“What is a novel, but a collection of lies we tell to reveal greater truths." - Howard Jay Smith, from Beethoven in Love: Opus 139
All About Me
Howard Jay Smith is an award-winning writer from Santa Barbara, California. VIVA VIOLETTA & VERDI, is his third novel in his series on great composers, including BEETHOVEN IN LOVE; OPUS 139 and MEETING MOZART: FROM THE SECRET DIARIES OF LORENZO DA PONTE. His other books include OPENING THE DOORS TO HOLLYWOOD (Random House) and JOHN GARDNER: AN INTERVIEW (New London Press). He was recently awarded a Profant Foundation for the Arts Fellowship for Excellence in Writing. Smith is a former two-time Bread Loaf Scholar and three time Washington, D.C. Commission for the Arts Fellow, who taught for many years in the UCLA Extension Writer’s Program and has lectured nationally. His articles have appeared in the Washington Post, American Heritage Magazine, the Beethoven Journal, Horizon Magazine, Fig Tree Press, the Journal of the Writers Guild of America, the Ojai Quarterly, and numerous trade publications. While an executive at the ABC Television, Embassy TV, and Academy Home Entertainment he worked on numerous film, television, radio and commercial projects. He serves on the board of directors of the Santa Barbara Symphony and is a member of the American Beethoven Society.
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VIVA VIOLETTA & VERDI brings to life the intense love affairs and tragedies of the great composer’s life and the heart wrenching conflicts behind the crafting of La Traviata, during the Risorgimento, those three Wars of Italian Independence that led to the creation of Italy.
In this grand operatic novel, which delves deep into themes of power, love, food, wine, passion, and betrayal, Verdi and finds himself in a love triangle that not only threatens to destroy his personal life and happiness, but also undermines the birth of an independent free Republic of Italy.
Book Excerpt
Once more, from the comfort and security of Box Thirteen, Isabella and I watched as Verdi entered the orchestra pit from the wings. The applause from the frequently critical La Scala crowd was polite but restrained for this virtually unknown conductor. How Verdi had the courage to even do this, I am not sure. The journey for him from Margherita’s death a year and a half earlier to the conductor’s perch at La Scala would be unfathomable to anyone other than those who had experienced their lives derailed by immense personal tragedy.
Now dressed formally in a black suit with tails, Verdi shook hands with the concertmaster and then stepped up to the podium. With a half-turn he acknowledged the audience, which had filled La Scala to the last tier. What terrors Verdi hid behind his eyes would be impossible for any of us, his close friends and supporters, to comprehend or name.
When at last he raised his baton to begin the overture to his opera, Nabucco, I stared at that little stick in his hand and wondered how my friend had found the strength to lift it up, so staggering was the weight and pressure it must have represented for him.
Yes, after Margherita’s passing, a darkness had fallen over my friend that was so deep I feared he would never survive, much less recover his former bravado and self-confidence. His dreams, his love, his family, his partner, had all been ripped from him. He was alone. His energy, his motivation, his zeal, all crushed. He wanted to simply surrender. He wanted to crawl back to Busseto and hide in some dark room where the light of day never penetrated. What did music, what did creativity, or even the revolution mean, if one’s life suddenly lacked focus or even purpose? In the weeks that followed, Verdi was akin to an untethered boat swept downstream in a tempest of roaring tides. He wailed, he moaned, he cried out and he cursed the darkness. At night when he tried to sleep, he’d hear the ghosts of Margherita and his children screaming at him, “Where are you? Where are you?”
And in the middle of this, Bartolomeo Merelli, ever the impresario, had held firm. After allowing Verdi many weeks to mourn, he reminded my friend that there was a contract, and Nabucco needed completion.
“After Merelli left, I threw the libretto onto my desk and it opened to that page, the one with Va Pensiero. I couldn’t stop reading it over and over again. In an instant I understood the entire story, the pain, the longing, the anguish, of how a people, a nation, and even a young couple, all felt in exile from that which they loved. I could hear their voices singing even before I finished reading. I thought of Margherita, and my children, Virginia and Icilio. I remembered you, Isabella, your family’s eviction, the cruelty of the Briscolas and of the longing of the starving peasants back in Parma. I heard Cantor Segré voice calling out to the Hebrews about the Promised Land and I felt the shofar of Rabbi Spinoziano crack the walls of the Emperor’s castle. I saw Giuseppe Mazzini escaping from Commander Gaetz and Father Abbondio and in that moment, I understood his dreams of uniting all Italians in a free and fair republic. All this came to me in a perfect expression of its glory and solemnity. Ah, and then the melodies began to swim inside my head.”
Book reviews
“Smith's writing on music, culture and history is rich, lush and drenched in knowledge. It is nothing less than a gift. His latest novel on Verdi, his two wives and the Risorgimento is a stunning, significant book that compels readers to reflect upon the turmoil of our own times and how we must continually fight to protect the freedoms and relationships we hold so dear. I was beyond honored that he asked me to blurb VIVA VIOLETTA & VERDI and I dearly hope it gets the major NYT review attention it so richly deserves." -- Sheila Weller, author, Girls Like Us & Carrie Fisher, A Life on the Edge
"As complex and rich as a Verdi score and an aged Brunello. By deftly combining music, food, romance and politics, Smith serves up a compelling history of Italy’s wars for independence, and the men and women – composers, waiters, opera stars – who believed in freedom above all else. And wow, his last line about Mussolini packs a lethal punch." -- Patricia Morrisroe, Author of The Woman in the Moonlight
"If you consider opera to be stuffy and antiquated, think again. In his latest novel, Viva Violetta & Verdi, Howard Jay Smith deftly brings times past alive with a rich tapestry of political intrigue, revolution, romance and the power of music, all with one of opera’s greatest composers at the center of it all." – John Scheinfeld, Filmmaker, The U.S. vs. John Lennon; Chasing Trane: The John Coltrane Documentary; & What The Hell Happened To Blood, Sweat & Tears?
