The Violinist of Venice

by Alyssa Palombo

  I nodded. “Oh, yes. Very much.”

  “And have you been taught to sing, or to play some instrument, as so many young ladies are?”

  “I was taught to play the violin when I was a child,” I told him, adhering to the truth as it was known to my father. “I have not had a lesson since the age of perhaps thirteen.”

  “And so you enjoy music primarily as a listener, then,” he said. “As I do.”

  I nodded, pinning a false smile to my face. “Precisely.”

  The dance ended then, and we drew apart, him with a bow, me with a curtsy, as was required. “I thank you for the privilege, Donna Adriana,” he said. “Now, if you will allow me to return you to your father, and be so good as to present me to him. I must ask his forgiveness for not asking him for an introduction to you first.”

  “No doubt under the circumstances, he will be most understanding,” I said. “Father,” I called out as we approached where he stood, speaking again to Senator Baldovino. My father turned toward me with the biggest and most brilliant smile I had ever seen on his face. “May I present Don Tommaso Foscari.”

  Don Tommaso swept my father a bow. “An honor, Don d’Amato,” he said, his voice ringing with sincerity. “I hope you will forgive me for stealing your lovely daughter away for a dance without first securing your permission.”

  My father clapped him on the shoulder. “Not at all, Don Tommaso, not at all,” he said. “My daughter and I are both honored.”

  Don Tommaso took my hand and kissed it. “I shall fetch you a glass of wine, madonna, so that you may refresh yourself after our dance,” he said gallantly. “And I hope that I may persuade you to reserve yet another dance for me this evening.”

  “With pleasure,” I said. He bowed again, then went off to seek the promised glass of wine.

  As soon as he was out of earshot, my father leaned down to whisper to me. “What luck!” he crowed. “I had not hoped that Tommaso Foscari would himself seek an introduction. Yet behold! He appears to be quite enchanted with you.”

  “Take care, Father,” I said. “Do not begin counting marriage proposals before they have been made.”

  “I count nothing before it is right in front of me,” he said. “Yet this is certainly a promising start. I can see for myself that he is quite taken with you.”

  I said nothing. Though I did not wish to be married—since I could not be married to the person I wanted—it was hard not to be drawn in by Tommaso Foscari, by his handsome face, by his attentive and courteous manner, by his clever banter, by his compliments. He could have his pick of the wealthy, beautiful women of Venice, yet he was choosing to spend the evening with me.

  Be careful, Adriana. You are in danger of more than the wine going to your head this evening.

  “You dance quite well, Donna Adriana,” a voice to my right said. I turned to see Senator Baldovino beside me.

  I inclined my head graciously. “I thank you for saying so, Senator.”

  “I have not danced for many years,” he mused aloud. “But I daresay I could be persuaded if I had a partner as lovely as yourself.” He offered me his arm. “Would you do me the honor?”

  “Oh…” I thought wildly for some excuse. “Don Tommaso Foscari has just gone to fetch me some wine. I should not wish him to return and find me gone.”

  “Never mind that,” the senator said brusquely. “If he has an ounce of sense in that pretty head of his, he will wait.”

  Left without a choice, I took his arm and allowed myself to be led to the dance floor.

  I well believed that he had not danced for years, as his lack of practice showed. He was awkward and clumsy, and frequently fell out of time with the music. I attempted several times to guide him back into sync with the other dancers, but soon I gave up, devoting my attention to praying for the end of the dance to come swiftly.

  When it did come, he led me back to where I had been standing with my father. Don Tommaso was, just as the senator had predicted, waiting for me with a glass of chilled white wine, smiling patiently.

  “Well done, Senator,” Don Tommaso said. “I need not tell you that you have been most wise in your choice of a dance partner.”

  “No, indeed,” Senator Baldovino said. “I will leave her to you, young man.” With that, he withdrew from the group.

  Don Tommaso presented me with the wine. “Now you are doubly in need of refreshment, Donna Adriana.”

  “Indeed, Don Tommaso. I thank you.”

  “Please call me Tommaso,” he invited.

