Sir John Barbirolli, Conductor

Although Sir John Barbirolli was as British as tea 'n' scones, he came from an Italian family.  Evidently, they did not speak Italian in the Barbirolli household, but rather Veneto -- the Venetian dialect that is almost incomprehensible to anyone who ever learned Italian from Berlitz.  When Sir John arrived in Taormina, Sicily in the 1960s attired in a bowler hat and an umbrella to guest conduct the Orchestra sinfonica siciliana in a program of Brahms in the historic grecian amphitheater, everyone in that fine orchestra expected him to speak perfect upper-class Italian during rehearsals.  Instead, according to my husband Mark who was there, he spoke in rough, working-class vernacular Veneto that the orchestra members found uproariously incongruous.  This centuries-old dialect is not merely an accent, but a slightly off-color vocabulary that goes with it.  Ever polite and respectful, the members of the Sicilian orchestra had great difficulty supressing their laughter every time Sir John stopped them to describe a phrase in Brahms Fourth Symphony in what sounded to them as the language of market vendors and sailors.  Needless to add, the orchestra adored working with him.

The photo is inscribed to my husband Mark.