The Battle of Pietramelara (cont 3)
Not so fast, Signore.
About ten or 15 minutes into our repast, a bunch of teenagers decided to stage a drag race through the park on their
motorini. Exhaust doesn't go too well with prosciutto, so we covered our food and waited for them to leave.
After about 10 minutes of earsplitting noise they departed. In the meantime, sounds of a village band (Think the
Sicilian funeral scene in Godfather II) started drifting up to us from the town below.
Now the fun really began. We returned to the church and realized that a "festa del paese" was taking place, and a dinner for the whole town was
being served several blocks away at the same time as my concert. Our hosts ran out into the piazza handing recital
programs to anyone who would take them. "Come to the recital! Recital at 8 o'clock!"
Their little trick drew in about a dozen folks, and I began to play. Vigorous applause for every piece.
All was fine for about half an hour.
Then came the sound of fireworks going off. Luckily, I was playing Bach's G Major Fantasia, so I had a fairly loud
sound to fight back with. Louder applause and whistles.
Things quieted down again, and I was able to complete some soft pieces. Then during a Tournemire toccata, the drums
started up, followed by the band. The sound came closer and closer, until we had a positively Charles Ivesian
effect going on, with me racing around the keyboard in G major, and the band mourning away in B- flat minor.
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