  “If you insist,” I answered, deliberately not extending the same privilege to him. It was probably better to keep him at a distance.

  “You have told me that you enjoy music, Donna Adriana,” he said as I sipped my wine, “but do you enjoy the opera?”

  “I have never seen one,” I answered, “and so I cannot say.”

  “What! A native of Venice who has never seen an opera?” Tommaso demanded with a smile. “How can this be?”

  “My father does not care for the opera,” I explained. “And so I have never been presented with the opportunity to attend.”

  “It is fortunate that I have come along, then,” he said. “For you see, my elder brother is possessed of a large box at the Teatro Sant’ Angelo, and Friday next he has invited me to join him and his wife for the performance. It would be my great honor and privilege if you would accompany me.”

  A wide, excited smile broke across my face. The Teatro Sant’ Angelo was the theater where Vivaldi played as a soloist. Now I would be able to see him play, just as I had wished to. “Oh, yes!” I exclaimed. “I should be delighted.”

  Tommaso laughed. “I am glad,” he said. “Though I confess a curiosity as to whether your enthusiastic acceptance is due more to your love of music, or to a desire for my company.”

  This time I hit instantly on the perfect witty, noncommittal reply. “I have not yet heard the music, my good signore,” I said, with a smile and a toss of my head. “Ask me again once I have heard the music.”

  18

  SE TU M’AMI

  “I have a surprise for you, caro mio,” I said to Vivaldi two days later—in the afternoon, this time—as we dressed in preparation to go downstairs and play music.

  He raised an eyebrow at me expectantly. “And what might that be?”

  I smiled. “On Friday night, I shall be attending the opera at the Teatro Sant’ Angelo.”

  His entire countenance became illuminated at my news. “Eccellente! Have you managed to persuade your father to attend, then?”

  “It is not my father who shall be accompanying me.” I hesitated. “It is a suitor with whom I shall be attending.” I rolled my eyes, as though the whole affair were completely ridiculous.

  “Oh?” he said, trying to sound nonchalant, though I could see him struggling to hide his consternation. “And who might the lucky bachelor be?”

  “His name is Tommaso Foscari,” I said, as though I were naming a young man of no importance, as opposed to the son of the premier family of Venice. “His family owns a box at the theater, I believe.”

  “What!” Vivaldi shouted. “You are being courted by a Foscari?”

  “I only just met him,” I said. “At the ball on Monday. We danced, and he asked if I would accompany him to the opera. And of course I said yes—to see you.”

  “Adriana,” he said, crossing the room and taking me by the shoulders. “Listen to me. If he makes you an offer, you are to accept him, do you understand me? You must accept him!”

  “Let go of me,” I said, tearing myself out of his grasp. “I already have my father directing me as to whom I can and should marry; the last thing I need is for you to do the same!”

  “Why do you persist in this blindness?” he asked, throwing up his hands. “Do you not see that you must marry someone, someday? Your father will not have it any other way, and besides, what other future can there be for you?”

  I opened my mouth to interject, but he held up a hand to s
ilence me.

  “I am not finished,” he said coldly. “Tommaso Foscari will be able to give you the world, and then some. If he asks for your hand, you must accept him without thinking twice about me. Are you so blind and stubborn that you cannot see all of this for yourself?”

  “Listen to you!” I cried. “If you are so anxious to be rid of me, then perhaps I should just leave now, and let that be an end to it!”

  “That is not what I meant,” he said. “Not at all. But what we have cannot last forever. You must acknowledge that.”

  “I have acknowledged it,” I retorted. “But that does not mean I am in any rush to be married to a man I have just met.”

  Neither of us spoke again for a time, locked in a silent confrontation, each of us refusing to back down. Finally he broke the silence. “If you wish to leave, I will not stop you.”

  I took a deep breath, steadying myself. “I do not wish to leave,” I said. “But I thought that you wanted me to—”

  “No,” he cut me off quickly. “No. I just hope that you might still have a chance for an ordinary, respectable future after all this. Even though…” He trailed off and sighed. “Even though it may be too late.”

  I remained silent.

