An opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini.
The action of this dramatic opera takes place on a river barge moored by Notre Dame on the Seine
Film sequences shot in Paris with the co-operation of the French Television Service

The music of Il Tabarro conjures up, in an almost uncanny way, the atmosphere of Paris at nightfall. At the opening there is a suggestion of the river flowing by, and from time to time we hear the hooting of tug-boats, a trumpet-call from a neighbouring barracks, and a cracked barrel-organ playing a popular waltz.
The story is a drama of jealousy enacted by the River Seine. Michele, the owner of a barge moored by the quayside, is married to Giorgetta, who is half his age. She is secretly in love with Luigi, one of the stevedores who work on the barge. After the other men have gone home, Luigi arranges with Giorgetta that when all is quiet she will strike a match as a signal for him to return. Michele, who suspects his wife, reminds her of their early days together when she used to shelter herself under his cloak. But she is not interested, she pretends to be tired, and goes off to the cabin. Michele, left alone, gazes moodily at the river and lights his pipe. Mistaking this for the agreed signal, Luigi appears and steps on to the barge..... The fate he meets with and the grim part the cloak plays in the drama, will be seen when the opera is televised. Minor characters are other stevedores and La Frugola, the wife of one of them, who longs for a cottage in the country. A street singer is heard at one point singing 'The Story of Mimi'; and here there is an allusion to La Boheme.
Il Tabarro is the first of the three one-act operas by Puccini (the other two being Suor Angelina and Gianni Schicchi, which were originally produced at the Metropolitan Opera House. New York, in 1918. Harold Rutland