Eight Days to Go

YOUR OWN COMFORT MUSIC

In an age of iPhones, iPads, tablets, iPods, iTunes, Cloud Player and the like, people can take their favorite music with them throughout the day. There's something especially satisfying about having music with you as you travel. There are a number of well known pieces with Roman themes, and I've loaded up a few of them on my iPhone.

All of Puccini's opera Tosca takes place in Rome. Act I takes place in the church of San Andrea della Valle, located in a bustling part of Rome. We're sure to pass it a few times. I've sat inside and listened to all of Act I, trying to visualize what is being depicted in the music. Act II takes place in Palazzo Farnese, which is now the French Embassy located near the Piazza Navona. Act III takes place on the roof of the Castel San Angelo, from where Tosca jumped to her death. Opera fans may want to carve out sometime to visit these sites when exploring the city in your free time. 

You'd also do well to travel with Ottorino Respighi's The Pines of Rome, The Fountains of Rome and the Roman Festivals. The pieces are often grouped together as the Roman Trilogy and it's common to find all three pieces on a single disc. Respighi was one of the most brilliant orchestrators in classical music, meaning he had full command of orchestral sounds and created some of the beautiful, evocative, flashy and over the top pieces in the classical repertoire. In The Pines of Rome, he captured the sound of children playing and families relaxing in the Pines of the Villa Borghese; his Pines of the Janiculum depicts moonlight in the famous park on the hill over looking Rome. (It's quite possible our guide Elisabeth may take us to one or both of these places for a little stretch and walk after our flight.) The piece includes the Pines near a Catacomb and he concludes his work with the Pines of the Appian Way, a triumphant march of Roman soldiers returning from battle. I really enjoy listening to this music as we visit these places! We'll also be visiting sights from his Fountains of Rome and Roman Festivals. 

It might be fun to travel with a little Roman polyphony: Palestrina is perhaps the best known composer of this period.

I do admit that church bells and taxi horns may be my favorite sound in Rome. 

See you tomorrow.....