Four Seasons in Mantua, 1720 Circa

Words by Slawka G. Scarso

Art by Yaleeza Patchett

Before dawn, the famous composer leaves Venice. His servants help him load the gondola with clothes, wigs and rolls of music paper while he holds his favourite violin. On the Canal Grande, they glide under the bridge of Rialto and of the Accademia. He gives one last look at Teatro La Fenice. After passing Saint Mark’s square, the gondola brushes the orphanage of Ospedale della Pietà. There, the composer looks away, his jaw tense, his affronted chin pointing opposite, at Saint George’s.

Months later, in Mantua, he feels appreciated at last. At court, he writes music. People praise him. Any letters from Venice he discards, unopened. Except for those from his old students. The young violinists complain about the new teacher. They tell him how much he’s missed. How music, through him, finally offered them an opportunity that as orphans, and girls, they would have never had. 

He’d like to say he knows. He knows music can open endless doors. He put his heart into training those girls before they sent him away. Instead, he stays quiet. Diplomacy, he’s advised, is the road to take this time. 

When he’s not composing, he walks through the countryside. The canals of Mantua can hardly match the magic of Venice, but leaving the city walls behind, he finds solace in the fields. He likes the ritual; the physical effort gives him more energy for his music. Day after day, the disappointment slips from his shoulders and into the soil. In spring, he listens to the birds chirping on the trees; he smiles at the shepherd dozing with his dog in the shade. One day, in summer, after weeks of heat, a storm catches him on his stroll; the same shepherd this time runs to a little hut, waves at the composer to join him. Come autumn, the countryside smells of fermenting wine; hunting dogs bark to call their owners to the prey. In winter the wind slaps his face, and when it stops, rain falls slowly on the hardened soil. Finally, just as he’s accepting the harshness of the winter’s cold, the birds are back.

At last, he looks back at the twelve months he’s been in Mantua. At how the days rolled out, one after the other. He’s been composing every day since he’s been here, but finally something has changed. He now knows where to vent all the rage of being unjustly sacked from his teaching position. He can already hear the notes. He’ll show them. He’ll teach the school directors a lesson. Somehow, as he jots down the first notes, he feels that what he’s about to write is better than anything he’s ever written before.

About the author

Slawka G. Scarso works as a copywriter and translator. Her words have appeared in Gone Lawn, Ghost Parachute, Fractured Lit and Scrawl Place among others. She was shortlisted for the 2023 Bridport Flash Award and for the 2023 and 2024 Oxford Flash Fiction Prize. Her debut novella-in-flash All Their Favourite Stories is available from Ad Hoc Fiction. She lives in Italy. You can find her on Bluesky and Instagram or on www.nanopausa.com 

About the artist

Yaleeza Patchett has been creating illustrations since the moment she was able to pick up a pencil. Through her artistic journey she became well versed in the mediums of graphite, ink and acrylic. Recently she has begun to further exercise her artistic skill in the realm of dark macabre, pagan, and blackwork illustrations. Through this she has found meaning and new love for her artwork. Yaleeza currently resides in the Southside of Indianapolis, Indiana with her husband Jon, her bloodhound Jojo, and her two cats, Boogers and Finn.