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    The Black Violin: A Novel
    The Black Violin: A Novel
    The Black Violin: A Novel
    Ebook90 pages1 hour

    The Black Violin: A Novel

    By Maxence Fermine

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    There were many musical souls adrift on that raft of silence that is Venice. There was the music of Johannes Karelsky.There was the music of Erasmus, the violin maker. And there was the music of war. But of that, the two men never spoke.

    From the internationally acclaimed author of Snow comes a timeless tale of love and music set against the romantic backdrop of eighteenth-century Venice.

    In 1797, the violin prodigy Johannes Karelsky arrives in Venice after fighting with Napoleon's army in the Italian campaign. After the war, he boards with an aged violin maker named Erasmus who created the legendary "Black Violin," which he forbids Johannes to touch because, as he says, "Once you have tasted it, you will never be the same again." Johannes becomes obsessed with the idea of playing this violin as well as finding the woman who saved his life when he was injured in battle.

    Beautifully written and highly evocative, The Black Violin interweaves Johannes's quest for love and the history of this mysterious instrument in a narrative that is sure to resonate long after the last page is turned.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAtria Books
    Release dateMay 11, 2010
    ISBN9781439104538
    The Black Violin: A Novel

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    Reviews for The Black Violin

    3.5/5

    48 ratings3 reviews

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    • 1/5
      A lightweight novella set during the Napoleonic wars, this is the story of a talented musician and his unexpected friendship with a master violin-maker during the occupation of Venice. It left me absolutely cold - there was neither characterisation nor plot, making it difficult to care about any of it, and either the writing or the translation was in such simplistic language that it read like a children's book. The story-within-the-story of the creation of the black violin began with promise, but also petered out. Unsatisfying all round.
    • 3/5
      Charming historical fiction taking place in 18th century Venice, a short but entertaining read.
    • 5/5
      This is a curious little book. It doesn't seem like much when you pick it up and the information given on the dust jacket is a little misleading. It's a story about a violinist, but only in part, more about his dreams and his journey. It's a story of his life and that of an old violin maker and his black violin. It's a haunting story and after reading it you can't seem to forget one word. It carries you along like the voice of a singer or a violin. The story is a beautiful melody that you wish hadn't ended.

    Book preview

    The Black Violin - Maxence Fermine

    The BLACK VIOLIN

    A Novel

    Maxence Fermine

    Translation by Chris Mulhern

    ATRIA BOOKS

    New York  London  Toronto  Sydney  Singapore

    ATRIA BOOKS

    1230 Avenue of the Americas New York, NY 10020

    www.SimonandSchuster.com

    This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

    Copyright © 2000 by Arléa

    English Language Translation Copyright © 2001 by acorn book company

    Originally published in France in 2000 by Arléa

    This translation first published by acorn book company, England, 2003

    Translated from the French by Chris Mulhern

    All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information address Editions Arléa, 16 rue de l’Odeon 75006 Paris, France

    ISBN: 0-7434-5685-8

    ISBN-13: 978-0-7434-5685-2

    eISBN-13: 978-1-4391-0453-8

    First Atria Books hardcover printing November 2003

    10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

    ATRIA BOOKS is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.

    For information regarding special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-800-456-6798 or business@simonandschuster.com

    Printed in the U.S.A.

    The music is not in the notes, but in the silence between.

    —WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART

    The BLACK VIOLIN

    PART ONE

    1

    Johannes Karelsky was a violinist.

    But in truth, he was far more than that.

    For Johannes Karelsky was a genius.

    And his secret wish was to write the most beautiful opera ever written.

    2

    In 1795, Johannes Karelsky was living in France, in the city of Paris. At thirty-one, he was at the height of his powers. And he still had another thirty-one years of life ahead of him. He was a virtuoso. He could play everything. Even those elaborate symphonies that audiences applaud rapturously, but which no one really understands.

    Johannes’s love for the violin was a passion that bordered on madness. He devoted every waking hour to his art. Every day, from dawn till dusk. Often he would become so absorbed that he would spend the whole day sitting with his eyes closed, lost within himself and his music.

    3

    Johannes’s love for the violin began when he was only five years old.

    One summer’s morning, in the Tuileries gardens, a gypsy violinist had given him a glimpse of happiness, and had changed his life forever.

    Johannes had been playing near a fountain when a man with dark hair and a beard appeared from the turning of a path. The stranger stopped, and squatting down, he lifted a violin from its case. The gypsy was so tall that the violin seemed like a toy in his hands. Intrigued by the man’s appearance, a crowd soon began to gather around him, and Johannes was one of them.

    Keeping time with his foot, the musician started with such a catchy tune that the child stared at him open-mouthed. Johannes was enthralled. He’d never heard music like this before.

    The gypsy was no trained musician; in fact, he had only learned to play by ear, but each note he played came straight from his heart. It was a vibrant music, a music that told of the joys and sorrows of all the gypsies of the world. And they were feelings that Johannes shared, because young as he was, he could feel the voice of the violin within him.

    The gypsy could see straightaway that Johannes was a kindred spirit. He looked into his eyes and began to play a polka—lyrical and beautiful, but with a melody so strange that no one else could follow it. But to Johannes, this was a revelation. For the first time, someone was speaking to him in a language that touched his heart. The language that would link him to the world forever.

    As he listened more closely, Johannes began to realize that the gypsy was telling the story of his life. So the child closed his eyes and began to dream….

    He saw the ancient trackways that crossed Bohemia; he saw pine trees in the snow. He followed the endless wandering from one village to the next. He felt the cold, the hunger, and the loneliness. But he also saw faces flickering in the firelight and figures dancing, for despite all the hardship, there was laughter, and sometimes love.

    When he had finished playing, the gypsy passed around the bowl, and the small metal pot clinked as a few coins were tossed in. When he came to Johannes, he crouched down in front of him and gently stroked his hair.

    And you, my little friend, have given me more with that look in your eyes than any of these ever could.

    And with that, he was gone, as quickly as he had come.

    From that day, Johannes

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