Having grown up in Canada, I understood Zamboni as one thing and one thing only -- a bulky cuboid vehicle used to resurface ice at rinks and hockey arenas.
Named after its inventor, Frank Zamboni, the Zamboni ice resurfacer marked a major innovation in ice-resurfacing technology. How? Well, before Zamboni rolled out his Zamboni in 1949, ice at rinks and arenas was resurfaced with manual hand flooders like this:
I had a love-hate attitude about Zambonis when I played hockey as a kid in Canada. On the one hand, it was always somewhat magical to watch that large machine turn ice that resembled a lunar surface into something more akin to a mirror. And it was always wonderful to step onto that pristine ice and feel your skate blades glide on the nearly immaculate surface.
On the other hand, waiting for the Zamboni to complete its work required the patience of Job. Though the ice-resurfacing usually took no more than five-to-ten minutes, to me -- dressed full equipment and eager to get on the ice -- it felt like hours, particularly when I was forced to wait behind teammates that never aired out their hockey equipment.
Ah, I can still recall the pungent aroma of mildew and some revolting, unpronounceable French mold-ripened cheese wafting in the air. Sometimes it was thick enough to make me dizzy. No kidding. On occasions like that, the Zamboni seemed to move about as fast as a lame brontosaurus giving a Tyrannosaurus Rex a piggyback ride.
All the same, it was still better than the manual hand flooder. I have no idea how long it took to clean the ice prior to 1949, but I imagine it was considerably longer than it took a Zamboni to resurface it, which means my exposure to the noxious fumes my teammates' equipment emitted would have also been considerably longer -- long enough to cause permanent damage to my olfactory system.
With this in mind, I express my gratitude to Frank Zamboni for inventing the Zamboni, but that Zamboni is not the Zamboni to which I ultimately wish to draw everyone's attention in this post.
The Zamboni I want to draw everyone's attention to is the Italian Baroque composer Giovanni Zamboni (c. 1664-1721), of whom little is known.
Fortunately, many of Zamboni's compositions have survived, such as these pleasing lute compositions, played here by Yavor Genov, who also played on the Neusidler lute link I left on this blog a couple of months ago.
Enjoy!
On the other hand, waiting for the Zamboni to complete its work required the patience of Job. Though the ice-resurfacing usually took no more than five-to-ten minutes, to me -- dressed full equipment and eager to get on the ice -- it felt like hours, particularly when I was forced to wait behind teammates that never aired out their hockey equipment.
Ah, I can still recall the pungent aroma of mildew and some revolting, unpronounceable French mold-ripened cheese wafting in the air. Sometimes it was thick enough to make me dizzy. No kidding. On occasions like that, the Zamboni seemed to move about as fast as a lame brontosaurus giving a Tyrannosaurus Rex a piggyback ride.
All the same, it was still better than the manual hand flooder. I have no idea how long it took to clean the ice prior to 1949, but I imagine it was considerably longer than it took a Zamboni to resurface it, which means my exposure to the noxious fumes my teammates' equipment emitted would have also been considerably longer -- long enough to cause permanent damage to my olfactory system.
With this in mind, I express my gratitude to Frank Zamboni for inventing the Zamboni, but that Zamboni is not the Zamboni to which I ultimately wish to draw everyone's attention in this post.
The Zamboni I want to draw everyone's attention to is the Italian Baroque composer Giovanni Zamboni (c. 1664-1721), of whom little is known.
Fortunately, many of Zamboni's compositions have survived, such as these pleasing lute compositions, played here by Yavor Genov, who also played on the Neusidler lute link I left on this blog a couple of months ago.
Enjoy!
RSS Feed
