Alessandro Stradella was one of the 17th century's finest composers--and one of its most threatened. An incident from the year 1677 is typical of Stradella's dangerous life.

The composer was living in Venice, having fled Rome because of a scandal that had arisen over his attempt to embezzle money from the Roman Catholic Church. For a time he contented himself with music making. He played the lute and may have participated in the writing and performances of vocal works. He was well connected with many instrumentalists and singers in Venice.

Then he became too well connected with a young woman named Agnese--the mistress or perhaps the fiancee--of Alvise Contarini who was a member of one of the most wealthy and powerful families in Venice. Perhaps naively, Contarini had asked Stradella to be Agnese's music teacher. Exactly what happened next is unclear but can be conjectured because soon afterward, Stradella and Agnese left Venice together.

Contarini cried foul, accusing the lovers of stealing a large sum of money from him--his inflated estimate of the value of jewelry and other gifts he had given Agnese. Stradella and Agnese, meanwhile, turned up in Turin, where Agnese took refuge in a convent. Contarini came to Turin and put pressure on her either to marry Stradella or become a nun. Stradella meanwhile was allowed to send her some basic necessities and music, but not direct communications, although he did attempt to sneak a letter to her in the form of a cantata.

Before long, Agnese became eager to leave the convent, and public opinion pushed Stradella into agreeing to marry her. But just after signing the marriage contract Stradella walked out of the convent and was beaten senseless by two thugs hired by Contarini. Having taken his beating, Stradella apparently felt himself free of the whole affair. He took off for Genoa without ever again mentioning Agnese.

On July 14, 1836, twenty-seven-year-old Felix Mendelssohn wrote from Frankfurt to his mother and his sister Rebecca in Berlin about the cultural and geographical landscape:

"Early yesterday I went to see Ferdinand Hiller, and sitting there I found none other than Rossini. Big, fat, and in a sunny mood. I know very few men who can be as amusing and clever as he is when he feels like it. He kept us laughing the whole time. I promised that the Cecilia Association would sing the B Minor Mass for him and several other works by Sebastian Bach. It will be all too entertaining to see Rossini obliged to admire Sebastian Bach.

But he thinks “different countries, different customs, and is determined to howl with the wolves. He says he finds Germany fascinating, says that once he gets his hands on the wine list at the Rhine Hotel in the evening the waiter has to show him the way to his room or he’d never be able to find it. He tells uproarious tales about Paris and all the musicians there, and also stores about himself and his compositions and how he has the greatest respect for all the men of today, so that you might actually believe him if you had no eyes to see the irony in his face.

Intellect, imagination, and wit sparkle in all of his features and in every word, and anyone who doesn’t believe that he’s a genius should hear him holding forth that way, in order to change his opinion.

I like the scenery around Frankfurt right now more than anything else–such fruitfulness, the richness of the greenery, gardens and fields, and gorgeous blue hills as a backdrop! And there’s a forest on the other side. To wander in the evening under the magnificent beech-trees among the countless herbs and flowers and blackberries and strawberries. It’s a delight for the heart."