woodenly on stage bellowing like mythological monsters, without
an iota of emotion?
Sometimes she honestly has to ask herself how many
singers actually know what role they are meant to be playing. Or if
they have even taken the trouble to read the libretto. True, there’s
often insufficient time for rehearsal, and singers are more than
content if they feel some small affinity with the text. But some
vocalists make a real mess of it. They perform exactly the same
whatever role they’re given, waving their arms about as if to make
sure no one in the audience recognises a character from the story
but only the presence onstage of ‘Il Signolo, the great nightingale’,
or whatever ludicrous name they’ve dreamt up for themselves.
Oh, how much more magnificent would be a production in
which everyone really lived his or her role! Anna knows precisely
how she will achieve this and is desperate to show the public what
she’s made of. More and more small parts are coming her way, but
she never gets a chance to stand in the footlights. As a member of
the choir she always has to make do with the back of the stage. But
each performance increases her strength and self-confidence, and
she begins to resemble a fledgling eagle poised for its first flight.
Vivaldi has asked Tomaso Giovanni Albinoni to help Anna improve
her singing technique. Antonio has never been impressed by the
abilities as a composer of this far too self-effacing man. For a
while, years ago, they had seemed rivals. But then Vivaldi gave good
ear to the new style propagated by Albinoni and soon overtook him
with his energy and the vitality of his own innovation. Before long
Albinoni was trailing behind.
Antonio respects him more for his pedagogic talents as
a singing teacher. For years Albinoni has had a music school, and
Anna would be well placed there. There was a time when
prospective students had to audition for a place at Albinoni’s
academy, but those days are gone. Since the demise of the family
business, in which Albinoni had been a stockholder, he can use
every penny that comes in. Three years ago he lost his wife, the
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