Scarpia’s apartments in the Palazzo Farnese, later that night.

Scarpia enjoys his dinner, anticipating the pleasure of seeing Angelotti and Cavaradossi hanged. He tells his minion, Sciarrone, to take a note to Tosca asking her to come see him. He vows to bend Tosca to his will (“Ha più forte sapore”). His assistant, Spoletta, arrives and reports that he and other agents had followed Tosca to a country villa. She went inside but came out again right away. He and the agents scoured the property for Angelotti, but they found only Cavaradossi and arrested him. Through the window, Tosca and a choir can be heard singing at a gala for the queen. Cavaradossi is brought in for questioning, but he denies all knowledge of Angelotti’s whereabouts.

Tosca enters as her lover is being taken to an adjoining room for torture. Unnerved by Scarpia’s insistent questioning and Cavaradossi’s screams, she finally reveals what she had seen at Cavaradossi’s villa: Angelotti’s hiding place, in a well in the garden. The torture stops. Cavaradossi is carried in, swooning. Tosca rushes to him and denies having revealed anything. But Scarpia tells Spoletta to go to the well in the garden. Realizing what has happened, Cavaradossi rages at Tosca. Sciarrone rushes in to announce that Napoleon has won the Battle of Marengo, a defeat for Scarpia’s side. Cavaradossi shouts his defiance (“Vittoria!”) and is carried off to prison.

Tosca is forced to remain with Scarpia. He reveals his desire for her, and her tears make him even more passionate. He tries to embrace her. Tosca, horrified, tries to get away from him. They continue their struggle until a slow drumroll is heard. It is the signal for an impending execution. Cavaradossi has just one hour to live. Tosca asks God why this is happening to her, for she has always had faith and dedicated her life to art and love (“Vissi d’arte”).

Tosca falls to her knees and begs Scarpia to spare Cavaradossi. But Scarpia will do so only if she gives herself to him. Tosca gets up, disgusted. Then Spoletta interrupts: faced with capture, Angelotti has swallowed poison, killing himself. Spoletta reports that everything is ready for Cavaradossi’s execution. The desperate Tosca agrees to satisfy Scarpia’s lust; in return, she and her lover will be free to go. Agreeing to the deal, Scarpia apparently orders a mock firing squad execution for Cavaradossi, after which the painter will be released. Spoletta, understanding Cavaradossi’s coded instructions for an actual execution, leaves to make the preparations.

At Tosca’s insistence, Scarpia prepares a safe-conduct note for the lovers so they can leave the country. As he writes it out, Tosca goes to the dinner table for a glass of wine. There she sees a knife. Scarpia, safe-conduct note in hand, tries to embrace her. Tosca suddenly stabs him in the chest and taunts him as he bleeds to death. She wrenches the safe-conduct from his stiffening hand and, placing candles at his head and a crucifix on his chest, slips quietly out.

Act III

The parapet of the Castel Sant’Angelo, early the next morning.

In the distance a young shepherd sings a sorrowful love song. Church bells toll the dawn as a jailer prepares for Cavaradossi’s execution. Cavaradossi arrives and bribes the sympathetic jailer with a ring to let him write a farewell note to Tosca. Overcome with memories of love, he succumbs to despair (“E lucevan le stelle”).

Suddenly Tosca runs in and excitedly tells Cavaradossi what she has done. He caresses the hands that have committed murder for his sake (“O dolci mani”), and the two hail their future freedom. Tosca then coaches Cavaradossi on how to fake his death convincingly. The firing squad arrives, and Tosca watches the ritual, admiring her lover’s acting skill. The soldiers fire; Cavaradossi falls; the soldiers depart. Tosca waits until it is safe, then urges Cavaradossi to hurry. But when he fails to move, she realizes that Scarpia has betrayed her: the bullets were real.

As she wails in despair, Spoletta rushes in to arrest her for Scarpia’s murder. But she climbs the battlements and, crying out that she will meet Scarpia before God, leaps to her death.