Giacomo Puccini "La bohème" was "Tosca" (1900), arguably Puccini's first foray into "verismo", the realistic depiction of many facets of real life including violence. Puccini had been considering an opera on this theme since he saw the play "Tosca" by Victorien Sardou in 1889, when he wrote to his publisher, Giulio Ricordi, begging him to get Sardou's permission for the work to be made into an opera: "I see in this "Tosca" the opera I need, with no overblown proportions, no elaborate spectacle, nor will it call for the usual excessive amount of music." The music of "Tosca" employs musical signatures for
Ninette (opera) to a more romantic story, set in 17th-century Paris, and featuring dramatised versions of two historical characters, Cyrano de Bergerac and Ninon de Lenclos, the "Ninette"of the title. The opera was staged before Edmond Rostand's play about Cyrano, which was written the following year. The Cyrano presented by Lecocq's librettists differs considerably from Rostand's version, being a dashing, confident and good-looking hero. Act I: Place Royale<br> The setting is Paris in 1640. Cyrano de Bergerac, the famous poet and duellist, loves and is loved by Ninon de l'Enclos (Ninette), a famous Parisian beauty. The two have exchanged letters, each containing