VENICE-O-METER 3
Historical novel based on true events, mostly set in 18th century Venice and 1920’s Turin.
How did some of Vivaldi’s scores vanish for centuries, and how were they rediscovered? These are the two questions this novel answers. In a series of often humorous vignettes, the author, a musician and acclaimed Vivaldi specialist, tells a baffling, yet true, story.
When Vivaldi died in 1741 in Vienna, he was out of fashion, destitute — and very much in debt. His struggling siblings (mostly probably Francesco, a barber) sold the composer’s autograph manuscript to make a little money and from then on, the scores went from one private collection to another.
It wasn’t until the 1920’s that the they came to the attention of Luigi Torri, director of the National Library in Turin, and professor of the history of music Alberto Gentili. The two scholars managed to get the manuscripts purchased by the National Library.
Eighteenth century Venice comes alive in vivid, farce-like sketches featuring the Vivaldi siblings, the composer’s irate creditors and the Republic’s rich and powerful families. Most of the places that appear in the novel