“Once is good, twice demonstrates more than a lucky start, but three times a winner cements an author’s oeuvre as really outstanding. To be consistently at the top of one’s game is incredibly hard, so the plaudits to Howard Jay Smith on the triumph with his third novel — Viva Violetta & Verdi — bespeak a level of excellence that few writers attain. Following on the heels of Beethoven in Love, Opus 139, and Meeting Mozart, Smith as a maestro has once again used the language of music to conduct a beautiful story that keeps the reader engaged, so that after the last act, the response is universally, “Encore!” Bravo!" — Fredric D. Price, Founder & Publisher of Fig Tree Books LLC.
"With his latest novel, 'Viva Violetta and Verdi', the established writer Howard Jay Smith turns his attention to the truly tortured and tempestuous life and times of Giuseppe Verdi [1813 - 1901], a man who in many ways came to symbolize the spirt of nineteenth century Italy. Smith has already penned two gems of musical historical fiction in the shape of his accomplished and much praised works 'Beethoven in Love' and 'Meeting Mozart'. Here, in his latest work, Verdi comes to symbolize the struggle in this crowded century to transform Italy from a mere 'geographical expression' into a proud and free independent nation in its own right. Often embroiled at the very heart of the events of this epic story of a young nation seeking its own united destiny, Verdi, with his towering works and in particular his passionate and powerful Operas, comes to epitomize the undaunted spirit of the Italian 'Risorgimento'. Here, using a broad palette with both sweeping brush strokes and a fine and delicately probing eye, Smith unrolls for the reader also a fine and sensitive profile of Giuseppe Verdi, a very human being with his life and loves. He emerges from these pages as a living, breathing person with his own loves and passions, of food and wine and good company, trapped in a love triangle and against a vivid historical backdrop panorama of passion and politics, reversals and triumphs." - Julian De La Motte Harrison, author of Senlac, Books 1 & 2.
"Giuseppe Verdi - We know the history of this, the most beloved of Italian composers, the genius behind many of the greatest world operas, the young revolutionary fervently supporting the Risorgimento, the liberal supporter of the nationalist cause, champion of Italian unification, and ultimately hero of the new Italian state. The “figurehead of Italian pride” whose death drew some 400,000 to his funeral procession in the streets of Milan, to the sounds of “Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate” - “Fly, thought, on wings of gold” - an anthem to the new Italy’s freedom from foreign domination.
But what lies beneath this history? What was Verdi’s true inspiration throughout his entire life? Who was Verdi’s muse, guiding him to glory on his artistic and political journeys? Now, Howard Jay Smith gives us a glimpse of the real story behind the man - a story of revolution and triumph, love and joy, a story of the brotherhood of man. This is the story of Verdi and his Violetta, living the joys and sorrows of life in this world, the drama and compassion of life and love, the heart and soul of being human that brought his nation into a new century and his Italian compatriots into a new world". – George Konstantinow, Ph.D., Board of the Santa Barbara Symphony & ETC, the Ensemble Theater Company
“Howard Jay Smith does it again with VIVA VIOLETTA & VERDI, his historical drama that embraces both his devotion to Verdi and his love of music. As a professional musician, I find his writing to be consistently thought provoking while creating an exciting arc of storytelling as it unfolds. Bravo, Howard Jay Smith!” -- Pamela Kuhn, Operatic Soprano & Host of “Center Stage with Pamela Kuhn” WGCH Talk Radio, Greenwich, CT
"Bookended by the grand funeral in Milan for the great Italian operatic composer Giuseppe Verdi, VIVA VIOLETTA & VERDI reveals the secrets of two lifelong friends from the small town of Busseto, one, Dario, an Italian Jewish partisan, the narrator of Howard Jay Smith’s intriguing novel, and the other, Verdi, a fallen away Catholic. As the composer’s music inspires the Risorgimento – the three wars for independence that dominated the 19th century Italy, with songs of defiance, Smith’s graceful and effortless prose, weaves the untold story of Violetta, the leading opera diva of Italy who opened the door to Verdi’s future successes, with the history of those of partisans who fought for freedom. A Five Star read by an award winning author." – D.Z. Stone, journalist and author, No Past Tense-Love and Survival in the Shadow of the Holocaust.
“An elegantly penned romantic drama that captures the time, place and ambience of 19th century Italy, like few others. You can smell the pasta cooking, taste the delicious red wine, and hear the Verdi playing in the background. Howard Jay Smith has penned an excellent read for the beach, the bedroom, or the living room. Highly recommended.“ – Alex Simon, The Hollywood Interview & Venice Magazine
“Nothing is as treasured to me than music, the arts, and the grandeur of all that complements the worldly gifts they bestow upon us all. Howard Jay Smith's astonishing Viva Violetta & Verdi, is one such remarkable achievement. In this, his third novel about composers, Smith again demonstrates that he has simply the most perfect, eclectic and encyclopedic voice to write about not only the tragedies and romances of Verdi's life but also riots and revolutionary acts that led to the creation of a new Democracy in Italy. The gravity of that struggle mirrors the fault lines of our own conflicted era. This is a rare gift, and no one writes better with such quintessential gravity and beauty. A perfect must read!" -- David Marks, Book Reviewer, Photographer, Musician, David Marks & the Marksman
