"The girls of the de Mare family are very talented! The second daughter excelled in theology, but the eldest daughter composes music!"
Upon receiving the sheet music submitted by Isabella, the nun in charge of hymns at Cathedral smiled broadly. Isabella displeased that she was placed in parallel with Ariadne, smiled her forced laugh, then changed her mind. How great was the case of the Apostle of Aseretto, but if she can be considered on the same level without lifting a finger, isn't this a surplus business?
"It's a score sheet. We practiced separately, and on the day we all gathered together to practice, we will have the composer take care of us. Please come and see if what you imagined is being implemented well."
Isabella, who sent the nun in charge with a bright smile like a peony in May, gathered her friends that day and decided to show off properly. Her half-sister, who was nothing much, was getting too much praise on the street. It's time for her to show who she really is, the Queen of San Carlo's peers.
***
Isabella was a decent lady who made her debutante last year, so she was able to invite her other debutante friends under her name. Another perk of her debutante was that she could make any trips to any decent place, such as a church, the palace, or a friend's house, without her mother accompanying her. The Cathedral, where the first ensemble of the Mass Brevis composed by Isabella took place, was the perfect place to invite her friends for her debut concert. A day like that, where you can enjoy the ensemble, go with her friends to the Cardinal's residence not far away, have afternoon tea, receive compliments on her beauty as usual, return a few compliments, and leave feeling full.
It was Lucrezia, who, of course, would die for Isabella, insisted on participating, saying that a mother could not miss the historic day when her eldest daughter's composition would be sung together for the first time. Despite Isabella's irritation with her, Lucrezia, who had promised her outright that she would stay away and not interfere, eventually led her to follow Isabella to her social gatherings. Arabella, who wanted to see with her own eyes how her song was sung by her, also wanted to follow her mother, and she insisted on going with her. Isabella and her friends were gathering one after another in the Cathedral. Julia, the daughter of Marquis de Baldesar, was the daughter of the most prominent family, and Camellia, the daughter of Baron Castiglione, a writer three years her senior, was a 'friend; who was selected to perform her various roles. She was the most beautiful young lady in society until the arrival of Isabella, and since Baron Castiglione earned a lot besides money from her fief from her sericulture business, despite her relatively low status, she was a well-to-do courtesan.
Camellia, of low status, was only welcomed by Isabella when she brought her fiancee, Ottavio, Count of Contarini, and his friends, unless she was displaying her 'friends,' the beautiful ladies, like a bouquet of flowers. Today, too, Ottavio and his friends were invited through Camellia. Among them, besides Prince Alfonso, was Count Cesare de Como, the great socialite who was the most noticed by the ladies of San Carlo. People on the invitation list were arriving one after another. Isabella, who had been waiting for people in the front row of the Cathedral with flower decorations and a tea table set up, was delighted when she saw Camellia, who arrived first.
"Camellia! You arrived early!"
"No, Lady de Mare. Thank you for inviting me."
"Oh, please feel free to call me. As this is my first composition if I don't sing with Camellia, who is well-versed in music, who else will I call?"
Isabella, who greeted Camellia warmly, sat down and chatted about this and that. When she made eye contact with her and focused on her partner, Isabella was so attractive that even a woman like her could fall for her. In the meantime, Julia, the daughter of the Marquis of Baldesar, arrived as well as Ottavio, Camellia's fiancee, and his friends arrived one after another. The seats in the front row of the Cathedral were starting to get quite crowded.
"Ottavio, as always, have so much fun."
Isabella congratulated Camellia's fiancee with a half-moon smile. Camelia's expression immediately hardened, but she did not dare to protest against Isabella. Calling a stranger's fiancee by his first name, other than "Count Contarini' or honorific, was clearly crossing the line, but it was Isabella's best practice, and it was something that men did not know, but deep down like.
"By the way, Count Cesare is late?"
Isabella tried to hide her irritability as much as possible and quietly asked Ottavio the question she was most curious about.
"Have you seen Count Cesare show up on time? He must still be getting up late and grooming himself. I'm not a friend who won't show up, so let's proceed by ourselves."
Isabella smiled and nodded, and the musicians who were seated behind the podium loosened their hands and began to prepare, When the conductor raised his hand, the strings began to play in unison.
Bam bam bam.
Diririing.
Various sounds were intertwined to create a single melody. Depending on the conductor's gestures, the melody became intense or soft as if whispering. Isabella was delighted. Following the song she 'wrote', so many people moved in perfect order and listened to her orders!
