And the Rockets' Red Glare...

Here in Venice, Sunday was the feast of the Redeemer (Redentore in Italian) and its origin is the plague of 1576 which was a horrendous event that took 50,000 lives, fully one-third of Venice's population. When it was over in 1577 Palladio designed and the city began to construct the Church of the Redeemer on Giudecca Island in thanks to God for sparing the city.

Redentore is a major annual event here in which a pontoon bridge is built across the Giudecca Canal to the Redentore Church itself (see photo) and most Venetians feel the need to cross over it, we hope, on the way to church to offer thanks. It was celebrated by 100,000 people Saturday night and with a huge midnight fireworks display in the part of the lagoon just off St Mark's Square. Thousands of boats populated with party goers crammed the lagoon: small runabouts, converted transport boats, barges, each stuffed with party-goers. The wise reveller chooses a boat with a loo. In addition, others crammed the Piazzetta San Marco and all areas along the water to see the show.

Laurie and I are not event people. We abhor crowds and noise; for instance, each year we leave Venice for the last week of Carnivale to keep our sanity. We return on Ash Wednesday when blessed silence envelopes Venice and the sanitation workers have been working since midnight removing the wretched refuse. Anyway, this Redentore, kindly, Frank O'Halloran and Liesl Odenweller (soprano) decided to do a fundraising dinner for next year's Pantomine, on their large altana/terrace that overlooks the fireworks and the Redentore Church....views extraordinary.

The pyrotechnics were truly amazing, a show which lasted about 35 minutes (maximum for normal humans). Just before it began, Frank informed us that the fireworks this year would be accompanied by music. Our hearts sank. No escape. At one time, this was the city of Vivaldi, Galuppi, Monteverdi, Albinone; half of Verdi's operas debuted here. That was then. We feared the worst. For me, in Italy the word "music" carries an unspoken modifier: Italiana. By that I mean Italian rock-pop which ubiquitously and continuously pollutes the air of shops, bars, restaurants and shopping centres here.

At 11:30 we heard the strains of the opening of "Thus Spake Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss when the first flares were ignited. It was reasonably suitable as the music and the fireworks coordinated their crescendos: a rising tide of music and explosion. Although the music was distracting,  we thought, hold on, maybe this will be tolerable. One or two more classical snippets, then, oh-oh, some movie music by Ennio Marricone and we were into spaghetti westerns, The Good, The Bad and the Ugly; then music from Grease, "You're the one that I want, ooh,ooh,ooh", followed by the predictable Bocelli duet, U2, somebody called Saline Dion, and an un-rousing Firebird (drowned out). Why didn't they, at least, play Handel's Musick for the Royal Fireworks? Too obvious,hunh?

Next year it will be Paris Hilton, you watch. We'll be in the mountains.

Addendum (36 hrs later): Gazzettino newspaper reported today that nobody liked the music, including the mayor, that music was a bad idea and it has been scratched from future programmes. Yeahhhh! God is in his Heaven!