The Pummerin was cast in 1705 from 208 Turkish cannons and survived until 1944, when it was destroyed in a fire set by wartime looters. It was melted, recast, and rehung in 1957. It rings every year to celebrate the New Year. Austrians watch the swinging bell on national television.
Sometime around 1750, Count Karl Eugen brought two Italian physicians to Stuttgart for the purpose of castrating young boys, and so the duke’s court is the only known location of systematic castration north of the Alps. In Italy, boys continued to be castrated for Europe’s opera houses throughout the nineteenth century, though the golden age of the musico passed with romantic opera’s rising preference for the tenor voice. The last musico, Alessandro Moreschi, sang in the Papal Choir until 1913.
In a very few places, when my story and history conflicted, the story won out. Most egregious, Staudach’s church was finished only in 1766, too late to castrate Moses in time for Gluck’s opera. Moving construction back a few years seemed a small crime, well worth the opportunity to pair the beautiful building with Gluck’s stunning opera, both of which, more than two hundred years later, are enduring symbols of an age.
Acknowledgments
I am very grateful to Alexandra Mendez-Diez for her many hours of reading and commenting, all done six time zones and an ocean away. I am indebted to Bridget Thomas for her many invaluable improvements to language and style. Thank you to the writers at Thin Raft, Basel, for their years of encouragement.
To Dan Lazar at Writers House, thank you for giving the novel new life, and for making it so much better. Thanks also to Stephen Barr for his great insights. In Sarah Knight, I found a fantastic editor whose limitless enthusiasm kept me going. I am grateful to Shaye Areheart, Kira Walton, Karin Schulze, Linda Kaplan, Annsley Rosner, Sarah Breivogel, Heather Lazare, Patty Berg, Katie Wainwright, Rachel Berkowitz, Jill Flaxman, and Christine Kopprasch for their hard work and support. Thank you to Domenico Sposato and my other colleagues at the Minerva Schulen Basel, and to Franz Gstättner, Ernst Zöchling, and the Dombauhütte St. Stephan.
Mom and Dad, of course I couldn’t even have begun without your support and guidance. To Rebecca and Sam, thank you for all your love. And last, of course, an ocean of thanks to Dominique—without you there would be no book.
The Bells Page 38
