Composers and the Voice, Libretto Analysis 1 - Tosca

Big night tonight.  Acting 3 with Kathleen-- starting our look at Ibsen's "Ghosts" and arguing over beat breakdown of a scene.  And then our first foray into libretto analysis.  For this session, and to launch it all, I chose Puccini's "Tosca."   We had time to read through the entire libretto around the table, and to begin a rudimentary discussion of the piece.  But let's use the blog this time to dive deeper into the libretto, and what each of us took away from it. Many many thoughts and reactions to come soon.  But let's start with this-- most of the C&V fellows were coming to "Tosca" for the first time, so one of my assignments going into the reading was:  Look for something in the libretto that makes you curious to discover how Puccini realized it in music.  Then for our next session, explore how exactly Puccini brought this thing to life in the score.  Perhaps something like exploring how Puccini sets repeated iterations of the same text-- i.e. Tosca's "Ah, ah, Ah!" OR "You murderer!  You murderer!  You murderer!"  Or maybe how he underscores the sometimes vast stage directions, and the time he allows for them.  Maybe exploring all the instances of "real sound" within the opera score.  Anything really that strikes your fancy.

So, fellows, what is it?  What made you most curious tonight in our table read of "Tosca"?  What do you want to examine in the score?