not precisely a musical term... my apologies… more a remark
directed at the copyist, certainly not intended for you! It means
something along the lines of “feel free to use your own discretion
from now on…’
‘Coglione?’
‘Ah. That actually roughly translates as “fill it in yourself
from now on, twit’.
‘Ach so,’ responds Pisendel dryly, deleting the word with
emphatic strokes of his pen. Blushing, Antonio continues the
lesson.
Vivaldi does not see much of the crown prince. Once summer
arrives in its full scorching glory the Elector’s son is whisked away
by some eminent patriarch or other to his summer villa on the
Brenta. Far from the stinking canals, in the leafy shade of forested
country estates, Crown Prince August flutters like a butterfly from
one reception to another, barely resting a wing upon the verdant
lawns and ballroom floors of Venetian aristocracy.
Concerts and opera performances, the young prince
cannot have enough of them. And no chance is missed to enhance
the comfort and pleasure of the future Saxon Elector. Eyes and ears
alert for talent ripe for plucking and taking home to enrich his own
company, he is open and willing to be impressed by any artiste.
This summer cannot go on too long for him.
But while the higher echelons pass their time in pleasure,
other Venetians are fighting for their fatherland. It is more than a
year since the Ottoman Empire again declared war on the Republic
of Venice. The war has less effect upon the inhabitants of the
lagoon than former clashes; it is plain that they have fewer interests
than in the time of Doge Enrico Dandolo. People on the street are
less easily alarmed and the idea that Turkish galleons might sail
into the lagoon is evidently quite unthinkable. The legacy that
underpins the patricians’ parties, their gambling for higher and
higher stakes, comes from the profits of trade with the Orient. Few
see, or want to see, that the end is nigh for La Dominante in her role
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