  “Ah, cara.” He crossed the room to me and took me in his arms. I closed my eyes and let myself sink into him. I felt his lips brush against my hair. “What is this life we are living, where we cannot bring ourselves to think of the future?”

  “I do not know,” I murmured. “All I know is that I cannot bear to think of any future that does not include you.”

  He released me, cupping my face gently in his hands. “You know that I wish things could be different, si?” he asked. “You know that I wish I could be the man who wakes up beside you every day, and that we need have nothing to fear?”

  My breath caught in my throat. He had never said such things to me before, not even in our most tender moments. And these things he said he wished for were exactly what I wished for as well, in the deepest hollows of my heart, that place that I tried not to examine too closely for fear of what I might find.

  In that moment, I could see this entire future before me, and it seemed so easy. It seemed, right then, that if we wanted it badly enough, all we had to do was reach out and take it.

  I could do it. I could open my mouth right now and ask him to renounce the Church, so that things can be different, as we both wish them to be. But even though it seemed such a simple thing, I did not do it. For it was not simple. He was risking so much for me already that I could not bring myself to ask him this one, final thing. I could not ask him to give up the only life he knew for a future that now seemed to be evanescing before my eyes as rapidly as a beautiful dream does when the sun’s rays fall upon it.

  He slid his hands down to my shoulders, then my waist, and withdrew them. “But it cannot be,” he went on. “I have nothing to offer you—I cannot even offer you myself, not completely. Yet for what it is worth…” His eyes searched my face. “I love you, Adriana. I do. But I love you enough that I want what is best for you, and unfortunately that does not include me.”

  My more sensible, realistic—perhaps bitter—side recognized the truth of his words. Love was simply not going to be enough.

  “I know,” I said finally, looking back up to meet his eyes. “But that is the kind of love that hurts.”

  A knock on the door downstairs startled us, causing us both to flinch away from each other. A few seconds later, we heard the door open, and Giuseppe’s voice calling out tentatively, “Madonna?” Then, slightly louder, “Adriana?”

  “Coming, Giuseppe,” I called. I reached for my cloak and pulled it on. “I must go,” I said. I suddenly found myself unable to look at him. “I am sorry.”

  “You have nothing to be sorry for.” He stepped forward and lightly kissed my forehead. “May you get home safely, cara.”

  “I will see you two nights hence at the theater,” I said, desperate for this afternoon not to leave a bitter, somber taste in our mouths.

  He smiled, as I had hoped he would. “Of course,” he said. “I will look for you in the grandest box of them all.”

  “I will be there,” I promised as I moved toward the door, “with eyes only for you.”

  * * *

  Later, as I walked beside Giuseppe on our way home, I could not help but mull over our argument. My troubled thoughts must have been evident, for Giuseppe, after stealing several sideways glances at me, asked, “You seem out of sorts, madonna. Is anything amiss?”

  We had to press our way through a bit of a crowd in the narrow street just then. I waited until Giuseppe drew near me again before replying. “No, I am well enough, Giuseppe. Thank you for asking.”

  We moved onto a bridge over a narrow canal, and Giuseppe gently took my elbow and steered me toward the railing, away from anyone who might overhear. “Are you certain? Because you seem to be rather upset.”

  I sighed, realizing he knew me entirely too well to be put off with such vague replies. “It is just that … he makes me so angry sometimes!” I burst out. “I love him, yet … one moment I want nothing more than to be with him, and the next I could slap him! The things he says, sometimes … he confuses me. I know not what to think or even to feel half the time.”

  To my surprise, Giuseppe chuckled. “Based on my experience, that certainly sounds like an apt description of love. Not the one the poets prefer, of course, but accurate nonetheless.”

  I stared at him in astonishment. “So I am not altogether mad?” I asked.

  “Well, you may be, but that is a separate matter entirely,” he teased.

  “Truly, Giuseppe, what do you mean?” I pressed. “Love is supposed to be like this?”

