“A Flick of the Eye”: A Study of Hariclea Darclée’s Bodily Agency in Giacomo Puccini’s Tosca
While considered larger than life by their contemporaries, nineteenth century operatic divas have historically remained shadowed by the composers with whom they worked during their careers. In recent years, however, numerous musicologists have turned their attention towards studying collaborations between composers and singers in order to reimagine embodied female performers before the dawn of recording technology, and perhaps more importantly, to evaluate the diva’s authoritative influence on the creation of canonic operas.
In this paper, I argue for such a case by studying a singer who has received little scholarly attention: Hariclea Darclée, Giacomo Puccini’s original star in Tosca (1900). Puccini took particular interest in the Romanian soprano in 1892 when he sought her out to perform Manon in Manon Lescaut, but they were not able to work together until Tosca, nearly eight years later. However, there exists between these two operas a common dramaturgical thread: the act of looking or glancing. This theme appears to have been written in with Darclée in mind: she was renowned for her ability to captivate audiences with just a “flick of the eye.”
In order to tease out the significance of Darclée’s looking-based gestures in both operas, but especially in Tosca, I examine the stage directions, original posters, and scores for both works, as well as photographs of her in costume. By doing so, I argue that Darclée's assertion of self within Tosca--through gesture and body—indelibly shaped the iconography of Tosca since its inception. More broadly, Darclée’s role in Tosca is important because it complicates the longstanding, teleological narrative which suggests that nineteenth century Italian opera became increasingly dictated by the composer alone. This study shows that the diva—through her bodily enactment of the work in its inception—could influence the now iconic status of a canonic opera.
While considered larger than life by their contemporaries, nineteenth century operatic divas have historically remained shadowed by the composers with whom they worked during their careers. In recent years, however, numerous musicologists have turned their attention towards studying collaborations between composers and singers in order to reimagine embodied female performers before the dawn of recording technology, and perhaps more importantly, to evaluate the diva’s authoritative influence on the creation of canonic operas.
In this paper, I argue for such a case by studying a singer who has received little scholarly attention: Hariclea Darclée, Giacomo Puccini’s original star in Tosca (1900). Puccini took particular interest in the Romanian soprano in 1892 when he sought her out to perform Manon in Manon Lescaut, but they were not able to work together until Tosca, nearly eight years later. However, there exists between these two operas a common dramaturgical thread: the act of looking or glancing. This theme appears to have been written in with Darclée in mind: she was renowned for her ability to captivate audiences with just a “flick of the eye.”
In order to tease out the significance of Darclée’s looking-based gestures in both operas, but especially in Tosca, I examine the stage directions, original posters, and scores for both works, as well as photographs of her in costume. By doing so, I argue that Darclée's assertion of self within Tosca--through gesture and body—indelibly shaped the iconography of Tosca since its inception. More broadly, Darclée’s role in Tosca is important because it complicates the longstanding, teleological narrative which suggests that nineteenth century Italian opera became increasingly dictated by the composer alone. This study shows that the diva—through her bodily enactment of the work in its inception—could influence the now iconic status of a canonic opera.
