School of Music

Suor Angelica - 2002
by Giacomo Puccini

Italian composer Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) wrote solely and successfully for the operatic stage. By the time he had written Suor Angelica (Sister Angelica), a part of the trilogy including Il Tabarro (The Cloak) and Gianni Schicchi, he had already written La Boheme, Tosca, and Madame Butterfly.In this trio of works called Il Trittico (The Triptych), premiered in 1918, Puccini meant for us to experience in one evening's operas the stories about a protagonist on his/her way to heaven, purgatory, or hell. Taken together, the trilogy is supposed to span the entire realm of human behavior.


In Suor Angelica, the story is about repentance on the way to heaven. Set in late 17th-Century Italy, the plot slowly reveals that Angelica has been forced to enter a convent by her family, members of nobility, who were disgraced by Angelica's having a baby (son) out of wedlock. Her life in the convent is one of general contentment marred only by a constant longing for her son, now seven, and her family. She is visited by a hateful aunt, who demands that Angelica sign away her

Suor Angelica Cast

worldly possessions, which will be used as dowry for her younger sister. Anxious for news of her son, Angelica is then told that the boy had died two years prior. Having now lost everything, Angelica commits suicide by brewing and consuming a deadly poison made from flowers she has cared for while in the convent. IN the instant that she consumes the poison, she realizes that suicide is a mortal sin, but pleads forgiveness to the Madonna. As she begins to die, there is a sign of divine forgiveness, welcoming her to eternal happiness.

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