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NIGHTINGALE is an erotic dark fantasy based in historical context. I did a great deal of research surrounding the castrati of Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century Italy, eunuchs of the Byzantine age, classical music loosely surrounding the period, and the hierarchy and structure of the choirs of angels. Okay, I was fascinated and went way overboard on research. One starts with the historical context and then redesigns for purposes of creating the fantasy tale.
I began my research with The World of the Castrati: The History of an Extraordinary Operatic Phenomenon by Patrick Barbier, segued into Angels & Monsters: Male and Female Sopranos in the Story of Opera by Richard Somerset-Ward, with some embellishment from online research. My thanks to Google Books for access to older texts I might not otherwise have had access to. All of this was followed by fictional treatments of castrati that can be found in movies such as Farinelli, loosely based on the life of one of the greatest castrati of the period, and books such as A Cry To Heaven by Anne Rice. A sense of time period for Venice and the clothing and architecture was evinced in the movie, Dangerous Beauty, loosely based on the life of Venetian courtesan and poet, Veronica Franco.
The research regarding eunuchs of Byzantium was founded through a variety of sources, including A Short History of Byzantium by John Julius Norwich. A once great general of Constantinople, Narses, who was a eunuch, intrigued me enough to research further, and thus Annatoly Constantine was born.
The castrati and likening their voices to those of the nightingale did happen as evinced by the quote at the beginning of this novella. According to research, eunuchs did speak of their privates as “Precious” and kept them safe so they might be buried with them and thus fool the underworld into letting them pass as whole men into the afterlife. The Accademia degli Incogniti (Academy of the Unknowns) did exist in Seventeenth Century Italy. Mozart did compose Gran Partita and I thought it an appropriate serenade to use as it was often likened to the flirtation of masked dancers at the ever popular masquerades of the day. Mention of Hostias also felt appropriate, as its meaning is sacrifice, and speaks of eternal life. These were also two songs I listened to constantly during the editing process for this story—something I usually don’t do. The introduction of Gluck’s reforms changed much for the castrati towards the middle to end of the Eighteenth Century.
The Viadine, the Diadune, the Gios of the Nightingale and everything relating to them are all part of my fantasy world. As is the Viadine Book of Secrets, the Secretorum, quoted at the beginning of each chapter beginning with Chapter 2. The castle in Hungary is also fictitious, based on books of architecture of that region.
Nightingale is a story of fantasy, and although certain elements and/or context of the story are historical, any deviations from historical fact are most certainly the fault of the author and her muse.
