arrival in Venice and appointment to the Ospedale della Pietà, had
been offered the opportunity to compose an opera. Since then his
hands had been full. Yes, Venice had been good to him, very good.
And one side-effect of success had been to make him forget his
chronic cold and the risk of malaria.
But now, after a decade of hard work, he is beginning to
feel it all becoming a bit much for him. The daily pressure of having
to write new motets, vespers and other compositions for the Pietà
alongside his theatre work is increasingly burdensome. Added to
this is a much more demanding public; while a couple of years
previously one opera sufficed for the whole season, this is no longer
enough. ‘More, and yet more’ is the motto of the day. As long as he
got well paid for his trouble this was not too much of a problem for
Gasparini, but deep down it disturbs him that today’s theatre-goers
seem to listen less and less no matter what the performance. Yet it
has to be brand-new, or else completely revamped! Where will such
superficiality end?
His ruminations are interrupted by the appearance at the
trapdoor of Vivaldi, gasping for air and red-faced. When he invited
Antonio to meet him up here Francesco had completely forgotten
how badly the priest suffered from shortness of breath. Puffing
and panting, Vivaldi slides onto the bench and takes thankful
possession of the glass of wine poured him by Gasparini.
‘I don’t come up here very often,’ manages Antonio, sucking in
short, desperate breaths between each word. ‘It’s a whole
pantomime for me, climbing those stairs,’ he wheezes, banging on
his chest. Francesco waits before answering, giving the priest a
moment to recover. Staring out across the city and the Canal Grande,
the choirmaster watches a slow procession of cargo vessels, smacks
and gondole glide out over the water.
Once the priest’s skin colour has returned to normal,
Gasparini addresses him in his deep bass, ‘So Vivaldi, tell me, how
does it feel to be back?’ Antonio smiles. ‘To be honest, I’ve missed
the place. It’s nice to work with motivated people, and the Figlie are
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