Musical dot dot dots...flute and oboe duet

figure 1

figure 2

figure 3

 Today, we will be hearing some interesting musical conversations. First we hear cellos, basses, and bassoons perform a little rhythmic structure on a whole tone scale, descending (see circled parts in figure 1). We hear it here: 1:19-1:24. Puccini uses the whole tone scale often in this opera to give a sense of uncertainty and eeriness. We are unsure at this point what is going to happen to Mario, so as Sciarrone and Scarpia have a dialogue, we hear this motif. Tosca is most likely fervently listening to Mario, wondering if she is going to hear him shriek from the torture; thus, a musical "....". 

Starting 2:01, we hear a dialogue between oboe and flute, shown in figure 2 and 3. This mimics Mario and Tosca's dialogue here, which Puccini does rather cleverly. The audio is Renata Scotto, Placido Domingo, and Renato Bruson. James Levine, MET