9 Ophelias Music Mania Ophelia and her daughter Stella live in Rio de Janeiro. Every day, Ophelia takes the picturesque tram from Santa Tereza to the Music Academy, where Ophelia teaches piano and composition. The first time in the story that we see Ophelia, 15 years after Ophelia and Cosmo have broken up, before we know that Ophelia turned blind (shes wearing sun glasses), she arrives at the Music Academy of Rio de Janeiro because professor Bernstein asked the director of the Academy to propose Ophelia the job of teaching piano. Ophelia doesnt even need to play a piece of piano to show if she apt for the job. She wonders why. Bernstein, himself a perfectionist and control-freak, has said that Ophelia is a genius. According to Bernstein, Ophelia is one of the few people on earth that should be allowed to touch a piano. He saw her in Manhattan performing a symphony of Shostakovitch that only three women in the world can play without any error. Ophelias sacrifice to the Sun (she watched the Sun to become blind in order to improve her hearing) has made her happy. She doesnt need to watch stupidities on tv no more, she doesnt need to confront the atrocities in the world any longer, she doesnt need anything else than play the piano. Every day she composes a piano piece (inspired by a film director and a music composer: Kubrick meets Shostakovitch, Von Sternberg meets Prokofiev, Eisenstein meets Chopin, Welles meet Liszt, Melville meets Saint-Saëns, etc.) that she records on an outdated tape recorder on magnetic audio tapes. Every day, when the recording is finished, she writes the name of the composition on the box of the tape and puts it on a shelve (there are hundreds of tapes on the shelve). Each one of these compositions bear the title of a film: Seagulls Die In The Port, Touch Of Evil, Last Command, 2001 A Space Odyssey and so on (the favourite films of Cosmo). Her daughter Stella, who plays guitar, is so moved by these compositions, that she has a secret plan. Every day, on a blackboard fixed on the door of the house, she writes: Free Piano. The first time, one person shows up. Next day, three. Next day, five. Next day, seven. They need to take off their shoes and sit on the floor watching Ophelia play. Ophelia is so concentrated on her composition that she doesnt even notice this. Soon too many people show up, so even the corridor leading to the apartment is full of people listening to the divine piano music drifting through the air. Next thing, people are even standing in the street listening to the piano music coming out of speakers that Stella has set up for this. Very often, listening to these compositions, the public is so moved, that tears are rolling down cheeks and make the wooden floor wet. Thats how Ophelia, always barefoot, finds out about Stellas secret plan. Someone has filmed Ophelia during one of these sessions and this clip reaches over a million hits on Youtube. Following this, Ophelia receives an invitation to perform a concert at the Opera House in Paraty. Stella will join her to play the guitar at this concert. She suffers a lot rehearsing, cause her mom wont be satisfied unless Stella plays it perfect. When correcting Stella, Ophelia looks like a maniac, like Maestro Dudamel when he is carried away directing Dvoraks 9th Symphony. https://youtube/watch?v=vHqtJH2f1Yk
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 12:23:55 +0000
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