Fiction works featuring pianists?

[bernhard]

What about works of fiction (novels /short stories) featuring pianists? Here are three that I enjoyed:

Frank Conroy – Body and Soul. A novel about a piano prodigy from childhood to his thirties. Many interesting observations about technical development and musicianship.

Paul Micou - The life of David Debrizzi . I really liked this book. David Debrizi is a child prodigy who is taught in turns by a failed French piano virtuoso, Pierre la Valoise, and by an English conductor, Sir Geoffrey Flynch and goes on to become a famous concert pianist. The book is a long letter written by la Valoise to Sir Geoffrey after he reads what he considers a criminally unfair biography of David by Sir Geoffrey. There is a great twist in the end.

Vikram Seth – An Equal Music. This is really about a string quartet. However one of the main characters is a pianist (female) who is going deaf.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.

[eddie92099]

Frank Conroy – Body and Soul. A novel about a piano prodigy from childhood to his thirties. Many interesting observations about technical development and musicianship.  

That was a good read but rather far fetched.

Vikram Seth – An Equal Music. This is really about a string quartet. However one of the main characters is a pianist (female) who is going deaf.

Vikram Seth went to my school (sorry to name drop!).

This may be an obvious one, but what about "The Pianist",
Ed

[bernhard]

This may be an obvious one, but what about "The Pianist",
Ed

Yes, I know. I have not read the book or seen the movie, but my impression from what I read in reviews and from the trailer was that the main subject of the book /movie was the holocaust, and the piano was quite secondary to it all. (Correct me if I am completely wrong).

By the way, Lili Kraus was also in a concentration camp (Japanese) for three years. She was in a concert tour in Djakarta (Indonesia) when the Japanese invaded. During that time she could not play or even look at scores. When later on she was allowed to play, she could play for hours from memory and without mistakes. So maybe playing the piano is like riding a bicycle after all. She also said that she did a lot of physical labour in prison, and that her hands got very strong as a consequence, and she thought that helped.

Bernhard.

[bernhard]

I've just remembered three other books:

Jean Christophe, by Romain Rolland – Jean Christophe is a pianist and composer, and the book tells his story. It is a mammoth of a book (my edition has five volumes!) and  it is pretty much inspired by Beethoven’s life. Romain Rolland also wrote a Beethoven biography (three volumes!) and musical analysis (“Beethoven: the great creative epochs) which is usually considered inaccurate and mistaken in many points. Jean Christoph is a good read though.

Clara, by Janice Galloway  -  A fictionalised biography of Clara Schumann with a slight feminist bias. Schumann and Brahms figure prominently as expected, but most interesting is her portrayal of Friedrich Wieck and his teaching methods.

The Last Master – by John Suchet. A three volume fictionalised biography of Beethoven. Very good read, and well researched. I think John Suchet goes a bit out of his way to convince us that Beethoven was really a nice person, instead of the nasty human being we might be led to believe he was by looking impartially at some of his actions.

Bernhard

[bernhard]

Love Among the Artists by Bernard Shaw - One of the main characters is Owen Jack - a composer shamelessly modeled on Beethoven.

[cziffra]

the nasty human being we might be led to believe he was by looking impartially at some of his actions.

so how accurate was immortal beloved then?

[bernhard]

so how accurate was immortal beloved then?

Do you mean the movie (Gary Oldman as Beethoven)?

Not very accurate. Certainly the immortal beloved was not his brother's wife, although the possibility that Karl was really his son and not his nephew would not surprise me and would certainly explain much. And Schindler was not the nice guy portrayed in the movie. I also doubt that he went around looking for the immortal beloved in order to give her Beethoven's legacy.

An entertaining movie, though.

[bernhard]

I have just finished reading "Chopin's Funeral" by Benita Eisler.

Although it is a biography (extremely well researched) and as such may not be what people think as "fiction", it is written as fiction. A real page turner.

Highly recommended.

[Axtremus]

Dangerous Moonlight. (Think Warsaw Concerto.)

[bernhard]

Dangerous Moonlight. (Think Warsaw Concerto.)

Author?

[Axtremus]

Dangerous Moonlight: film released in 1941; scripted by Shaun Terrence Young, Brian Desmond Hurst, and Rodney Ackland; directed by Brian Desmond Hurst. Starred Anton Walbrook and Sally Gray. It's a WWII film that romanticizes the story of a concert pianist with amnesia risking his wife and career to become a bomber pilot to help the British bomb the Germans. (Read somewhere that back then, people walked out of the theater not remembering much about the movie itself but remembered Warsaw Concerto fondly. Too bad they did not have the practise of selling soundtrack the same time they release a movie.)

