Letter: A Tosca-dimming performance

BOTH the BBC and Channel 4 must be congratulated for having given us the chance to see and hear Tosca as performed in Rome. It was a most original version. I am told that some years ago a Sicilian opera company went a step further: they staged Tosca at the Palermo Opera House, but with a difference - at the end of Act 2 Scarpia was actually stabbed, Cavaradossi shot at the end of Act 3 and Tosca very badly hurt falling off the tower of the prison. As soon as the performance was over they were rushed to the hospital and although three surgeons operated on them simultaneously they could not save their lives.

Dr L Horenstein

London W5