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Mozart. ...improvise!
Sezione 1
Sezione 2
Scepticism
NAPLES, Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini. May 1770
PLAY ME
<<Naples is beautiful, but full of people like Vienna
and Paris. And as for the impertinence of the
people in London and Naples, I do not know whether Naples does not have the better of London'>>, I wrote, annoyed, to my beloved sister Nannerl in one of the many letters I sent her from Italy. I was particularly struck, however, by Vesuvius;
I had never seen a living volcano with so much energy inside. It was quivering, lively and rare, like my music. We stayed in Naples for six weeks, at the Augustinian convent of San Giovanni Carbonaro. The wife of the British Ambassador, Sir William Hamilton, delighted us with a performance
on the Tschudi harpsichord, but she could not hide her emotion at performing before me. It was no worse than I expected though, poor thing!At the party, I met the harpsichordist Lord Fortrose, and later we went to his flat for another musical rendezvous with Hamilton and Gaetano Pugnani, the violinist. I also performed at the Conservatorio della Pietà dei Turchini,
and here I really enjoyed myself, for while I was playing, the audience whispered that my skill was derived from a ring I wore on my left hand. When I realised what all the fuss was about, I took off the ring, showed it to the astonished audience and continued to perform with the same perfection as before. I left them dumbfounded while I laughed beneath my moustache.
Sezione 3
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