Cavaradossi, the lover of the jealous Tosca, agrees to help the political prisoner Angelotti in his escape. The chief of police, Scarpia, whose political goals conceal a rare sadism, embarks on the pursuit and soon discovers Cavaradossi's involvement. The only way to achieve his aims is to use the beautiful Tosca, the object of his obsessions. Cavaradossi is arrested. Scarpia briefly believes he possesses the beautiful Tosca, just before she stabs him. Although Scarpia dies, his dark plans outlive him. When Tosca thinks she can finally free her beloved Mario, he is executed, and Tosca, before being captured, chooses to leap to her death from the highest point of the Castle of Sant’Angelo.