Wow! Florence is a heck of a lot of fun on a Friday night. I can’t wait until Gemma gets here, so we can go out together tomorrow.
I started by heading off to the violin concert at 8:45. Since it wasn’t until 9:15, but only a five-minute walk away, I had some time. on the way, I heard a man playing flute on a bench, and he was pretty good, so I gave him 20 eurocents (my only coin at the time). Since I was so early, I sat down nearby to listen for a while. When he was finished with the piece, he waved and came over to chat. He thanked me for the money, and told me that I would hear m ore music tonight. I said, that indeed I would, since I was on my way to a concert.
The violin concert was inside a magnificent old chapel from 1588. The acousitics definitely helped the solo violin fill the space, which isn’t to say the performance wasn’t great. Andrea Coretesi played his heart out for us tonight. One piece (I think it was Bach, but without English or a program, it was hard to tell) almost proved too much for him, and he visibly struggled on stage. I can’t say I blame him, though; Bach wrote two independent lines almost the whole way through. It sounded like at least two violins were playing.
Since by this point I was way overbudget for the day (with the train and hotel), I couldn’t go out. Still, I decided to check out Florence in preparation for Gemma’s arrival.
What I saw is that there is a band for almost every street corner in town. I saw a girl with a theravox that Gemma has to see. The therevox is an electronic instrument invented in 1919, and is played by waving your hands through the air next to two antennas. Sadly, she just finished when I arrived, so I decided to ask if she would be back tomorrow. Since she spoke only “poco” (I think “very little”) English, this was difficult. However, I am pretty sure she will be back from 9-11 on Saturday.
The last band I saw had an accordian, a drum, a string bass, and an instrument related to a hammer dulcimer. They played very upbeat jazzy arrangements and seemed to have a lot of fun doing so. After hearing 4-5, though, I decided to go to bed, and as I turned to leave, I saw the theravox girl walking the other way. She smiled and waved; I said “Ciao,” and we each went our separate ways.
