The True Adventures of Nicolò Zen by Nicholas Christopher (review)

When malaria wipes out Nicolò’s small Italian village in 1714, the fourteen-yearold boy makes his way to Venice to find refuge in the Ospedale della Pietà, an all-girls orphanage and music conservatory led by Antonio Vivaldi. A pretty dress and Nicolò’s high cheekbones allow him to pass as a girl, while his talent with the clarinet (a gift passed down from his father and supposedly enchanted by a magician) lands Nicolò, now Nicolà, a place in the privileggiate di coro, Vivaldi’s elite orchestra. The jig is up when the orphanage’s caretaker, who is also attempting to hire out some of the girls to Venice’s seedier residents, recognizes Nicolà’s more manly qualities and promptly sends him packing. The enchanted clarinet and Nicolò’s easy charm then bring him both fortune and fame over the next two years as a solo act for some of Europe’s wealthiest nobles, but he remains plagued by worries about the beautiful girl he left behind at the orphanage. Decadent with period detail as it is, this is still a surprisingly speedy read, and Christopher manages to capture both the beauty and the bawdiness of eighteenth-century Venice while moving his protagonist through a satisfyingly folkloric tale of gender-bending and supernatural music. Nicolò’s memoir-like narration gives equal emotional weight to the hallmarks of adolescence—the loss of virginity, a first hangover—as to his more grand moments, as in his performance for the archduke of Austria. Nicolò’s decision to eventually lose the enchanted clarinet and make a name by his own skills, unassisted by magic, is admirable but not overwrought, while his happy reunion with his first love provides a tidily romantic conclusion. History buffs, aspiring musicians, and armchair travelers will find Nicolò’s adventures just to their liking.