RAGAZZO – PUBLISHED AT LAST!

TEN YEARS AGO I was knocked on the head by a dead composer. It was like a knock on the door – ‘Let me in’ he said and I had to. Fine, I thought, what harm can he do?

‘Herr Händel’, I said, ‘how fine. Great wig.’

He smells of ambergris and hock. Of powder and lime. He farts often, burps too – his stomach has too much ego in it, too much bibulous laughter. I know he’s laughing at me, why wouldn’t he?

‘I have something for you,’ he said.

‘Fuck off’, I said, ‘pardon me – aren’t you dead?’

‘Surely,’ he said, ‘ you won’t hold that against me?’

I blame YouTube. Wandering about the place, out of curiosity I had clicked on this: Giulio Cesare Va Tacito. Copy and paste that phrase into YouTube. (I’m not giving you the url. I have an ongoing war with scammers claiming I’ve contravened copyright law, demanding money)

A gorgeously giggle experience! A great tune, combined with hilarious Silly Walks. Supposedly Julius Ceasar meeting Ptolemy for the first time, Ceasar singing like a girl, Ptolemy a strutting absurdity, a pompous clown – the two great panjandrums doing their crazy dance and yet it was perfect. Somehow, the tension between the two was palpable, exciting. Like Biden and Putin. Set in a late 19th Century colonial context, initially annoying (I would have preferred togas and robes) but somehow, it worked.

and the music was genius.

I found a version of the Opera with English subtitles. Fantastic. Magical. Emotionally riveting (I mean! a wife holding the decapitated head of her husband and letting her emotions flow out all over the stage. Caesar meeting Cleopatra. The mad machinations of Ptolemy’s court. Fabulous characters.

Beyond fabulous music.)

What! Why doesn’t everyone know about this???

So I began to open that magical door called YouTube to find more. And I did.

Then Handel knocked on my forehead demanding to be let in.

Here is the result. A book as bonkers as Baroque Opera itself. An attempt to make and break the conventions, just as Handel did. (If you’re one of those people who enjoys the Umlaut – Händel doesn’t want you to.)

If you’ve read Susskind’s ‘Perfume’, this is the book which attempts to do for Baroque Opera what Susskind did for scent. With a nod to Vonnegut, Monty Python and Franz Kafka.

And a deep, Baroque bow to the ghost of Herr Handel.

Promo Video HERE

Interview with me HERE

Buy the book HERE

Who is the Bonkers Boy in the Book? Meet Guido. And who made him bonkers? Why? Is he really bonkers? Or its it revenge – ?

Much love

Jon

MANY THANKS TO PUBLISHER ALIEN RABBIT AND CHRIS GODBER FOR EXCEPTIONAL SUPPORT. EDITOR JOIE DAVIDOW WAS BRILLIANT. AND HERR HANDEL OF COURSE