The dream of a Concert

I still have well inside myself the melodic sound of a violin that has shaked my intimacy and opened the worn out pages of my life book and, taken away by its notes, I could again perceive forgotten emotions. It was the violin of my father, Francesco Montelli, who in the far-away 1924 was one of the founder of the renown "Quartetto di Roma" and one of the leading violinists. of "Orchestra Sinfonica dell'EIAR". With that noble instrument he was rewarded with the laurels of glory all over the world. With that noble instrument our family grew up. With that noble instrument we had the well-being of a confortable life, an education and, above all, we learned to love the sublime art of the truest music.

The sound of that violin was indeed particular. It seemed to speak. It seemed to suffer. It seemed to rejoice. I could have recognized it among thousands. It gave me confidence. It gave me warmth. It is still alive within myself the remembrance of the four musicians, for me Gods, when they came to my house for the rehearsals prior to a concert: and I, enraptured, observed them, listened to them and followed them in their musical phraseology while I, at the same time, was pervaded with a feeling of confort and assurance.

Then, they came the long years of war and postwar and our departure for the Americas. My father continued his laudable career leaving and indelible trace of his art and his technique in the musical environment of the Dominican Republic where he lived until his last days. One of the great halls of La Voz Dominicana, one of the greatest Broadcasting organizations of Latin America, bears his name.

His old violin remained with me , as it were a mute witness of a time that was comprehensive of my childhood and youth. The sound of its strings, that I once in a while pinched, brought me back dear and nostalgic memories of a distant yesterday that I saw framed into a magic dream.

Many years went by. Too many. The family musical vein has been kept alive with my daughter Maria Pia who, as mezzo-soprano, has chosen our native lands to keep on with her profession and also with her daughter , my teenager niece Mariangela, one of the disciples of the famous Music Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi of Milan.

From the far away Florida, where I to-day reside, I have followed their progress and encouraged their ambitions while at the same time I had the feeling that I was near the realization of a dream.
To-day, thanks to the thoughtful intervention of Beppe and his Concerto di Sogni and to the incromprehensible, for me, world of cybernetics my dream has become reality as I could see and listen through my PC monitor the noble instrument being skilfully played with the virtuosity of my niece, masterly video-registered by the very same Beppe, during the Concert that took place at the beginning of this month at the Conservatory. For me the Dream of a Concert.