Your favorite opera villain/anti-villain

[Jaakko Keskinen]

 I think one particular Shakespeare quote describes Don Giovanni well: "That one may smile, and smile, and be a villain."

[Jaakko Keskinen]

Brought up on Callas's Tosca, I would never have called Tosca a cardboard heroine, but then Callas could breathe life into any stock character. That said, with or without Callas, I think Tosca is quite well rounded. In the first act we are presented with a capricious woman, loving but quick to anger, and full of insecurities that lead to her jealousy, all qualities that Scarpia exploits to the full to get out of her what she wants. In Act Two, she is backed into a corner and does what only a woman of her nature would do, she eventually fights back. And in act Three, we see both forces in actions again. The decision to jump to her death is yet again a result of her being backed into a corner by Scarpia. I think she is superbly characterised by Puccini.

Funny thing, I consider Tosca herself pretty weakly characterized compared to Scarpia. Scarpia arguably shows some cardboard villain characteristics but especially in act II his lust and Puccini's music transform him into one of the most powerful and terrifying villains I have ever seen.

[Tsaraslondon]

Funny thing, I consider Tosca herself pretty weakly characterized compared to Scarpia.

As I said, maybe you need to hear Callas in the role. Just make sure it's her first recording with De Sabata conducting.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

As I said, maybe you need to hear Callas in the role. Just make sure it's her first recording with De Sabata conducting.

Yes, that's actually the one I have most been listening to.

[Jaakko Keskinen]

And Verdi certainly has sympathy for him. Just think of that glorious theme that accompanies his arrest. This is one of the things that makes Verdi so great; a true humanist, he can feel sympathy for the condition of all men.

Confirmed. When revising Boccanegra, Verdi wrote to Boito that he arranges it so that Paolo comes across as less villainous and more sympathetic. Verdi and Boito actually seemed to have more sympathy for Paolo than for Fiesco, who isn't a villain at all. Then again he isn't the one being led to his execution. I just read about this. You find something new every day Although as you said, you can certainly feel the composer's empathy for him from the opera itself.