The Carnival of Venice

This morning, I woke up, pulled out my flute, and played The Carnival of Venice! This was, of course, after my Special K cereal with the delicate rolls of dark chocolate. It is bright, sunny, someone is doing construction outside, but they wave to me because they seem to like my flute playing. I'm afraid the guy's going to fall off the roof if he doesn't pay more attention to what he's doing. But he does seem to be wearing a harness. Anyway, that was my morning. 

Why that piece, you might ask? Good question. For instance, it wasn't the only thing I played this morning—I must have practiced for over an hour, and clearly didn't spend all that time on one piece. Well, I have some eccentric life goals. Last summer, I wanted to have three meals in three different countries in one day. So, I brought a group of students from Avignon to Nice, and we had breakfast in France, lunch in Monaco, and dinner in Italy (Ventimiglia, to be more specific). It was epic, not because it was a particularly exciting way to spend a day, but because afterwards, I got to tell people: "Hey, you know, I've eaten three meals in three different countries all in one day!" The train ride was about 20 minutes between each country, so it really wasn't impressive at all. But the sentence makes up for the anticlimactic nature of the day. 

So, this summer, my eccentric goal is this: to play The Carnival of Venice in Venice. Yes, that is my goal. Wouldn't it be awesome? Last summer, I went to Arles, and played Bizet's Suite arlésienne, but I played the Suite in Avignon and not in Arles, so that wasn't particularly exciting. But, I have always loved The Carnival of Venice, and since I've recently been making fun Venice jokes about how it's a fish, could there be a better way to combine my "interests"? (I used the quotes because some people might not consider calling Venice a fish an "interest"). 

So, the point of this morning's entry: I think the only thing better than playing The Carnival of Venice on a beautiful summer morning in Paris will be playing it in Venice!! Or, as I'd say in Italian: "Non vedo l'ora di suonare Il carnevale di Venezia a Venezia!" 

See? I told you it was a fish! If you don't believe me, ask Tiziano Scarpa, a Venetian writer who wrote a cultural guide to Venice entitled: Venezia è un pesce (or in English, Venice is a Fish).