children and grandchildren, the flat-bottomed ferryboat soon
covers the distance between La Serenissima and the mainland.
On the banks of the slow flowing Brenta, Lucia bids the young
woman a fond farewell. She has not discovered the cause of her
unhappiness, but she will certainly pray for her. Now she has to
step smartly aside, for the next load of passengers are jumping
aboard, craning their necks impatiently to search the eastern
horizon for their first glimpse of the famous city of San Marco.
As unhurriedly as the Brenta empties itself into the lagoon,
so passes the summer. Antonio has had a strong sense of his brain
also being lulled to sleep by the heat. The summer has brought him
no intimation of innovation, and even his father is beginning to
doubt if his son has it in him to create anything new. Clearing up
at his desk, Giambattista gloomily wonders whether perhaps he
has set his sights too high. Before long the first commissions will
once more begin to flood in upon him. The theatres are putting
together their autumn programmes and that means another influx
of copying work. Fortunately, Antonio can lend a hand this time,
and perhaps it might even help inspire him.
Autumn also brings the patricians back to Venice. The
landing-stage on the Brenta is busy, for also arriving are the first
tourists of the new season. The ferries are jam-packed with Veneti
Nobili exchanging their summer news and asking what they can
look forward to in the way of theatrical spectacle during the
coming carnevale. There is, in any case, one man on board in a
position to give them an answer. Giorgio Frederico Haendel, now
widely known in the city as Il Sassone, is for a second time honouring
Venice with his presence. Over his shoulder hangs a leather bag
that he holds clamped to his left side. A little afraid of falling
overboard, he has seated himself in the middle of the vessel and
takes a deep breath as the burchiello casts loose from the shore. His
expectations for this visit are very great, for in a couple of weeks
one of the theatres of the Grimani brothers will be the venue for
the premiere of his second Italian opera.
‘I’ll leave!’’ storms Antonio. He has just heard that Il Sassone
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