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The Uncle from Rome
The Uncle from Rome: A Novel | Joseph Caldwell
4 posts | 1 read | 2 to read
An American opera singer travels to Naples and becomes embroiled in his strangest role yet Michael Ruane is an obscure American opera singer who arrives in Naples to play a small part in an important production of Tosca and star in his own staging of a little-known Benjamin Britten opera. The work comes at a particularly trying time, when hes still raw with grief after his New York lovers death from AIDS. As the productions get under way, Ruane is offered an unusual part: that of the uncle from Rome at a local wedding. According to tradition, the presence of the uncle from Rome at important events confers prestige on the family. However, Ruane is soon enmeshed in a drama that surpasses any role he has played on the stage. The Uncle from Rome is a brilliant and colorfully imagined novel filled with theatrics of operatic proportions.
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Lcsmcat
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Eggs ❤️👏🏻👏🏻🤗❤️ 5y
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review
Lcsmcat
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Pickpick

A book about grief, and opera, and self-knowledge, and pasta. Humor and seriousness in proper proportions and a depth that was surprising. You don‘t have to know anything about music to enjoy it, but if you are a singer you will find many recognizable characters!

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Lcsmcat
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What do you think @Lynnsoprano , is he right? 🙄

Lynnsoprano Love it! Well, our reputation is of being temperamental and demanding. Given that first love can be a dramatic relationship, I think it fits. Adore the description of baritones and mezzos😄 BTW, one of the best compliments I ever received was being told that I was the least diva-ish soprano the accompanist had ever worked with. 6y
Lcsmcat @Lynnsoprano It‘s such an annoying cliché about us, though. Even my husband (who is our choir director) gives more love to the altos than the sopranos. But we can‘t complain about being treated like divas or they say “See, you‘re being a diva!” ??‍♀️ What‘s a poor soprano to do? ? 6y
Lcsmcat @Lynnsoprano You would probably like this book, BTW. It‘s full of opera and drama that is very familiar to musicians. And I discovered a Britten work I hadn‘t known about before - Curlew River. 6y
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Lynnsoprano @Lcsmcat Never realized you were a singer, too. I don‘t know that Britten either. I‘ll have to look it up. Stacked the book. Always looking for books that involve music. 6y
Lcsmcat @Lynnsoprano Yep, Peabody Conservatory, majored in oboe minored in voice. I taught music for years, but now I work in a law firm and sing mostly at church. 6y
Lynnsoprano @Lcsmcat Wow! Small world. My voice teacher when I was in HS was a Peabody grad, and I was going to apply there, but I got early acceptance to Moravian College, where my dad and his brothers had graduated from, so my decision was pretty much predestined. 6y
Lcsmcat @Lynnsoprano Cool! Who was your voice teacher? I‘m about your age (I think- mid 50‘s?) so we could have crossed paths. I studied with Serafina DiGiacamo at Peabody, and with no one you‘ve ever heard of before that. There are a couple of performances of the Britten on YouTube. I was listening to it as I read last night. 6y
Lynnsoprano @Lcsmcat I‘m older,67, my teacher was Joanne Curry Lotz, and she was fabulous. When the teacher I studied with in college retired in the middle of my senior year, she got the position, which was very cool, to finish my college career with my first voice teacher. 6y
Lcsmcat @Lynnsoprano That is special- for her too, to be there at your launch. 6y
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Lcsmcat
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I can‘t remember when (or exactly how) this ended up on my Kindle, but I started it today at lunch. It‘s too early to make any judgment yet. #currentlyreading