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| Puccini & I together at last |
As
anyone who knows me is aware, I love opera. And Giacomo Puccini is among my
very favorite operatic composers. For my flight of fancy based on Puccini’s
opera, La Boheme, see my short story After La Boheme, offered free on my
website.
I
could not be in Viareggio and fail to visit Torre del Lago, (literally tower of
the lake). Torre del Lago is a small lake a few hundred metres from the sea
where Puccini in the early years of his fame chose to build a home he would
live in for the rest of his life. After his death it was turned into a museum
featuring many of the original furnishings, including the piano where he
composed late at night while his friends surrounded him, drinking wine and
playing cards. He was a bon vivant
who enjoyed the good life and seemingly composed his glorious melodies in the
midst of mild chaos.
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| The tower - Torre del Lago |
He
had the house built and furnished exactly to his specifications and he loved
his home on this small lake above all other places. It is filled with
memorabilia and photographs of the greatest musicians and singers of his day,
including Caruso, who premiered his Girl
of the Golden West, an opera “western”. When Puccini died, his son obtained
permission to have him interred in the house in a room turned into a chapel for
that purpose, so in visiting the house one also visits his grave, a green
marble sepulchre in which his wife and son are also now buried.
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| The lake on a stormy day |
There
is a Puccini Festival here every summer at which the greatest interpreters of
his operas and the greatest singers of the day come together to perform for
huge numbers of opera lovers.
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Following are my published novels. Go to my Goodreads page, to find more info and reviews.
To purchase one of these books, just click on the book link below and select the vendor of your choice.
"The Memory of Roses by Blair McDowell
is simply an incredibly lovely story. It’s also a love story, and a story about
finding yourself, and about closure. The theme running through the book is
“all’s well that ends well.” -- Marlene, Reading Reality
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"Delighting In Your Company is a unique paranormal romance that brings together island folklore, history, and mystery with an unlikely romance between the past and present that had me going through a torrent of emotions and made it impossible to put down." -- The Romance Reviews
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~ A robbery has taken place at her family home, and it is being investigated by her old flame;
~ Alyssa James who she barely knows, is about to become her new stepmother;
~ and Alyssa’s brother, Hugh James, is a charming Irishman who is intent on bedding and wedding the rich and beautiful Sayuri.
It’s a confusing and difficult time for Sayuri, especially when dangerous accidents happen to her father and herself – or are they accidents?
“I found Sonata to be a charming novel that left me laughing out loud
in parts and gnawing nails in others. It was a delight to read.” – Night Owl
Reviews
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Abigail's Christmas is a holiday story about Abigail who goes looking for a tree on Christmas Eve, and ends up with the man of her dreams in a sleigh in the Rockies --- with a wedding in the offing! Is it real? Is she dreaming? Or is it just Christmas magic?
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Blair McDowell