Tragic grandeur, innate majesty, a mercurial temperament touched with kittenish innocence—all this plus her smoldering vocalism: these were qualities Shirley Verrett, herself a diva to her fingertips, brought to the title role of Puccini’s Tosca, a diva undone by the very gifts that make men adore her. The youthful Luciano Pavarotti sings the smitten Cavaradossi, with Cornell MacNeil as Scarpia, Rome’s predatory chief of police. James Conlon conducts. Streams for 23 hours.—M.G.

Tosca, by Giacomo Puccini
Metropolitan Opera / New York / Stage
Shirley Verrett and Luciano Pavarotti in “Tosca,” 1978–1979. Photo: Met Opera Archives.
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