Collonges – sous – Salève

God speaking commandment 7: ‘You mustn’t commit adultery.’

Definition of adultery:’ voluntary sexual intercourse between a married person and a person who is not their spouse.’ Some other words used: unfaithfulness, infidelity, disloyalty, cuckoldry, extramarital sex, affair, liason, intrigue, amour, entanglement, hanky-panky, a bit on the side, fornication.

Here is a mountain above the town of Collonges-sous Salève. Look at its colours, the rock that it is made of, and a few plants growing near it. Look into the sky all blue and with perhaps 12 paragliders enjoying the thermals. Then imagine the small parish church of Collonges – sous – Salève below. This is where Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi ( 1813- 1901) and singer Giuseppina Stepponi ( 1815-1897) were married in secret. Verdi adored his wife, but tragedy struck. Their child,  Virginia, died at 16 months, August 1838, and then Icilio, their son in 1839, contracted bronchial pneumonia and died at 17 months. His wife then died of encephalitis aged 26 in 1840.  His pain and mourning found expression in his composition of the opera Nabucco. The opera follows the plight of the Jews as they are assaulted, conquered, and exiled from their homeland by the Babylonians, King Nabucco ( Nebuchadnezzar). The best known number from the opera is ‘ The Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves.’ This opera turned out to be his  first great success.  Press on the blue if you want to be reminded  of it.

So much from a place where we spent two nights.

We were able to stay on the slopes of this mountain a privilege much appreciated.

Thank you for reading this post.

Sandy 🙂

Ps9

Some sayings about paragliding:

‘Soaring through the clouds, where fear meets freedom.’

‘ Every jump starts with courage,  every flight ends with awe.’