* * *
In the quiet of the evening, sparse for the disappearance of the vital energy of the afternoon, Alba handed Mario a cold beer out on the terrace. The echoes of Chiara and Donatella’s play rose up from the olive grove below.
“Salute,” Alba said, tipping the neck of her bottle onto his.
“Congratulations, Alba,” he said, taking a gulp.
“I had no doubt I would win the bet to get it done in time. I have your daughters to thank for bringing me the students though. You think they’ll ask for commission from now on? If Chiara hasn’t already made out an invoice, that is.”
“You might be a bad influence after all.”
“I hope so.”
Their swallows percussed the comfortable silence, beneath the hum of the cicadas, and the gentle swish of the olive tree leaves.
“Don’t let this go to your head. Because a job is a job. But the sorry truth is, I couldn’t have done it without you, Ma.”
“True.”
Alba slapped his arm. “That’s all you have to say for yourself? I knocked down my fair share of walls too, no?”
“Are you talking about those five minutes when you made a dent in the plaster?”
Alba laughed and took a sip of her beer. The evening was perfect pink-purple stillness. The air was clear, heated with the promise of summer, the mountains dipped in dusk.
She turned toward Mario, his skin lit with the damask light. Stubble poked at his chin, the start of gray at his temples noticeable against the black of the rest.
“I liked knocking down walls with you, Mario.”
“Good,” he said, with a soft smile, neither an invitation nor a polite retreat.
She looked out toward the view of her countryside.
“I think I’d like to knock down some more walls with you sometime,” she added.
She felt him turn to her. Alba faced him. His gaze was unblinking.
Neither spoke. Neither moved.
Alba watched his expression soften.
The dimples in his cheeks etched a smile.
His voice a wistful Sardinian husk in reply, “I think I’d like that too.”
Audiences are not important for me now and they never were.
—Martha Argerich
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Heartfelt thanks to John Scognamiglio and his colleagues at Kensington as well as Lisa Milton, Dominic Wakeford, and their lovely team at HQ. Deepest gratitude for my indefatigable agent, Jeff Ourvan—the best person to answer tricky creative questions with. The steady and gentle support from all of the above has enabled me to breathe life into this story.
I want to thank the theatrical team (Ellie, Eddie, Pickles, et al.), who invited my husband and me to perform Shakespeare at the Globe Theatre Rome. Losing myself along its streets was the birth of this story.
I’m indebted to the kindness of Antonio Pappano’s assistants Lottie Johnson and Loreto Santamaria alongside Melanie All-mendinger at the Royal Opera House. Thank you to Andrew Sinclair for encouraging me to reach out to them and for wine in a sun-dipped Australian theater lobby. Deep gratitude for the lovely Angelica Suanno and her amazing team and professors at L’Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, who opened their doors and minds, educating me in all the wondrous training that happens within. Many thanks to Maestro Benedetto Lupo, for granting me the honor of observing his fascinating work as well as sharing his own music journey with me. Thank you to Giovanni Auletta for a seat in one of the magnificent meeting rooms as he shared his world of music to me, and to the students of L’Accademia di Santa Cecilia, who were more than happy to share stories, coffee and carbonara, and their amazing talent. Grazie mille, Patrizia and Sara Godoli, for giving me a room with a stunning view of Roman antiquity, and good company, always.
Mum and dad, thank you for all those evenings you ferried me to sit (and dance!) beside Mr. and Mrs. Martin and their daughter Anne as they guided my first (and further) steps into music. Thank you to pianist Emilio Merone for nurturing a deeper understanding of fifths and all things improvised. Big shout-out to dance teacher Adele Maxwell Miles and actor/writer Bella Heesom, two women who invited me to share my music with a larger audience beyond my parents and pets.
Finally, thank you to the handful of young students I’ve had study at my piano; you taught me as much as I did you, if not more. Two of those are my own sons—your music inspires me more than you’ll ever know.
Thank you to my husband, Cory, for his untiring support and song: You have Music enough to match the lot of us.
To all the marvels who discover, make and share the superpower commonly referred to as Music: please never stop lifting our hearts and minds.
A READING GROUP GUIDE
A ROMAN RHAPSODY
Sara Alexander
ABOUT THIS GUIDE
The suggested questions are included to enhance
your group’s reading of Sara Alexander’s
A Roman Rhapsody!
Discussion Questions
1. What was your favorite part and why?
2. What prejudices are explored in the story around the notion of what it requires to be a successful artist in the music industry?
3. What is the role of the music in the story? What does it allow the author to explore? What is its central purpose in your opinion?
4. Which characters resonated most deeply for you and why?
5. If you had the chance to ask the author one question about this book, what would it be?
6. Which character would you most like to meet and why?
7. Is Alba’s development of her innate talent and passion commendable, successful, or escapist?
8. Do you think the challenges of following a life in music are different or similar for a woman than a man in the 1970s? Are they different today?
9. How did you relate to the world created in this story?
10. What do you consider to be the author’s purpose in writing this book? What central ideas are embedded within the story, its colors, and its characters?
A Roman Rhapsody Page 41