He sadly passed away in 2017 at the age of 55. I am biased, but his interpretation of Scarpia is one of my favorites.ĭmitri Hvorostovsky, who also sang the role beautifully, was a Russian (post-Soviet) opera superstar. Petersburg Conservatory, and in 2002 he debuted at the Metropolitan Opera. We lost touch when I left school for technical college (the Murmansk Marine College). Zhenya grew up in Murmansk, and we were in the same class until eighth grade (at the time Russia had a ten-grade system). The performance of “Te Deum” by Evgeny (Zhenya) Nikitin is very special to me because he was my childhood friend.
Also, if your Italian is rusty, it has subtitles. The Ruggero Raimondi performance adds a visual dimension to the opera: It is beautifully filmed. It is right up there with La Boheme, Carmen, and La Traviata. Who is your favorite Scarpia? We are lucky that there are a lot of great performances of Tosca and this aria – after all, Tosca is one of the most-performed operas. Do we hate Scarpia a little bit less once we understand him?Īccording to the American baritone Cornell MacNeil, who sang this opera over eight hundred times, “When you put together interpretation, action, acting, movement, custom, the attitude, and the voice… it is tremendous. The last words of Scarpia in this aria are those of a tortured soul: “Tosca, you make me forget God.” We see all the evil that may be caused by misguided love. You see the duality of Scarpia: an evil mastermind but also a soul tortured by unrequited love for Tosca.
He is in love with Tosca, but to get Tosca he needs to send her lover, Cavaradossi, who is hiding from the law, to face a firing squad. We feel it most strongly in the singing of Scarpia, who plays the chief of police, the villain of the story. In addition to the music of the orchestra and the remarkable baritone voice of the character Scarpia, Puccini packed this aria with organ, choir, and the background sound of church bells, creating an incredibly rich, powerful sound.Īnd then there is emotion. The aria I am sharing, “Te Deum,” is not the most popular one, but it is one of my favorites. Today I want to share with you an aria from the opera Tosca, composed by Giacomo Puccini.
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