And of course, he has always been too good for this world. He basically tries to rape a stunned and innocent woman - and when it looks as though he will achieve his aims, he tells her that he accepts her kind offer, as he has always been a fool for pretty women asking him something nicely.

There are moments of real perception here, such as the way in which Scarpia tries to force his attentions on an unwilling Tosca.

When I was young, I considered the plot of 'Tosca' an over-the-top melodrama, but in growing older I grew more mellow. Still, this fragment is worth watching and admiring - and how. How very strange - who makes these kind of decisions ? Or who creates a situation in which such decisions become necessary ? It's like devoting a movie to a 'Massacre of the Innocents' by Rubens and showing only the upper left corner of the painting or like devoting a movie to the career and discoveries of doctor Pasteur, and then highlighting only his late adolescence and early adulthood. I may be mistaken, but I read somewhere that this (Act 2) is the only act filmed (and thus recorded for posterity). Zeffirelli's direction and staging are excellent too. A unique opportunity to see Maria Callas and Tito Gobbi sing fit to make the stars fall from the firmament.

Carmen opera habanera maria callas