It wasn't really a song she wrote, but the realization was already finished in her head. It was embarrassing to discuss musical beauty because it suddenly stopped. The pipe organ went solo for about 16 bars, and then all the string instruments suddenly joined without context. It was an incident that made even Isabella, who tried to make her yawn out of boredom because she didn't know her music well enough to go around the second half, to open her eyes and her head.
Arabella sat in the dark in the corner, her chin propped up in a convoluted manner, watching her tune play for real in the real world for the first time. Her ears were excited, but not emotionally. It was she who had to sit in the front seat. She had to get rid of it, thinking that it was an extra deal since she had received the pipe organ in exchange, but her mood was still gloomy. Then, suddenly, the solo performance of the pipe organ began. Arabella put the thumb of her right hand in her mouth.
'Oh, my God!'
The sheet music must have been misrepresented. In the original composition of Arabella's Misa Brevis, there was no pipe organ solo part.
'The score of the lute solo piece, which is the real original composition before the arrangement, was mistakenly inserted into the score of the arranged version by Misa Brevis!'
As Arabella chewed her nails, the conductor on the podium appeared to ask Isabella a question.
"Lady de Mare, the ensemble is over. Did you hear me? There was a part we didn't understand while playing, so why was the pipe organ solo in the middle?"
Isabella looked around calmly, without a hint of embarrassment.
"I want to emphasize the melody of that part."
"Ah... It's a bold musical challenge."
It was the conductor who was embarrassed again. This is because, to the ears of those who know even a little bit of music, this was an error in the working process no matter how much they listened to it. Julia, the young lady of the Marquis of Baldesar, a skilled harpist, also titled her head and whispered to a man who was sitting next to her. Naturally, the conductor, who assumed that Isabella would fill her void, stuttered and asked Isabella.
"In the sheet music, as it is now, the beginning of the pipe organ solo is very awkward. The 'do' scale suddenly jumps to the 'la' scale. If you are a normal performer, this part is difficult to cover with one hand. Even if it's intended, it's hard to apply in real performance situations. Could we play it together and see if there is any room for correction?"
Isabella was embarrassed for the first time.
"Are you going to hit me?"
She couldn't read sheet music properly, Isabella was a novice who could barely keep up with one song after many days of practice. Arabella's Missa Brevis said that she only took the sheet music, and she didn't even open it, thinking she had to put it in. Even if she had only glanced at the sheet music once, she would have noticed that one piece of paper was different, so she couldn't play this song even if someone threatened to bear her to death.
"Aren't professional musicians even able to play that scale? Are you a professional musician?"
Isabella looked for Arabella, who was sitting in the corner of the Cathedral with panicked eyes in anger. It was her silent reprimand to come up with her alternative. But as soon as her eyes met Isabella's, she thought this was permission of a slightly different kind, Arabella ricocheted out of her like a bullet.
"No! No graphite here?"
One of the priests brought graphite and music paper, and Arabella filled in the score without hesitation.
"The string part was missing from the score sheet. I didn't intentionally leave it empty."
Arabella, who filled five sheets of music paper with one stroke as if possessed, also meticulously corrected the introductory part of the pipe organ solo.
"It was not intentional that the music scale jumped out. How do you hit that scale with a human hand? It's because a piece is missing here.
Arabella, who handed out the five completed musical sheets to the conductor and even designated a place for the revised sheet music, finally looked around in a confused atmosphere. Isabella was biting her lip, and the guests were whispering ferociously.
'What? The composer wasn't herself?'
'Somehow, I've never heard of Isabella de Mare being good at music, but I was surprised to hear that she dedicated her music to the consecrated mass instead of playing it herself.'
'I really have no conscience to steal my younger sister's property, not someone else's.'
As Isabella's friends chatted among themselves, Camellia de Castiglione's face seemed to light up as she gossiped about Isabella.
"Stop!"
Lucrezia, who was observing the situation from a corner, stepped out.
"It seems there was a misunderstanding."
Lucrezia, who had risen from a dark place and strode to the center of the podium, felt a sense of intimidation, perhaps because of her tall and luxurious clothes. She asked while looking around.
"This song was composed by an older sister and little sister together. The music was mainly provided by the Older sister, and the smaller sister caught the details."
Lucrezia chose her words, looking mainly at the few who were chatting happily.
"Obviously, Isabella contributed as well. No, it's true that it was mainly made by Isabella. I hope the wrong stories don't circulate anywhere."
At Lucrezia's resolute words, a person leaning on the porch of the Cathedral approached and laughed.
"Is that so, beautiful Lucrezia?"
Please support Novellate!
Comments
Post a Comment