Back to Teaching Tools

Due out June 29, 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.

Reviews

Coming soon.

TOP

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

TOP

Our newest CD:

Buy

Wasn’t That A Time?

Listen to a sample cut.

Buy

Merry Mount

Disc 1:

1. Act 1. Prelude
2. Act 1. Be as a lion, dread Jehovah… From plots of Hell and witcheries
3. Act 1. Ah – I deny thy Christ
4. Act 1. A savoury discourse, good Master Bradford
5. Act 1. Last night came One that paced a-down the stairway of the sky
6. Act 1. My son, Thou’rt over-ripe for marriage!
7. Act 1. The willow keep to thatch our sleep
8. Act 1. Plentiful Tewke hath catched the preacher!
9. Act 1. Gi’ you good night, sir…
10. Act 1. Scratch a Roundhead, find a rebel…Thrones of Earth be idle things
11. Act 1. Right rev’rend priest, our holy joy… Respect the Sabbath day
12. Act 1. Marigold! Lady!… Let us be lions of Jehovah

Disc 2:

1. Act 2. Scene 1. Prelude – I wind and I wind, My true love to find
2. Act 2. Scene 1. From forth the hill… I christen ‘Merry Mount’ – Maypole Dance
3. Act 2. Scene 1. Long Live the Lady
4. Act 2. Scene 1. Marigold! When the morning stars together sang
5. Act 2. Scene 1. Methinks I see th’infernal rendezvous of Satan and his bond-slaves
6. Act 2. Scene 2. O pity me! Thou alone of women Canst heal this tortured heart
7. Act 2. Scene 2. Let them strike twice, And I will come to thee!
8. Act 2. Scene 2. Hale her to the village, A prisoner…
9. Act 2. Scene 2. Almight Father, My King and my God
10. Act 2. Scene 2. Chorus of Mystic Voices
11. Act 2. Scene 3. Alleluia! Alleluia!
12. Act 2. Scene 3. Now thou art mine
13. Act 2. Scene 3. Rise up, my love my fair one
14. Act 3. Scene 1. Prelude
15. Act 3. Scene 2. Gird you with Sackcloth
16. Act 3. Scene 2. Never more shall prayer ravish these lips!…
17. Act 3. Scene 2. No witch am I; But one that long ago was happy
18. Act 3. Scene 2. Ay, even now thy lover frets at Hellgate – Death to the Witch

Buy

Wasn’t That A Time?

Take a trip back with the folk music of the 70’s. The songs of Peter, Paul & Mary; Gordon Lightfoot, The Eagles and more await you….

Contents:

1. And When I Die
2. Teach Your Children
3. No Other Name
4. If I Had My Way
5. Baidin Fhelimi
6. San Francisco Bay Blues
7. Desperado
8. Early Mornin’ Rain
9. Come And Go With Me
10. She Thinks I Still Care
11. The First Time
12. For Lovin’ Me
13. Wasn’t That A Time?