Persephone Abbott

Posts tagged “Paris

Artistic License

Posted on April 20, 2025

Cleaning up my social media this week, I came across the name of a French baritone in my list of friends. Jacques Calatayud was a devoted friend to Suzanne Sarroca (and her former student) and he had died. And so had she. They died within a year of each other. I had no idea. In 2015 I met up with both of them for dinner in Paris. Sarroca was already quite in advanced age, still living in her apartment on the rue Notre Dame de Lorette, and Jacques was attentive to her needs. He screened the diva’s socializing activities and facilitated the meeting with Sarroca. I remember him as a very gentle and kind person.  “You are lucky,” Sarroca said to me over dinner,…

In Memoriam P. B. 1939 – 2023

Posted on December 25, 2023

The Best Cup of Coffee in the WorldIt was most delicious – especiallyprepared for me by a dying manbone china he said tapping the saucerbought two cups in Francesouvenirs sourced at a thrift shopyou can’t find such nice ones here in the Netherlands He was standing in his kitchenmanaging the coffee machinea one cup of coffee at a time type he’d been on his own quite some yearsBy all accounts my exfatherinlawshould not have been standing in front of his coffee machine on his own two feetbut he even had a little bit of oat milk leftI noticed the fridge needed cleaninga smattering of fuzzies caught my eye as I closed the door He frothed the milk up and poured it outI set the…