Living in the nineteenth century was not easy, especially for people living in the city of Rome. The opera, "Tosca," by Giacomo Puccini, takes place in Rome during unstable times. Giacomo Puccini was a descendant of a family of musicians and he is considered one the most important Italian opera composers of his generation - perhaps second only to Verdi. "Tosca" is an opera that deals with the love of a singer for the painter Cavaradossi. Cavaradossi gets involved with revolutionary activities and is questioned and tortured by Scarpia, the chief of police. Scarpia is a ruthless man who after seeing Tosca wants her for himself and will do anything to get his way. After sending to have Tosca's lover Cavaradossi executed, Scarpia tells Tosca that the only way that she can save him is if she gives in to him. Tosca is a strong believer that she belongs to the man she loves, she plays his games after she asks him to write a safe passage note for her and her lover. Tosca then murders Scarpia and hurries to tell her lover the good news. Cavaradossi's execution was only supposed to be pretended but he is really killed, at the same time the body of Scarpia is found and they go after Tosca. In the final act, Tosca leaps to her death when she has nothing to lose because her dear Cavaradossi is dead. Much of what Puccini includes in the opera is related to the time at which this great work was created. In the opera Puccini's "Tosca" realism represents some of the realities of life in the 19th century, romanticism expresses the strong emotions of love and sense of religion that the characters had, neo-classicism expresses political and historical references.
             Realism represents the realities that the people of Italy were living in at the time when Puccini wrote "Tosca." The reality is that the people that Puccini uses as characters could have been true to a certain point. "The settings are real, historical characters are included (in lar...