In the Eye of a Storm Read Free Page A

of his own sonatas and would like you to play with him.
Don’t say no, as I’ll be so pleased just to listen to you both.’ Laneve placed
his music on her new fortepiano and began to improvise while Viotti brought out
his violin and tuned it.  Then they both began to play.
    Beautiful sounds filled the music room, its resonance lingering in the
silences. From this very first moment it was as though Laneve and Viotti could
hear the music through a single pair of ears, could express the music through
one totally sympathetic voice and play together with a single heart. 
    Hours passed like minutes until Viotti exclaimed, ‘Enough now. Laneve,
Marquise de Marais, would you consider the possibility of joining me on the
concert stage? You would be doing me a great honour as you are one of the
finest pianists in France.’
    ‘Yes, it would be my pleasure to work with you,’ she answered. And so
the two musicians began a partnership that would bring fame to both and would
link their names together as foremost artists in France’s musical history.
Viotti and the Marquise de Marais first became associated in French musical
circles through a succession of brilliant concerts.
    During the coming years they performed in chateaus, in private salons
and for Marie Antoinette’s exclusive recitals at le Petit Trianon . They
organized and presented one of the first publicly sold subscription concert
series at the Theatre de Monsieur . Viotti began to acknowledge her
privately and in public as, ‘the lily of France.’
    Their artistic partnership led them into the highest levels of
excellence and success.  But as it is with many talented people, they also
had their detractors. There were some who were critical, openly jealous and
often dangerous as the future would reveal.

IV.
     
    On an early spring day in 1789, Laneve was hosting another of her
lunches. These gatherings regularly welcomed small groups of France’s creative
and intelligent young women while their stimulating conversation always lifted
Laneve’s spirits.
    Earlier in the morning, the three invited guests had walked through her
lovely gardens admiring the first crocuses and the flowering almond and peach
blossoms. A bouquet of their deep pink buds and mauve double lilacs decorated
the dining room.
     Gathered around the table were an artistic group that included:
Adelaide Labille-Guiard, a renowned portrait painter who had recently been
accepted to the Academie Royale, Angelique Gretry, who had successfully
composed her second opera and Marie Duval, now a concert pianist and young
mother. While their conversation was lively at first, a sense of consternation
soon filled the air.
    ‘Oh Laneve, you don’t know how fortunate you are to live in the countryside,
away from Paris. The city is becoming a very dangerous place now. Why only the
other day the king and queen were jeered openly in public as they attended a
theatre performance,’ remarked Adelaide.
    ‘Yes, I too have a story to tell you,’ said Marie. ‘Last week my
grandmere paid a visit to Madame de Leanour and on her way home a group of
young hoodlums threw stones at the coach. One of them even tried to force the
door open. Thankfully the post rider used his whip to drive them away.
Grandmere is so frightened now that she won’t leave her home.’
    ‘Yes, there is much looting going on in Paris and terrible pamphlets
are being printed and passed around everywhere. All of them are filled with
hateful messages about certain members of the nobility, particularly the
queen,’ Angelique added.
    Then Laneve spoke. ‘I hear that all of the very poor people are
becoming difficult to control, especially since stories about the scandal of
Marie Antoinette’s diamond necklace are circulating. But I also believe that many
are hungry and don’t have enough money to pay for a decent house to live in.
And it doesn’t help either when the nobility and clergy seem to enjoy all the
privileges while the poor have so