[anda]

i saw "imortaly beloved" - if i were beethoven, i'd sue them!

anyway, how about "the competition" (since you mentioned movies)? i saw it when i was 7, fell in love with prokofiev 3rd, but the idea is completely ridiculous - i mean 1st she registers in a 10000 dollars competition to play mozart in the final (i love mozart, but everybody knows it takes a different kind of concert to win a big contest), then the g1 is still not tuned by the time she plays in the final (impossible!), then she stops, they put on the stage a bunch of brass players and they play an impecable prokofiev 3rd without any rehearsal!!! that is sooo ridiculous...

about books... i read a book (but don't remember the title) about robert & clara schumann, it was pretty good and not at all offensive, i enjoyed it. also, chopin's letters are very interesting - makes you think there was always an innocent child in him (i liked that).

but my personal favourite is still gieseking - "how i became a pianist", that should be compulsory for all pianists (imho)

[bernhard]

Er...

When I started this thread I was thinking more of books.

See here for the movies (and add some!):

https://www.pianoforum.net/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.cgi?board=misc;action=display;num=1071358031

Thanks for all the suggestions. I must look up the Gieseking book.

As for "The competition", I think she was lucky to play the Prokofiev without a rehearsal. Richard Dreyfuss had a rehearsal and look what happened to his Beethoven...

[squinchy]

I have seen (and read) only two works of fiction in my town's library, or at least in the Young Adult section that I lurk in.

One is titled Broken Chords, by Barbara Snow Gilbert. I read it in an hour, which is partially due to its shortness, but also due to its..devourability? The main character is Clara Lorenzo, a seventeen-year old pianist who strives to be a normal teenager at the same time. Clara is a piano prodigy and is entered in a prestigious piano competition. She has great chances of winning, but sprains her wrist while secretly practicing for the Nutcracker. She practices her ballet secretly because her family has devoted their lives to giving her everything she needs to excell in piano, and nothing else. She wins the competition, but discovers that she doesn't want to play the piano, or at least constantly perform.

I liked the book, but started to question its accuracy about technical things. Its main theme was differentiating technical brilliance and true greatness. My piano teacher says that there aren't very many great pianists currently, but only great technisists.

The second book is Play the Bach, Dear by Judith Groch. This is also very short. It wasn't as good as the other, since I can't remember the main character's name. The general story is about a preteen girl who doesn't like to practice or play the piano, but her parents want her to. She has a very strict teacher whose job is in danger. There's some really weird sections talking about her piano teacher hiding and living in her piano, and then playing the piano for her at her recital. It was..okay, borderlining on mediocre. But hey-it's about piano.

[ted]

"Solo"  by Jack Higgins - a spy story with the "baddie" a concert pianist whose obsession is a piece by Grovlez.

One of Maupassant's short stories involves a grand piano coming to life and clumping about the house.

[squiggly_girl]

Old Rose and Silver by Myrtle Reed (1909) is an old-school romantic novel in which the principal male is a violinist and the principal female a pianist. What is quite unusual about these is that the novel text is often interspersed with passages of written music - usually a good half a page worth.

[MzrtMusic]

The Severed Wasp by Madeline L'Engle
This is the story of Kathering Vingeras, a very famous concert pianist who is at the end of her career. It is a myster supposedly... The book is a bit strange, but worth the read. There is also a sequel, as she is just starting her career, but I don't remember what it's called.

The Mozart Season by Virginia Ewer Wolff
This book is about Allegra Shapiro, a 12 year old violinist. Yes, I know this was supposed to be about pianists, but, every musician should read this book, because it's wonderful! It's a childrens book, but one of my favorites!

Sacred and Profane by David Weiss
This is a book about Mozart. It's fictional, and I haven't read it in several years, but as I remember, it was fairly accurate. It was quite enjoyable, and it sorta fleshed out the relationship between Mozart and Constanze. I don't know how much of that is based in fact, but it was fun to read!

Also, while I am on the topic of books, here are some general books about music that I've found most helpful!

The Mastery of Music by Barry Green
This book explores the personality of musicians, and is broken down into 12 groups. It assigns a personality trait to each group of musicians, and is simply wonderful! Pianists are given the trait of concentration.

