Maestro @ the Wheeler Centre

March 2011

Presenter: Professor Stephanie Trigg (Melb Uni)

  • The novel deals with the sense of time passing
  • Keller is not the cliché of a concentration camp survivor
  • Intriguing and unpredictable
  • How he views music is interesting – he is unconventional in all that he does
  • Unresolved tensions
  • both sexual and the relationships between P & K
  • Piano Lessons
  • looking at the nature of practice = can you ever practice enough?
  • The intimacy of the piano lessons
  • Closeness physically
  • Correcting technique by putting hands on hands
  • Intimacy
  • Wishes of the parents are narcissistic – they want some glory through their son
  • Music
  • is it beauty? – is it truthful? – who knows? Is it important to know?
  • It is the complex heart of the novel but it is not always dealt with consistently in the novel
  • Different forms of music have different impacts on the characters
  • Bach and Chopin are different
  • Mozart is more structured and restrained
  • The Mathematical and technical music compared to the romantic and flamboyant music
  • See how different music affects each of them
  • Can be earth shattering and revelationary
  • Paul plays withour passion and so, is K a good teacher?
  • He restricted what P had access to = unresolved issue
  • Chance for P to be more successful – did K thwart?
  • Is being mediocre what it means to be human?
  • As a reader, we want P to succeed but we find out that while he is talented, he cannot be the 1: million
  • P discovers the hard truth that effort, no matter how much you put in, does not always equal success
  • This argues against the idea that hard work pays off and credits the notion of genius. K demystifies talent
  • The realisation that you are not just good is the strength of the book and the beauty of it – it is real and honest
  • Is wanting it enough to make it happen?
  • P internalised K’s methods but this was still not enough
  • Should K have taught him the Romantics?
  • K’s own history was so deeply touched by it – was he afraid of letting go?
  • Maybe P wasn’t good enough to play them?
  • K is restrained and precludes himself – is this a form of self protection / self preservation?
  • But had he taught them, would P have stood a better chance of being the better pianst?
  • Regret
  • Choices that are made
  • But, what more could P have done?
  • Darwin
  • As a character
  • It exacerbates the contrasts between Australia and Vienna
  • Sensual, humid, distant from Europe, reproductive = Darwin
  • Cold, fake, veneer, hostile, insincere, dangerous = Vienna
  • Betrayal
  • Parallel between P & K
  • Benny vs Austria / K’s family
  • This doesn’t work well as a parelell – you can’t compare Vienna with butterflies and with dobbing a mate in
  • This is a weakness of the text if it is trying to say the men are similar
  • Desire to be liked = acceptance and safety
  • P = Rough Stuff
  • K = Playing for Hitler
  • Both sought protection but were incredibly naive
  • They both got caough up in the moment, to the extent that they could not see what was happening – they could do this in hindsight
  • P realises this sooner than K did but the stakes were less
  • P as a moral character
  • Does he fully realise himself?
  • He’s not resolved but content
  • Self love vs self hatred = we can identify with him
  • Does he redeem himself? – not sure – walking out on K at the end was a brutal action, but what else could he do?
  • Reconcilling
  • With self
  • Adjusting your gaze about how you see the world and the goals you set for yourself
  • With K? Does this happen? Do you think the men are at peace? Is this important?
  • Weaknesses of the text
  • Use of upper case is distracting
  • Not enough verbs in the sentences = creates a staccato style of writing
  • You never sense that you can ‘feel’ the music that is played – it’s not fully drawn out or described
  • Female love interests and charactes – thinly drawn and not treated well– perhaps not necessary to the main relationships between P & K?
  • Other points of interest & provocations
  • Paul’s parent’s relationship is shown to be harmonious. It takes work but it is successful
  • Would P have loved Rosie enough to have played for Hitler? What choices might he have made?
  • P’s family tried to keep him grounded but he was still dissatisfied – perhaps not professionally but personally
  • Goldsworthy chose to keep the the novel and the story brief and not to have additional plot lines running though it – deliberate choices in content and focus.