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The play on which this dead-serious farrago is based was written by Victorien Sardou, the reigning French master of theatrical sensation, who was also the source for Puccini’s “Tosca” around the same time.

But in the decades after its premiere, “Fedora,” based on a play by Sardou, fell out of favor, written off by critics as a crowd-pleasing melodrama lacking in substance and artistry.

The opera, based on the story by French playwright Victorien Sardou and set in 1800, had its debut in Rome in January 1900.

“I always believe in following the advice of the playwright Sardou. He said: ‘Torture the women!’

In 1889 Giacomo Puccini wrote to his publisher about getting the operatic rights to Victorien Sardou’s melodrama “La Tosca,” which the playwright had written for Sarah Bernhardt: “In this ‘Tosca’ I see the opera that I need.”