success!

My little talk went really, really well and was a lot of fun. And such perceptive, wonderful questions and comments afterwards! (One very learned pensioner told me that he never knew that the l’homme arme masses were based on a French song. Another asked when the “grammar” of music came to be codified.) Definitely a success! Many thanks to my Chicagoland agents who hooked me up with the materials I lacked.

One funny thing.  I was party to a conversation about Beethoven.  I knew it wasn’t possible, but my brain couldn’t get past the idea that they were talking about a work of his called “the grandmother.”  Proof positive that context, habit, and a still-underdeveloped sensitivity to the distinction between single and double consonants can make all the difference in the world.  (They were discussing his “Ninth” not his “Grandmother” — nona, not nonna….)

a little stressed

To help out Mamma G., I agreed to give a little talk to the cultural organization she presides over. Their theme this year is the Benelux region (Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg), and there was an unexpected hole in the schedule of speakers, so I offered to speak about northern composers in Italy during the renaissance. I’d be a happier camper if I had all of my own recordings and other materials here with me. I’d be even happier if my Italian were actually fluent. But she doesn’t seem worried, so I won’t be either. *gulp*

Here’s the announcement:

Giovedì 28, quindi alle 17.30, ci ritroveremo in sede per ascoltare la nostra borsista di Chicago, Shawn Keener, che ci parlerà dell’argomento del suo dottorato “Musicisti fiamminghi in Italia e la musica del Rinascimento”. L’argomento è molto interessante e intrigante [...] i musicofili e gli altri scopriranno notizie e curiosità inedite.

This is not my most important or weightiest upcoming talk, but it’s the soonest, and it’s doing a good job of getting me exercised.

new digs and Goldoni

The big news is that I’ve moved. While there were many plusses to the living situation I arranged over the summer, the minuses won out in the end. Physically, the new place is not so far distant from the old one (am now right behind La Fenice, the opera house), but in every other sense, I am light years away. Will miss the adorable baby and tiny doggie, but otherwise: whew. An enormous kitty — Nando — visits here on a daily basis, traipsing to the kitchen window via adjacent roofs, so my pet fix is covered.

Two nights ago I lucked into tickets to Teatro Goldoni. With another dottoranda I met at the Marciana, I saw Goldoni’s La famiglia del Antiquario (The Antiquarian’s Family). What a treat to actually see a play by Goldoni, about whom I’ve read so much. Even better, I was given the tickets by subscribers who have fabulous, second row seats. I can’t remember the last time I could actually see performers’ faces. And “go me” — I understood the whole show. Not 100%, but still… I’m pretty pleased.