Lessons from Tosca

We went to see the opera “Tosca” by Puccini Friday night. What does this have to do with Team in Training? Not a lot, other than it was a late night and I only got about 5.5 hours sleep before marathon training early Saturday morning. But it does have a connection to life.

17 years ago, we went to see “Tosca” in Maine. It was the first time I had ever been to an opera. I always had said “I don’t like opera!” I had friends in the past try to convice me that opera is a good thing, and I kept saying, "Nope, don't like it!" But at some point, it occurred to me that I had never actually been to one. How would I know if I liked it or not? So we went, driving 60 miles each way in a raging snowstorm, getting home around 1AM and having to go to work the next day. It was worth it, because I learned that I do indeed like some opera. I’ve been to many of them since, and have liked them more often than not. Some I have disliked, some I have loved. Tosca is one of the latter.

It is the story of two doomed lovers and their confrontation with an evil, evil man. Even if you don’t know a word of Italian (and I know maybe 5 of them), if you can listen to the two love duets between Tosca and her lover Cavaradossi in Act 1 and not feel moved, then you don’t have a romantic bone in your body! In Act 2, Tosca is backed into a corner by the evil Baron Scarpia, who demands payment with her body to satisfy his perverse and lustful desires in exchange for the reprieve of her lover from hanging. In desperation, she sings a beautiful and poignant aria ("Vissi d'arte", or "I lived for art"), asking God why she is meeting such cruelty after living a life dedicated to art, kindness, and love. And in the final act, her lover sings one of my favorite pieces in all of opera, “E Lucevan le Stelle” (“and the Stars were Shining”) as he remembers the wonderful times that he and Tosca have shared, but how they are now coming to an end with his impending execution.

If I had not been open to throwing out my preconceived notions, and not been willing to try something new 17 years ago, I would not have had any knowledge of this. True, I would have gotten more sleep Friday night and not been as tired before having to run the next morning, but I wouldn’t have spent a part of the weekend happily whistling several of the themes from this opera. My soul would not have been moved by such glorious music.

There is a big, beautiful world out there, and sometimes we need to step outside our comfort zone to find it. I was willing to do that in 1992 by going to see “Tosca”, and seeing this beautiful opera again a couple of nights ago reminded me of that.

Maybe there is a connection to TNT – I’ve always said I am a lousy swimmer, and this is true. But if I can learn to overcome my crappy swimming, if I can work hard to learn to swim, maybe I can attempt a triathlon for Team in Training. Who knows, maybe I might find I like swimming and triathlons? Of course, one cannot drown by going to an opera, although some time back, an okapi in Denmark died from shock while hearing a cast practicing for a Wagner opera.

Try something new – you might find that it opens up a whole new world for you!