Mozart’s Blood
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Published June 2010
About the Book
Mozart’s Blood is historical fiction based on a real-life character, the opera singer Teresa Saporiti, who created the role of Donna Anna in Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni. The story spans four centuries and takes place in half a dozen great opera houses. It’s all about an abiding passion for music which even time and death cannot extinguish.
The cover art is by Jon Paul, and the jacket design is by Kristine Mills-Noble.
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Reviews
From Booklist:
Marley, a musician and writer, has produced a stunning drama inspired by the life of Teresa Saporiti, the first Donna Anna. Teresa, an aspiring singer, was turned into a vampire by a Czech aristocrat. As bad as the need for blood are the memories of the victims, which remain with the taker. Teresa has learned to deal with them, but Mozart, whom the baroness bit at the same time, never did and died painfully because he could not bring himself to satisfy the unnatural thirst. In San Francisco in 1906, Teresa meets Ugo, a Silician werewolf with a very curious past of his own. They become partners, guarding each other’s backs. In twenty-first-century Milan, an egoistic baritone thinks he has figured out Teresa’s secret and abducts Ugo to obtain the blood that holds Mozart’s memories. The story covers four centuries, but the shifts between the past and the present are seamlessly handled, and the development of Teresa and Ugo over those centuries is impressive. An engrossing piece, from overture to final chord.
From indie bookseller Jeannie Mancini:
This novel is no chic-lit paranormal romance. This is serious vampire literature and one of the best I’ve come across in years. Marley’s writing is outstanding and very polished. The story bursts with breathtaking passionate scenes of emotional torment, the operatic voices vibrate off the page, her characters are crafted with depth and humanity, and the plot is very inventive. This is a story with soul, one that is a cut above all the rest of the vampire fiction out there now that is being mass produced like paper dolls. Dripping with 18th century history, Mozart’s Blood is a sensational read not to be missed for any fans of vampire novels and I personally am hoping for a sequel. Bravo! I stand up and applaud!!!!
—Frieda Murray
Virtual Tour
Discussion Questions
1. Ugo and Octavia have a deep bond that has lasted for more than a century. What do you think drew them together and has kept them close all those years? What is the greatest difference between them?
2. What is it about Teresa’s character that made her strong enough to withstand the demands of her nature after the bite of Zdenka Milosch? Why was Mozart not able to do the same?
3. Why did Teresa, in the end, decide not to share the tooth with Vincenzo dal Prato, the castrato who befriended her when she was a young girl in Milan?
4. The opera Don Giovanni, which is the framing device for the novel, is both drama and comedy, romance and tragedy. Do you find these elements in Ugo’s and Teresa’s stories? In Mozart’s?
5. Can the attraction between Massimo and Octavia survive what happened between them?
6. Massimo wants a great singing career just as much as Teresa did. Do you think he has the same strength?
7. Who do you think will take over the leadership of La Società after the Countess?
8. Ughetto was sensitive and affectionate as a young boy at the scuola. How is Ugo different now, and why did he change?
9. Vampire stories have been popular since Bram Stoker’s Dracula was published in 1897, and they have experienced a resurgence in recent years. Do you think the appeal of vampires is about sex? Power? Long life? Or is it something indefinable?
10. The elders are so ancient that nothing gives them joy any more except music. What is the appeal of music that it can outlast every other pleasure?
Download Discussion Questions for Mozart’s Blood (RTF document)
Book Club Party Guide
Along with the list of ten suggested discussion questions, here are a few ideas for turning your discussion of Mozart’s Blood into a party:
If it’s appropriate, have an open bottle of Riesling in an ice bucket, in honor of Herr Mozart’s Viennese background. Teresa would love it if you offered a bottle of Italian red wine. Her favorite would be a Barolo, of course, but those can be expensive. A nice chianti is just fine, or a rich Brunello. For those who don’t drink wine, bottles of Pellegrino can be open and ready on the table.
For a lunch or dinner party, a good pasta dish simply made with fresh ingredients will be perfect. Use fresh diced tomatoes, a third of a cup of good green olive oil, lots of chopped basil, a cup of pine nuts and a half cup of shaved parmesan cheese. Boil a pound of pasta and toss with all the other ingredients. It should serve six to eight. 
With it serve a salad such as Ugo might have recognized. Layer peeled and sectioned grapefruit with avocado slices onto salad plates, and drizzle with garlic-infused olive oil. The grapefruit sections that come in glass jars are fine, but drain them well. Garnish with even more fresh basil leaves (you can never have too much).
A loaf of fresh Italian bread served with olive oil for dipping rounds out your table!
Dessert is simplest of all. If your club doesn’t serve a full meal, this will energize them for the discussion! Arrange an assortment of dark chocolate truffles on an elegant plate, and serve with a good Viennese coffee. Side dishes can be nuts and cheese and olives. Shop for Mediterranean-themed cocktail napkins!
Most of the pictures you see here, such as this one of Teresa’s birthplace, are free for download from the internet. Download and print in a good size, and use them to decorate. You can paste them to cardboard or even put them in inexpensive picture frames.
And now the best part: the music! Begin with a good recording of Don Giovanni, preferably featuring Renee Fleming. Any of the symphonies would be lovely, particularly the familiar ones such as Symphony #40 in G minor, or the Symphony #25. The score for the movie Amadeus would be perfect, as it offers tidbits of all the familiar passages.
Halloween is the perfect time to read a book like Mozart’s Blood, and you could have your guests come in costume! It might be hard to achieve Octavia’s beautiful gown here, but you have so many periods to choose from—the 18th century, the late 19th century, the Roaring Twenties, even the clothes of World War II. Costumes are fun to research. Googling the period you want to use is easy.
If you do dress in period costumes, take good pictures! We would love to put them on the website. Salute! E buon gusto!
Download Book Club Party Guide (Word document)
Background and Other Notes of Interest
The magnificent singing actress Renee Fleming provided a model and a list of repertoire for my character. Ms. Fleming, with whom I once had the great pleasure of working, is a magnificent Donna Anna. Take a few moments to listen and watch: \”Non mi dir\” from Don Giovanni, sung by Renee Fleming
This historical novel covers the musical periods of the Renaissance, the Baroque, the Classical, and the Romantic. The very early scenes take place in Rome, where a brand new art form called “musical drama” was just being introduced. For quick details on the birth of opera, visit John Howell’s very brief summary of opera history.
This is Mozart as Teresa Saporiti would have known him. The most passionate Mozart devotees still mourn his untimely death, and long to hear the music he would have written. The Requiem, which he was working on at the time of his passing, was completed by a student of his, Sussmeyer. The contrast between the music of Mozart and the music of Sussmeyer is a painful reminder of what the world lost when it lost Mozart. Listen to a bit of the sublime Requiem.
Bibliography
In addition to touring the Metropolitan Opera House and the historic La Scala Theater in Milan, the following resources were immensely valuable–and a whole lot of fun:
Mozart, a Biography, by Piero Melograni
Marrying Mozart, a delightful novel by Stephanie Cowell
The Inner Voice, by Renee Fleming
The Costume Exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City
The listserve MozartForum and its helpful scholars
Disaster by the Bay, H. Paul Jeffers
The Great San Francisco Earthquake & Fire, Helen Hillyer Brown
Great Singers on Great Singing, Jerome Hines
Links
An unusual vintage video of San Francisco, 2006