title: Giacomo Puccini: Tosca (Cambridge Opera Handbooks)
author:  Mosco Carner 
description: Compares Puccini's libretto for the opera Tosca with Sardou's play, and analyzes its musical structure. Describes the genesis of the work, initial production and early reception. Also considers the range of criticism, positive and negative, generated by the opera since its initial production in 1900.
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  ## ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  
  
  
  
  
  This book owes much to the assistance and guidance of some very special
  people. Many thanks go to my sister Sarah Phillips, for her advice on
  professional therapists; to my cousin, attorney Nancy Sorensen, for legal
  insights; to the fine writers and great friends Sharon Shinn, Kay Kenyon,
  Brenda Cooper, and all of the Tahuya Writers, for their invaluable feedback.
  
  
  Very special thanks go to the Puccini Museum of Torre del Lago and its helpful
  staff, and especially to Simonetta Puccini, granddaughter of the composer, who
  so kindly and personally answered my e-mails (without mentioning my occasional
  errors in Italian!).
  
  
  I’m grateful, too, for the delightful company of Susan Witt, Joel Butler, and
  my husband, Jake Marley, on our pilgrimage to Villa Puccini, where we absorbed
  the music and the memories of Giacomo Puccini with the greatest joy.
  
  
  Many thanks also, and again, to my excellent editor, Audrey LaFehr, and my
  patient and helpful agent, Peter Rubie. T