Editing La Tosca (section)

==Background and premiere==
[[File:Victorien Sardou by Moloch 1882.jpg|thumb|180 px|left|alt=Drawing of a man with a large head, seated facing the viewer, wearing a pale green coat and cutting up a printed sheet of paper with large scissors|[[Victorien Sardou|Sardou]] in an 1882 caricature from ''Le Trombinoscope'']]
[[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]].<ref>Richards (2007) p. 172</ref> 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 (play)|Thermidor]]'' (1891), ''[[Madame Sans-Gêne (play)|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 [[Giovanni Battista Piranesi|Piranesi]]'s etchings of late 18th century Rome, where ''La Tosca'' is set.<ref>Perusse (November 1981) pp. 743–745</ref>

[[File:Pinckney Marcius-Simons, Sarah Bernhardt as La Tosca, by 1890.webp|thumb|170px|[[Pinckney Marcius-Simons]], ''Sarah Bernhardt as La Tosca'']]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 Sardou had written specifically for her. Both their first collaboration, ''[[Fédora]]'' (1882), and their second, ''Théodora'' (1884), had been highly successful.<ref>Hochman (1984) p. 312</ref> [[Pierre Berton (playwright)|Pierre Berton]], who played Baron Scarpia, had been Bernhardt's on and off lover for many years and a frequent stage partner.<ref>Berton and Woon (1923) pp. 101–104 and ''passim''</ref> The elaborate sets for the production were made by a team of designers and painters who had worked with Sardou before: [[Auguste Alfred Rubé]], [[Philippe Chaperon]], Marcel Jambon, Enrico Robecchi, Alfred Lemeunier, and Amable Petit.<ref>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.</ref> The costumes were designed by Théophile Thomas, who also designed Sarah Bernhardt's costumes for [[Victor Hugo|Hugo]]'s ''[[Ruy Blas]]'', Sardou's ''Cléopâtre'' and ''Théodora'', and [[Jules Barbier|Barbier]]'s ''Jeanne d'Arc''.<ref>Joannis (2000) p. 119</ref>

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, {{lang|fr|"Idées des autres"}} ("Ideas of others") and another, {{lang|fr|"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.<ref>''New York Times'' (18 September 1887) p. 1</ref> 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.<ref>''Otago Witness'' (2 December 1887) p. 28</ref> 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.<ref>''Otago Witness'' (6 January 1888) p. 28</ref> 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 (periodical)|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.<ref>Hart (1913) p. 121; ''Les Archives théâtrales'' (December 1887) p. 346</ref>) 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!"<ref name="Clapp">Clapp and Edgett (1902/1980) p. 272</ref>