Editing Tosca (section)

=== Act 2 ===
[[File:Destinn as Tosca Victrola Book of Opera.jpg|thumb|upright|alt= Woman standing in a dramatic pose, right arm raised, left arm holding a large bouquet. She is wearing a long formal gown and a wide-brimmed hat.|Emmy Destinn in the role of Tosca, c. 1910]]
In the second act of ''Tosca'', according to Newman, Puccini rises to his greatest height as a master of the musical macabre.<ref>Newman, p. 235</ref> The act begins quietly, with Scarpia musing on the forthcoming downfall of Angelotti and Cavaradossi, while in the background a [[gavotte]] is played in a distant quarter of the Farnese Palace. For this music Puccini adapted a fifteen-year-old student exercise by his late brother, Michele, stating that in this way his brother could live again through him.<ref name="Burton130">Burton et al., pp. 130–131</ref> In the dialogue with Spoletta, the "torture" motif—an "ideogram of suffering", according to Budden—is heard for the first time as a foretaste of what is to come.<ref name="Os139" /><ref>Budden, p. 212</ref> As Cavaradossi is brought in for interrogation, Tosca's voice is heard with the offstage chorus singing a cantata, "[its] suave strains contrast[ing] dramatically with the increasing tension and ever-darkening colour of the stage action".<ref>Newman, pp. 233–234</ref> The cantata is most likely the ''Cantata a Giove'', in the literature referred to as a lost work of Puccini's from 1897.<ref name="Burton130" />

Osborne describes the scenes that follow—Cavaradossi's interrogation, his torture, Scarpia's sadistic tormenting of Tosca—as Puccini's musical equivalent of ''[[Grand Guignol|grand guignol]]'' to which Cavaradossi's brief "Vittoria! Vittoria!" on the news of Napoleon's victory gives only partial relief.<ref name="Os140">Osborne, pp. 140–143</ref> Scarpia's aria "Già, mi dicon venal" ("Yes, they say I am venal") is closely followed by Tosca's "[[Vissi d'arte]]". A lyrical [[Andante (tempo)|andante]] based on Tosca's act 1 motif, this is perhaps the opera's best-known aria, yet was regarded by Puccini as a mistake;<ref>Greenfield, p. 136</ref> he considered eliminating it since it held up the action.<ref>Budden, p. 216</ref> Fisher calls it "a [[Job (biblical figure)|Job]]-like prayer questioning God for punishing a woman who has lived unselfishly and righteously".<ref name="Fisher33" /> In the act's finale, Newman likens the orchestral turmoil which follows Tosca's stabbing of Scarpia to the sudden outburst after the slow movement of [[Symphony No. 9 (Beethoven)|Beethoven's Ninth Symphony]].<ref>Newman, p. 244</ref> After Tosca's contemptuous "E avanti a lui tremava tutta Roma!" ("All Rome trembled before him"), sung on a [[C♯ (musical note)|middle C{{sharp}}]] monotone <ref>In the first edition the line was recited later, on the D{{Music|#}} before rehearsal 65. See Appendix 2g (Ricordi 1995, p. LXIV){{incomplete short citation|date=June 2022}}</ref> (sometimes spoken),<ref name="Os140" /> the music gradually fades, ending what Newman calls "the most impressively macabre scene in all opera."<ref>Newman, p. 245</ref> The final notes in the act are those of the Scarpia motif, softly, in a minor key.<ref>Budden, p. 217</ref>