How to Flee From Sorrow

Or how to continue making masterpieces despite “a few” missteps…

The other day fellow author, Margaret Evans Porter, let me know that BBC Radio 4 was putting on a drama about Alessandro Stradella, the focus of my novel A House Near Luccoli.

How to Flee From Sorrow is wonderfully written by Frank Cottrell-Boyce, superbly acted, and punctuated by Stradella’s music exquisitely performed by the program’s Director of Music, musicologist and violinist Alberto Sanna. It initially aired live, a little too early in the morning for me due to the time difference. However, it was recorded (about an hour long) and is now available over the next 29 days for listening to.

It covers Stradella’s time in Rome, Venice, and Turin … and Genoa (where my novel picks up his story); wittingly, imaginatively, and entertainingly representing the man, his genius and fateful recklessness. A beautiful production and well-worth sitting back for an hour to listen to. It made me want to write about Stradella all over again!

Listening to a radio drama is not unlike reading, in that it requires the listener/reader to visualize what is spoken/written. Of course, the onus is on the creator to offer something that gives the listener/reader no choice but to engage their senses and imagination. This production really succeeds in doing so.

If you’ve read A House Near Luccoli, I hope you will take the time to listen to How to Flee From Sorrow, to enjoy it in itself and as it gives some backstory to my fictional interpretation of Stradella in Genoa.

If you haven’t yet read the novel, this radio drama may well pique your curiosity enough to do so. I hope so!

So, get a cup of coffee or tea, put aside a little time and your feet up, and enjoy…

Alessandro Stradella (1639-1682) conjured music of sublime formality out of a life of chaotic violence. At a time when composers were expected to abase themselves before their patrons, Stradella swindled his, and seduced their mistresses before falling foul of hired assassins. Our central characters are all real historical figures, brought back to life by Frank Cottrell-Boyce.

Here is Alberto Sanna performing Alessandro Stradella’s Two-Part Sinfonia no.9 in G major