In the church of S Andrea della Valle, the fugitive Angelotti takes refuge in a private chapel. The painter Cavaradossi returns to the canvas he is painting, a picture of Mary Magdalene, influenced by the features of his beloved Tosca and by a woman he has often seen in the church. The sacristan complains of the trouble Cavaradossi gives him. As he leaves, Angelotti emerges from hiding, explaining that he has escaped from imprisonment in the Castel Sant?Angelo. The voice of Tosca is heard and Angelotti hides again. Tosca is jealous of what she thinks may have been an assignation with another woman but agrees to meet her lover after her evening performance. The church fills for a celebration of a supposed victory over Napoleon and Baron Scarpia and his agents seek for signs of Angelotti, suspicion falling on Cavaradossi as a possible accomplice. Scarpia succeeds now in arousing further jealousy in Tosca, who has returned, showing her a fan found in the chapel, belonging, in fact, to Angelotti?s sister. Scarpia orders his men to follow Tosca, when she leaves, as a victory?Te Deum?is sung. In Scarpia?s apartment the sound is heard of an entertainment being given below for Queen Caroline, dancing and a performance by Tosca. Cavaradossi has been arrested and is interrogated and, when Tosca comes in, tortured in the next room, to elicit information from her. She betrays Angelotti?s hiding-place at the well in the garden of Cavaradossi?s villa. The painter is to be shot at dawn, but can be saved if Tosca will give in to Scarpia?s demands on her. She pretends to agree and when he has signed a safe-conduct she kills him. In the third act, at Castel Sant?Angelo, Cavaradossi prepares for death, as dawn draws near. Tosca is brought in and, left alone with him, explains how there is to be a mock-execution, after which they can escape together. In the event Scarpia has his revenge. His orders did not countermand the execution and Cavaradossi is shot. When Tosca realises that he is dead, she leaps from the battlements to her own death, while Scarpia?s men draw threateningly near, having discovered their master?s body.
