will make a restful time of it. Modetto is naturally extremely
disappointed, for the name Vivaldi is synonymous with cash. And
Modetto is not alone in his sorrow, for Anna too sees her career go
up in smoke. What is she to do with herself over the coming year?
Antonio requests her kindly not to make such a fuss. He will see
that she gets a chance to perform in a suitable production.
In the meanwhile, Antonio has been approached by the
Senate to take part in a mission, the highlight of which will be a
meeting with the Habsburg emperor. Publication has just taken
place of Vivaldi’s ninth opus, dedicated to Charles VI. The piece has
apparently pleased the emperor, leading the Senate to determine
that the composer must participate in the mission. The meeting is
to take place in the port city of Trieste, its goal being to convince
the emperor that the town is a magnet for smugglers. The waters
of the Adriatic are seen by the Republic as her own terrain and the
wealth of La Serenissima is founded largely on taxes on goods
transported via Venice. Although this has been and remains a
thorn in the flesh of many traders and skippers, Venice has been
able to retain her monopoly on trade until Trieste was made a free
port by imperial declaration in 1719.
The Senate has voiced careful concern over this decision, but such
pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears in the powerful neighbouring
state. At first Venetian customs and excise patrol boats are able to
keep control of trade with Trieste. But the vessels still being built,
to an aging model, at the Arsenale are no match for the faster and
more modern ships, coming out of Dutch and English yards. The
supply of goods, and thus taxes upon them, is decreasing by the
year, and the future of Venice is under threat. The Habsburg Empire
is too strong for the ailing Republic, whose only hope lies in
diplomacy.
Vivaldi has not the faintest idea what his role might be in
the context of this mission, except perhaps to regale the Roman
emperor with some music. As for the Grand Count of Austria, King
of Germany, Hungary, Bohemia and Spain, Emperor of Rome, and
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