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Why does Cavaradossi write a farewell note before his execution?

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Art Nouveau poster by Adolfo Hohenstein for Puccini's opera Tosca, showing a woman in a gold dress standing over a fallen figure, with dramatic red and black background and bold title text. — Tosca Poster by Adolfo Hohenstein for Giacomo Puccini's opera *Tosca*, 1906.

In the third act of Giacomo Puccini’s opera Tosca, the painter Mario Cavaradossi writes a farewell note to his lover, Floria Tosca, because he is facing imminent execution at the Castel Sant’Angelo.1

While awaiting his death, Cavaradossi is overcome by memories of their love and the beauty of the past, which he expresses in the aria "E lucevan le stelle." He bribes a sympathetic jailer with a ring to secure the opportunity to write this final message to Tosca before he is put to death.1