Review

Giacomo Puccini
"E lucevan le stelle" from the opera Tosca:

Arranged by Vikentios Gionanidis

Brass Quintet: 2 trumpets (parts in C or B-flat), F horn, trombone, tuba

Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Publisher: Cherry Classics Music
Date of Publication: 2021
URL: http://www.cherryclassics.com

Score and parts.

Primary Genre: Brass Ensemble - 5 brass

This aria (“And the stars were shining”) is from the third act of Tosca, written in 1900. In the opera, a painter, Mario Cavaradossi, is about to be unjustly executed for his political affiliations. Despairing, he sings of his feelings for his lover, the singer, Tosca. The haunting lyrics, “With sweetest kisses, tenderest caresses…my dream of love is now dispelled….and I die in desperation!,” convey the angst of love unfulfilled.

The simple yet riveting melody that propels these sentiments is restated at the end of the opera in a sort of final tortuous stab, as Tosca, vowing revenge on Cavaradossi’s executioner, jumps to her death. Coming on the heels of Puccini’s great success, La Boheme (1896), Tosca survived an initial subdued public response to become one of the most performed operas in the repertoire.

Arranger Gionanidis, has thankfully set the tenor solo for the trombonist while the opening clarinet solo is heard in the first trumpet part. An accurate rendition requires the quintet to be  familiar with traditional performance practice amidst a plethora of rubato markings. Though brief, 4:00, the music is so compelling that anyone with even a cursory knowledge of the opera will be moved by hearing this version of one of the great tenor arias in the canon.