Floria would follow, but Scarpia restrains her, telling her that he holds Mario's life in pawn for her. She spurns him, but he shows her the scaffold where her lover shall die in an hour, and she agrees to yield to his lustful desires. He writes the passport which the next day shall enable her and Mario to leave the city, and he promises her that Mario shall now have only a mock execution. When he comes toward her to claim his reward, she seizes a knife and stabs him to the heart, crying " It is thus that Tosca kisses." After this tumult and tragedy, the curtain of the third act rises upon a quiet scene. It is the Castello St. Angelo, where Mario is held prisoner. The Vatican and St. Peter's are visible in the background, the clear sky is thickly studded with stars, church bells sound from afar, a shepherd sings a love song in the distance. While Mario, who has for given Floria, is lamenting that he must leave a world which holds this matchless woman, she appears with the safe conduct she has taken from Scarpia's dead hands. She tells him everything, that she has killed Scarpia, of his insults and of the execution which is to be a farce. Gaily she coaches him to simulate death for a moment, he answering, " Do not fear love; I shall fall at the right moment and quite naturally," and caresses the gentle hands which Fate has driven to such bitter deeds.
The jailor leads him out, Floria giving him many last instructions. " You must not laugh," she whispers. The
sergeant offers to bandage his eyes but smiling he declines. When the soldiers fire, Floria stops her ears and nods as a signal that he must fall. How cleverly he acts ! As soon as she dares, she runs to tell him to get up but staggers back shrieking. He is dead. Spoletta and his men rush in to find her talking to her murdered lover. " It was Tosca who killed Scarpia," they cry, " she shall pay with her life." She thrusts them aside, springs to the parapet of the terrace and, calling upon Mario to meet her in heaven, throws herself into the depths below.
" La Tosca," like all Puccini's operas, is written in the modern style, without clearly defined aria or ensemble. Among the most nearly individualized passages in the score are Mario's aria, comparing the blue-eyed beauty of the portrait and Floria's dusky charm, " Recondita armonia " (" Strange harmony of contrast ") ; Tosca's song, " Non la sospiri la nostra casetta " (" Dost thou not long ") ; Scar pia's malicious soliloquy, " Va, Tosca! nel tuo cuor " (" Go, Tosca! There is place in your heart ") ; Tosca's touching appeal to heaven when in the grasp of Scarpia, " Vissi d'arte e d'amor " (" Love and Music, these have I lived for ") ; the shepherd's song ; Mario's recollection of Floria, " E lucevan le stelle " (" When the stars were brightly shin ing ") and their duet when Floria tells him of her bloody deed, " 0 dolci mani mansuete e pure " (" 0 gentle hands ").