" (...) The music of Don Antonio enters our eyes, soak our heads, it makes us move his arms.'s Elbow and the wrist of his right arm stretching to maneuver the bow, the fingers of his left hand bend on the strings. We go through the music of male (...) "
This passage is from the book" Stabat mater "by Tiziano Scarpa, writer pays tribute to the great Venetian composer Antonio Vivaldi.
The book tells the story of Cecilia, one of many girls grown Hospital of the Pieta, the Venetian orphanage now in the last century Civil Hospital of Venice, where he was born the same shoe, and when you worked the same Vivaldi from 1704 onwards, teaching violin and conducting the orchestra formed exclusively by young girls who were bred in this institution.
Cecilia writes letters, at night, the mother who has never met, often inquiring about why it has taken this act, and find thousands of tricks to justify its abandonment.
She is a violinist with an exceptional talent - it is interesting to note that the story of Cecilia is the result of invention 'page, but this does not preclude the possibility that it is truly historic turning point, which gives a certain fascination to reading - and is dominated by a new lease of life when it comes to the hospital Don Antonio (Vivaldi), the new priest the big nose and hair the color of copper " .
The rest of the book does not advance, leaving those interested, the pleasure of reading, I can say is that, in reality, it happens a lot more ...
Stabat Mater (duly noted by the author in the final note) book anachronistic in many ways. It is not true, for example, that the Oratorio "Juditha triumphans" nor the "Four Seasons" were written in the early years of teaching Vivaldi Mercy Hospital, as the book suggests. Vivaldi violin teacher was appointed in 1704 and the Ospedale della Pieta "Juditha triumphans" was performed only in 1716, while "The ordeal of 'harmony and invention", a collection of 12 concerts, op. 8 for violin strings and basso continuo, which includes the famous "Four Seasons" - ie, the first four concerts of the collection - is 1725.
This value remains a well-written book, rich in historical and musical ideas and suggestions, but rather adds a storyline, as I said, quite poor (for most of the book turns into a monologue Cecilia) but that invites the reader to reflect on condition of a girl isolated from the world, who finds his freedom and even more its identity with the music, albeit unwittingly, at least at presentation, the music of Don Antonio, although irritated by those "tricks for kids" used by composer to attract the audience (the compositions which will be commented in the book - the "Juditha triumphans, the" Four Seasons ", the" storm sea "are examples of music" descriptive "), becomes an escape for musician sixteen, that is a way to escape from a situation become untenable.
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