Part of the cast and Linda Muthama. Pictures: Philip Ondeng’
In Act II of the opera Tosca (1900) by Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924), the chief of police Baron Scarpia tells the famous singer Floria Tosca that if she agrees to sleep with him, he will release from prison her lover, Mario Cavaradossi.
Distraught at finding herself in such a difficult situation, she sings Vissi d’arte (I lived for art) lamenting “I lived for art, I lived for love... in the hour of grief, why, Lord, why dost thou reward me thus?”
