27 APRIL 2020 BLOG 2 BOOK OF SONGS AUTHOR’S 2ND AUTOBIOGRAPHY
27 APRIL 2020 BLOG 2
For the theatrical folks out there, I’ve inserted a few summaries for a play or operatic performance. In my novel Letters from Federica, the story entailed a series of songs and of other compositions yet-to-be decided by the reader. The following is a play or an opera. You decide.
THE OPERA or THE PLAY – Either way, a tragedy no doubt.
“The story, set in 13th-century Florence, Italy, begins at a banquet to celebrate the return of Angelo Uberti, son of Farinata Uberti. Farinata was an aristocrat and military leader of the Ghibelline faction in Florence. He was considered to be a heretic by some of his contemporaries, including Alfonsina Orsini, a Regent of Florence. She governed the Republic of Florence during the absences of her son Matteo Orsini, closest friend to Angelo Uberti. Both sons were needed to end the war of all wars, and to protect Florence from its enemies. The sons agreed to go into battle together only if the Uberti and Orsini families put their differences aside and abolish the marriage between Matteo Orsini and the French royalty that his mother had worked to secure for her son. Later, Alfonsina talked to Farinata about marrying his son Angelo to the French royal daughter Agnès, in order to seal the peace treaty between Florence and the French, a century-old debt owed by the Uberti family, but Farinata refused to marry his son to a French Christian royal, and instead asked Alfonsina to break her promise to her son and promise her son to French royalty. He told her that it was no longer necessary to wait, and that the marriage would be announced in three nights from now. Farinata swore that her refusal would be punishable by the death of her son.
“Meanwhile, Livia talked with her brother Matteo about the poems that Matteo had shared with her, and which he wrote during the last four years that he was away with Angelo. Livia discovered that these love poems that were so beautifully-written stemmed from the requited love that he had for Angelo. Persuaded by Livia, Matteo agreed to secretly meet with Angelo in a private chamber of Livia’s bedroom, hoping to spend their first night together since they had returned from war. Angelo agreed to the plan. However, Angelo was confronted by his father and guards as he attempted to ride out of the dead of night to find Matteo. Farinata was enraged at his son for attempting to sneak out of the castle to meet Matteo, and the only thing that stopped him from killing his son was Angelo’s mother, Vittoria. After Matteo heard of Angelo’s apprehension, Matteo snuck into the Uberti castle to find Angelo, who was locked up in his chambers. Matteo knocked at his door and whispered that he was there. When Angelo opened the door, he found his mother with guards and a pool of blood at their feet. Vittoria announced that she had killed Matteo to save her only son.
“Farinata, meanwhile, still enraged that Angelo had tried to sneak out to see his lover Matteo, and since Alfonsina was unable to persuade her son to marry the French royal Agnès, ordered his most-feared soldier to kill Matteo.
“Vittoria told her husband that she had just killed Matteo to save her son. Now that Uberti family’s greatest threat had been removed, Farinata informed his son that he was to be wed to Clarice, the youngest daughter of the most noble family in Florence. Knowing how much Angelo loved Matteo and cared greatly for his sister Livia, he assured Angelo that his defiance would be punishable by the death of the Orsini family, starting with Livia, even if he were to do the noble thing and take his own life. Grief-stricken and wracked with guilt, Angelo agreed to marry Clarice.
“Alfonsina secretly spent her days and nights plotting revenge against the Uberti family for killing her son and betraying their promise to keep their families united. After the birth of Angelo’s fifth child, Alfonsina wrote a letter to Angelo, asking him to come visit with his family. She professed that, for the sake of future generations, the family feud had to come to an end, and that for the sake of the love between him and her son, she wished to make peace with the family and strengthen the alliance between the families for the sake of Florence, as Florence was, once again, going through tumultuous times.
Vittoria agreed to Alfonsina’s request for a private audience. Alfonsina stabbed Vittoria in the stomach, leaving her to bleed to death, namely through the same method that she had been told had killed her son. She made her way to the banquet hall where there was a private dinner being held for her, as well as Angelo’s entire family and his father, Farinata.
“Meanwhile, Alfonsina had arranged for a deadly potion to be distilled in the wine and food fed to the Uberti family, including Angelo’s children. She told them that Vittoria would be along shortly. She raised her glass to toast this long-awaited reunion.
“Within moments, the entire family was dead. Alfonsina and her secret army made their escape. While Alfonsina was at the banquet, one of her soldiers in hiding overheard one of the Uberti soldiers say that the prisoner, Vittoria, who has been hiding for several years from her husband, had fallen ill and was in urgent need of medical attention, and that he had to be kept alive, and they heard them call the prisoner by the name of Matteo. The soldier went in search of the prisoner. By the time the soldier confirmed that it was indeed Matteo Orsini, the message hadn’t reached Alfonsina before she had the entire Uberti family killed, including the love of her son’s life.
“Matteo told his mother that Vittoria had told the truth to Angelo after the birth of his first child, his son, whom he named Matteo, and that he was not dead. Vittoria did have the guards attack Matteo and stab him, but not with a fatal wound, and she kept him as her prisoner in an undisclosed location. She said that it was the only way to keep him alive. She had had to fake his death in order to take him as her prisoner and keep him hidden away from her husband, if ever Matteo and Angelo were to be reunited again in secret. But for everyone’s sake, including the Orsini family, everyone had to think that Matteo was dead. Vittoria disclosed to Angelo the secret location where she had been hiding her prisoner under the condition that he was to continue to bear children with Clarice and love his family, if he ever wanted to see Matteo again. Angelo and Vittoria agreed to wait for Farinata’s death which the doctor said was only a few weeks away, before disclosing the truth to Alfonsina.”
The aria…for such a tragedy
With blood on my hands,
My pleas cry out to save me,
I’ve made a prisoner of my heart,
My soul captured in sorrow,
A mirror of remorse forever inflicted,
My own shadow breaks its tie from me.
Will I ever know her love
Without blood on my hands?
Where did she go?
How can his love reach me?
A passage of time forever lost.
The way to her heart forever gone.
Where is the lifeline
From me to her?
Come find me my love.
His sorrow reaches me.
A moonlit path
Laid down for me,
Reaching for me to follow.
A prisoner of my own sorrow.
My struggle claims their soul.
A mother’s love,
A deep affliction of affection.
Come love me,
Come love me.
A mother’s love,
A deep affliction.
Will I ever know her love
Without blood on my hands?
Where did she go?
How can his love reach me?
A passage of time forever lost.
The way to her heart forever gone.
Where is the lifeline
From me to her?
Come find me my love.
His sorrow reaches me.
My journey is ending,
One with no beginning.
She touches me so gently.
She sees me in all my darkness.
My shadow of blackness,
A stain on my soul,
My affliction her sorrow,
A mother’s love.
Come love me,
Come love me.
A mother’s love,
A deep affliction.