WEBVTT

00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.050 align:middle line:90%


00:00:01.050 --> 00:00:03.790 align:middle line:84%
There is a book that is
not contained in this one.

00:00:03.790 --> 00:00:05.190 align:middle line:90%
It's called Sonata Mulattica.

00:00:05.190 --> 00:00:07.350 align:middle line:84%
And the reason why,
is because it really

00:00:07.350 --> 00:00:09.220 align:middle line:90%
is a book in and of itself.

00:00:09.220 --> 00:00:11.670 align:middle line:90%
It tells the story of a life.

00:00:11.670 --> 00:00:15.300 align:middle line:84%
Very briefly, I'll tell
you that the main character

00:00:15.300 --> 00:00:17.550 align:middle line:90%
is George Bridgetower.

00:00:17.550 --> 00:00:21.180 align:middle line:84%
He was a prodigy
violinist, mixed race.

00:00:21.180 --> 00:00:25.170 align:middle line:84%
His mother was
European, and his father

00:00:25.170 --> 00:00:26.880 align:middle line:84%
called himself an
African prince.

00:00:26.880 --> 00:00:31.260 align:middle line:84%
Who knows whether he
was or not, but he

00:00:31.260 --> 00:00:33.360 align:middle line:90%
lived at the time of Beethoven.

00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:35.940 align:middle line:84%
And Beethoven composed
the Sonata for him,

00:00:35.940 --> 00:00:38.310 align:middle line:84%
but we know nothing
of George Bridgetower.

00:00:38.310 --> 00:00:43.440 align:middle line:84%
And it was this hole in history
that drew me in and started me

00:00:43.440 --> 00:00:44.790 align:middle line:90%
on the saga of this book.

00:00:44.790 --> 00:00:48.690 align:middle line:84%
So I'm going to read
to you just a couple--

00:00:48.690 --> 00:00:52.270 align:middle line:84%
Yeah, just a couple of
poems from the book.

00:00:52.270 --> 00:00:55.687 align:middle line:84%
One of them is right at
the point when his father--

00:00:55.687 --> 00:00:56.520 align:middle line:90%
you have to imagine.

00:00:56.520 --> 00:00:58.260 align:middle line:90%
This is 1780.

00:00:58.260 --> 00:01:02.820 align:middle line:84%
There is this African prince
guy and he has a 10-year-old son

00:01:02.820 --> 00:01:05.580 align:middle line:84%
who can play like a
devil or an angel,

00:01:05.580 --> 00:01:07.360 align:middle line:90%
depending on how you look at it.

00:01:07.360 --> 00:01:09.480 align:middle line:84%
And so he decides to
take him on the road,

00:01:09.480 --> 00:01:13.182 align:middle line:84%
because you didn't
have recording devices

00:01:13.182 --> 00:01:14.640 align:middle line:84%
and you had to get
your music live.

00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:20.490 align:middle line:84%
So he takes his son, his
10-year-old son to England--

00:01:20.490 --> 00:01:23.310 align:middle line:84%
from the continent to
England, because you've

00:01:23.310 --> 00:01:24.900 align:middle line:90%
got to find a patron.

00:01:24.900 --> 00:01:27.360 align:middle line:84%
And in this poem
the father is trying

00:01:27.360 --> 00:01:30.420 align:middle line:84%
to tell the son how
to dress for success.

00:01:30.420 --> 00:01:33.840 align:middle line:84%
The father has dressed
them in, what he says,

00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:39.060 align:middle line:84%
are the clothes that people
imagine Africans would wear.

00:01:39.060 --> 00:01:41.670 align:middle line:90%
"The wardrobe lesson."

00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:44.250 align:middle line:84%
"Everyone in this
brine soused village

00:01:44.250 --> 00:01:47.370 align:middle line:84%
believes an African
loves color, so let it

00:01:47.370 --> 00:01:50.790 align:middle line:84%
be red for our promenade
along the Steyne

00:01:50.790 --> 00:01:52.950 align:middle line:84%
with a splash of
yellow to inflame

00:01:52.950 --> 00:01:55.230 align:middle line:90%
their watery sensibilities.

