''An Equal Music'' (1999) is a novel by

Vikram Seth Vikram Seth (born 20 June 1952) is an Indian people, Indian novelist and poet. He has written several novels and poetry books. He has won several awards such as Padma Shri, Sahitya Akademi Award, Pravasi Bharatiya Samman, WH Smith Literary Awar ...

Plot

The plot concerns Michael, a professional

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

he met as a student in Vienna. They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret affair, though she is married and has one child. Their musical careers are affected by this affair and the knowledge that Julia is going

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an audiological condition. In this context it is written ...

. A recurring element throughout the plot is the pair's performance of

Beethoven's Piano Trio Opus 1 Ludwig van Beethoven's Opus 1 is a set of three piano trios (written for piano, violin, and cello), first performed in 1795 in the house of Prince Lichnowsky, to whom they are dedicated. The trios were published in 1795. Despite the Op. 1 desig ...

No.3, which they first perform in their college days. Seth together with Philippe Honoré marketed a double CD of the music mentioned in ''An Equal Music'', performed by Honoré..

Reception

The book was especially well received by musical fans, who noted the accuracy of Seth's descriptions of music.

Paolo Isotta Paolo Isotta (18 October 1950 – 12 February 2021) was an Italian musicologist and writer. Life Isotta graduated from the University of Naples, where he studied classic Letters and law. He also studied piano with Vincenzo Vitale and compositi ...

, one of Italy's most significant music critics, wrote in the influential newspaper ''

Il Corriere della Sera (; ) is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average circulation of 246,278 copies in May 2023. First published on 5 March 1876, is one of Italy's oldest newspapers and is Italy's most read newspaper. Its masthead has remain ...

'' of the Italian translation that no European writer had ever shown such a knowledge of

European classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

, nor had any European novel before managed to convey the psychology, the technical abilities, even the human potentialities of those who practise music for a living..

Works referenced

Several musical works figure prominently in ''An Equal Music''. Among these are the

Trout Quintet The ''Trout Quintet'' (''Forellenquintett'') is the popular name for the Piano Quintet in A major, D. 667, by Franz Schubert. The piano quintet was composed in 1819, when he was 22 years old; it was not published, however, until 1829, a year af ...

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

, the String Quintet in C minor by

Ludwig van Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

, and ''

The Lark Ascending "The Lark Ascending" is a poem of 122 lines by the English poet George Meredith about the song of the skylark. Siegfried Sassoon called it matchless of its kind, "a sustained lyric which never for a moment falls short of the effect aimed at, s ...

'' by

Ralph Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams ( ; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...

Notes

1999 British novels Novels by Vikram Seth Novels about music {{1990s-novel-stub