  He leaned his forearms on the iron railing of the bridge and looked out over the water of the canal before us, reflecting the dirty façades of the stone buildings surrounding it. “I do not claim to know how love is supposed to be. I can only tell you what it is—what it has been—for me.” He paused. “I think the people we love cause such violent changes in our emotions because we are so vulnerable to them. When you love someone, you give them power over you, so perhaps it is mostly fear that causes us to react with anger, as we sometimes do—fear that they will misuse the power we have given them, knowingly or not.” He looked up and met my eyes. “I have found this applies not just to romantic love, but also to more friendly or familial attachments as well.”

  His words gave me the chance to blurt out the question I had been longing to ask for years. “Why are you so good to me, Giuseppe?” I asked. “What is it that makes you feel so…” I paused. “Responsible for me?”

  “That is a question that you must ask your father,” he said, straightening.

  “What does my father have to do with this?” I demanded.

  He chuckled and moved away from the railing. “More than you know.”

  Frowning, I followed him as he began to lead the way back home. “I have not the slightest idea what you mean,” I said.

  “And it is not my place to enlighten you on this point.”

  My first instinct was to press him on the matter, yet something held me back. If it was something he felt he had no right to tell me, then he must have a good reason. After all, when had Giuseppe ever refused me?

  So instead I remained silent, and we walked the rest of the way back to the palazzo without speaking further.

  19

  OPERA AND CONCERTO

  On Friday night Tommaso came to call for me, as planned. I met him wearing a gown of dark red velvet trimmed with gold thread. My father had bought me a gold and ruby pendant with earrings to match, and carefully selected strands of my hair were held back with a gold hairpin. In my hand I carried a fan of the same fabric as my gown, edged in lace.

  Tommaso’s eyes caught sight of me as soon as I appeared on the staircase, and never left me as I descended the stairs and stopped before him. He immediately kissed my hand, still keeping his eyes on mine.
“After you left la festa, I thought I could only have imagined so beautiful a creature as you,” he said, by way of greeting. “But now I see that memory and imagination alike have failed me, for you are far lovelier than I remembered.”

  I blushed. Nearby, my father had a smile on his face that was wider than the most ridiculous Carnevale mask.

  Without giving me a chance to respond, Tommaso offered me his arm and, with a warm smile, asked, “Shall we be off, madonna?”

  I took his arm and smiled in return.

  “I thank you again for permitting your daughter to accompany me, Don d’Amato,” Tommaso said. “Her comfort and safety will be my utmost priority.”

  “Good. I am glad to hear you say so,” my father replied, apparently feeling he had to play the stern, reluctant parent at least briefly.

  “You need not fear, sir,” Tommaso said. “I shall return her to you as soon as the evening’s entertainment has ended.”

  “Good-bye, Father,” I called as we moved toward the door, intensely relieved and elated to be away from his watchful eye for a few hours without worrying about secrecy.

  Tommaso stepped into his gondola, then reached up to assist me in doing the same. Once we were both comfortable Tommaso called to his gondolier to take us to the theater.

  “I confess to being somewhat surprised that your father did not insist on a chaperone,” Tommaso said as soon as we were away from the dock.

  I felt slightly alarmed at such a comment. “I believe he felt that, as a gentleman, you could be trusted in my company without one,” I said coolly.

  He laughed. “I did not mean to make you ill at ease,” he said. “I have heard that Enrico d’Amato is unusually protective of his daughter, especially in so lax a city as Venice. Not to mention that, before my parents’ ball, no one could rightly recall ever having seen you in public before.” He smiled. “I have been making some inquiries, you see.”

  “Oh?” I said, my tone uncaring, yet truthfully I was nervous—I had so very much to hide. “And what else have you learned?”

  “Let me see,” he began, smiling. “I know your mother was Lucrezia della Pietà, and that she had one of the finest voices of any of the Pietà’s foundlings, ever. I also know that she died several years ago, and that your father has never remarried. I know that you have an elder brother named Claudio who is the heir apparent to the d’Amato firm. And I also know,” he added, his voice dropping to just above a whisper and leaning closer to me, “that you are the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.” Just as abruptly, he sat back again. “Now tell me, is there anything else you think I should know?”