00:01:55.230 --> 00:01:57.930 align:middle line:84%
I think it's the sun
they so yearn for.

00:01:57.930 --> 00:02:00.420 align:middle line:84%
Blue saddens this
close to the sea,

00:02:00.420 --> 00:02:04.470 align:middle line:84%
though turquoise is beckoning,
and emerald is best a hue

00:02:04.470 --> 00:02:07.890 align:middle line:90%
entertained only in furnishings.

00:02:07.890 --> 00:02:10.740 align:middle line:90%
True, we are props of a sort.

00:02:10.740 --> 00:02:14.880 align:middle line:84%
Let's not forget it, yet
what an aspect we'll project

00:02:14.880 --> 00:02:17.550 align:middle line:90%
unleashed among the masses.

00:02:17.550 --> 00:02:21.060 align:middle line:84%
Against our darker
palette, any color thrills.

00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:23.940 align:middle line:84%
The main thing is
fabric and plenty of it.

00:02:23.940 --> 00:02:27.090 align:middle line:84%
Clouds of silk,
waves of damask to be

00:02:27.090 --> 00:02:30.360 align:middle line:84%
cast off or furled
neat to the chest

00:02:30.360 --> 00:02:34.120 align:middle line:90%
with a certain sly emphasis.

00:02:34.120 --> 00:02:37.810 align:middle line:84%
You'll learn these
sophistications in time.

00:02:37.810 --> 00:02:42.430 align:middle line:84%
For now, it's enough to remember
we are here to confound them,

00:02:42.430 --> 00:02:45.130 align:middle line:84%
these wizened polyps
crossing the sands

00:02:45.130 --> 00:02:48.010 align:middle line:84%
in their creaking
bathing machines.

00:02:48.010 --> 00:02:52.780 align:middle line:84%
So, bright sashes and
billowing sleeves,

00:02:52.780 --> 00:02:55.660 align:middle line:84%
rings on as many
fingers as you dare,

00:02:55.660 --> 00:02:58.570 align:middle line:84%
perhaps a turban or
some other headdress

00:02:58.570 --> 00:03:02.680 align:middle line:84%
to lend majesty
without competing.

00:03:02.680 --> 00:03:08.530 align:middle line:84%
The ladies adore a cape,
different from a cloak.

00:03:08.530 --> 00:03:12.250 align:middle line:84%
This you can wear inside
where one brisk swirl

00:03:12.250 --> 00:03:18.010 align:middle line:84%
will conjure a fable of perfumed
trysts and moonlit swordplay.

00:03:18.010 --> 00:03:22.120 align:middle line:84%
As for the embroidered slippers,
ungainly as they might seem,

00:03:22.120 --> 00:03:26.140 align:middle line:84%
the upturned toes
do not emasculate.

00:03:26.140 --> 00:03:29.320 align:middle line:84%
Each step becomes
necessarily deliberate

00:03:29.320 --> 00:03:33.100 align:middle line:90%
and so recalls the boudoir.

00:03:33.100 --> 00:03:34.330 align:middle line:90%
Don't flinch.

00:03:34.330 --> 00:03:38.440 align:middle line:84%
It won't do to ignore what
waits behind each smile, that

00:03:38.440 --> 00:03:45.280 align:middle line:84%
unvoiced sigh accompanied
by your every tremolo.

00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:51.220 align:middle line:84%
Go ahead, examine those upturned
faces in the concert hall.

00:03:51.220 --> 00:03:55.360 align:middle line:84%
Their tiny gasps and
glistening cheeks.

00:03:55.360 --> 00:04:00.830 align:middle line:84%
I've seen it boy, even
for one young as you.

00:04:00.830 --> 00:04:06.670 align:middle line:84%
Oh, the ladies are
always bored and lonely.

00:04:06.670 --> 00:04:10.500 align:middle line:84%
You will not need a horse
if you have a cape."

00:04:10.500 --> 00:04:11.000 align:middle line:90%