Puccini's Tosca: Death is But a Dream
b'It\\u2019s not easy to talk about death. We associate dying with so much suffering and loss. But for many people, the end of life is full of peaceful remembrance of the moments and relationships that have meant the most. For the leading man in Puccini\\u2019s Tosca, that\\u2019s the sweetness and beauty of his beloved.\\xa0\\nCaught up in the messy politics of his time, Mario Cavaradossi has been arrested, interrogated, and tortured. And then, he\\u2019s sentenced to death. \\u201cE lucevan le stelle\\u201d finds Cavaradossi in his prison cell one hour before his execution. He knows his life is over, and what does he do? He gets lost in a daydream about a passionate night spent with Tosca. Host Rhiannon Giddens and her guests explore the memories and dreams that give us meaning at the end of our lives.\\nJoseph Calleja, A.K.A. The Maltese Tenor, sees a lot of himself in Cavaradossi - they\\u2019re both men of intensity and passion. He says that if the spectrum of human emotion were a harp, Puccini knew exactly the right string to pluck at just the right moment to convey the emotion the character is feeling.\\nCarolyn Abbate teaches music at Harvard University and writes about opera, including the book A History of Opera. One of the memories that she holds most dear is of an afternoon spent in a meadow with her son when he was young.\\nDr. Christopher Kerr is the CEO and Chief Medical Officer at Buffalo Hospice and Palliative Care. Chris recently wrote a book called Death is But a Dream: Finding Hope and Meaning at LIfe\\u2019s End, about the dreams and visions that many people experience at the end of their lives. This work was later turned into a film, which became the basis of a Netflix production and a PBS World documentary.'