The Perfect Wrong Note
I don't remember who wrote this one, and honestly, I haven't finished reading it yet. But what I have read has been good. It was just recently published, and it's about practicing. But not the usual "here is how you need to sit, here is what your fingers need to look like" kind of book. It's about your mindset when you practice, and all about inner-practice. It's good!

Love,

Sarah

[benji]

The Piano Shop on the Left Bank by Thad Carhart
is a great one; I'm suprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. It is the non-fictional story of how the author rediscovered his love for the piano. It's mainly about pianos and not playing them, but still very interesting. After reading this book, I decided to begin lessons again.

[cziffra]

Hey, bernard, i'm very interested to hear about schindler.  what sort of man was he, if he wasn';t the nice guy portrayed in immortal beloved?

[bernhard]

Hey, bernard, i'm very interested to hear about schindler.  what sort of man was he, if he wasn';t the nice guy portrayed in immortal beloved?

Schindler is portrayed by most Beethoven’s biographers as a very creepy guy.

He entered Beethoven’s life when Beethoven was already completely deaf, old, tired and very impatient with his fellow human beings (around 1820). So he left much of his mundane affairs to be taken care of by Schindler. Schindler used this position of confidence to interfere in many of Beethoven’s affairs, many times without Beethoven’s knowledge.

Originally Schindler sought Beethoven as a fervent admirer of his music. He offered Beethoven his services for free so that he could make Beethoven’s life as easy as possible and free him from day to day worries and in this way he would be free to compose. So far so good. Beethoven accepted his offer and Schindler started working for him as a private secretary. In the beginning everything went smoothly, but soon Schindler started to use his position as a means of personal empowerment. No one could see Beethoven unless he allowed, this sort of thing.

Eventually Beethoven caught on with what was going on and kicked him out (around 1824).

Now comes the next chapter in the story. Somehow, Schindler squirmed his way back into Beethoven’s life so that when Beethoven died (1827), Schindler somehow managed to put himself in the position of organising Beethoven’s personal papers. And here he did the deed for which he is hated until this day by every musicologist.

Beethoven went completely deaf around 1812. From then on he used “conversation notebooks” to communicate with his visitors: They would write their questions comments (since Beethoven could not hear) and he would reply orally. By the time of his death there were around 400 conversation notebooks.

Schindler destroyed 240 of those and altered many of the rest, in short a wealth of irreplaceable material of the utmost biographical and historical interest. Schinlder’s explanation for doing so was simple: He wanted to “protect the master’s memory”. The remaining (some altered) 160 notebooks disappeared in Eastern Europe during the 2nd World War and haven’t been seen since.

Moreover, after a certain amount of time had elapsed, Schindler sold to antiquarians many of the sketch books (the ultimate source to show how Beethoven actually composed), and these antiquarians sold them by the page, that is they literally ripped each book apart and spread them, so that we may never know how Beethoven developed most of his compositions.

Musicologists have been looking for these pages all over, and trying to put the sketch books together again, but with limited success. As an example, consider the sketch book acquired by the antiquarian Sauer in 1827, which contains amongst other works the sketches for the Moonlight sonata. The original sketch book had 96 pages. Sauer sold each page separately to souvenir hunters. Musicologists succeeded over the years in recovering and putting together 22 of these pages (5 of which contain sketches for the finale of the Moonlight and 17 pages contain sketches for sonata op. 28 and the string quintet op. 29), this gives you a general idea of the magnitude of the loss.

Schindler then wrote a sugary biography of Beethoven, full of misguided information, in which Beethoven is depicted as nothing short of a saint, and any negative opinions about him are not to be found. Here is a quote from a review of this biography:

[…]he [Schindler} also had innumerable axes to grind, so that what might have been a peculiarly intimate portrait became distorted through self-importance, malice, and a desire to save "our master" (Schindler's habitual term) from criticism of any kind, with the result that his production is only of limited value to us today.
(Alan Tyson: Knock knock, who is there – The New York Review of Books – vol. 22, no. 9 - 29/5/1975)

Most biographies of Beethoven will have this information. The best one is of course Thayer’s Life of Beethoven, since it was written shortly after his death and Thayer had the chance to interview many of Beethoven’s contemporaries. Amongst the most recent ones I particularly like Maynard Solomon’s. You can also try the very entertaining fictionalised biography written by John Suchet (“The last master”, 3 volumes).

Also, have a look here:

https://www.madaboutbeethoven.com/pages/people_and_places/people_friends/biog_schindler.htm

Schindler (a mediocre violinist) also squirmed his way into Schubert’s circle a couple of years before Schubert’s death.

Best wishes,
Bernhard.