‘Did you know that the first public performances of Mozart’s Requiem and Haydn’s Creation in the New World took place in the newly built opera house at Rio de Janeiro? Dom João VI of Portugal had imported a German kapellmeister, who had worked with Salieri, and he brought the musical scores with him in his luggage. Isn’t that extraordinary?’
Nicky Haslam has an insatiable social curiosity, following Lady Diana Cooper’s mantra: “Say yes – you can always leave.” He rarely does, since, as he puts it, ‘There is always something that can be winkled out of even the greatest bores.’ Subsequent conversations are a mixture of gossip, interesting facts and humor, and – rather like the rooms in his new house – full of wit and originality.
