Inherited Traditional And Innovative

Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) is the Italian's greatest composer in the late 19th century to the early 20th century. He not only inherited the tradition from the Italian verismo opera, devoted to express the ordinary characters'feelings and destiny, but also created a new image style called arioso-recitative which increases the dramatics of opera music and has tremendous impact on the opera development in the 20th century.Opera Tosca is Puccini's one of the most representative works. The music in this opera follows the usual Italian lyrical principles. At the same time, it absorbs the new techniques of composition appearing in the beginning of the new century and raises the spirit of realistic opera. In other words, it is an opera which combines traditional essence with stylistic innovation. As its unique charming features in music, Tosca is considered the model of Italian opera and is well-staged all around the world.This paper begins with the historical background of Puccini writing Tosca. Then it based on the analysis of music features of opera to explore the influences of Tosca to Puccini's opera creation and the western opera history. This paper contains introduction, three chapters and conclusion. In the introduction, it mainly introduces the literature review abroad and at home, the purpose and significance of the research. In chapter 1, it studied the background of the creation of Tosca and gave a general overview on the relationship of the characters in this opera. Chapter 2 is the study of music features of Tosca which can be divided into two parts-vocal music and instrumental music. Vocal music is characterized by innovative arioso-recitative, the unique lyrical paragraphs and the conflicting trio. And the instrumental musical characteristics research from the micro-overture, leitmotiv and tonality distribution. Chapter 3 is the research on Tosca's historical significances which discusses the inheritance and development of Italian opera in the 19th century, the improvements for the verismo opera and the innovation on the technique of Italian opera music. The traditional aria, trio in Tosca shows the features of Italian opera. At the same time, the fluid vocal melody of Puccini's work let the 19th century Italian opera reach a new height. The artistic value of this opera is much greater than the other verismo operas which are featured by profound character portrait, the active participation of bands and choirs during the development of the story, the music reflecting the rapid change and the complex conversion of stage action appropriately. The innovations of the techniques on Italian opera music are mainly embodied in the leitmotiv and the other aspects. In the conclusion, it concludes the creative music features of Tosca and its great status at Puccini's opera writing as well as the entire history of western opera.