Every Note Played

“Fantasie in C Major, Op. 17” is a piano composition in three movements by German composer Robert Schumann, written in 1836. Considered a masterpiece of the Romantic piano repertoire, the “Fantasie” is Richard’s favorite piece, and he has played it at various key points throughout his life. Only when Karina heard Richard playing it at the Curtis Institute of Music did she begin to fall in love with him. The “Fantasie” is also the work that Richard performs during the concert described in the Prologue.

When Richard opts to be removed from the ventilator, Karina selects a recording of Richard performing this piece to play on her phone in that pivotal and potentially fatal moment. As she does so, Richard reflects on his sense of identification with the composer, who wrote the piece as a tribute to Clara Wieck, whom he later married. Similarly, Richard hopes that Karina will sense his gratitude and apology through the piece. Overall, the significant role this piece has in the novel works to highlight The Transformative Power of Music, including its ability to communicate feelings that cannot easily be captured in words.

Jazz is a musical style developed in African American communities in New Orleans in the late 19th century. Sharing both European and African musical roots, jazz is known for its rhythmic and harmonic complexity, as well as its improvisational quality. Compared to Western classical tradition, jazz is relatively open ended. Within the novel, jazz serves as a symbol of self-actualization and freedom of expression, particularly for Karina, who abandoned a potential jazz career to raise Grace. Some two decades later, Grace reminds Karina that she used to play jazz, and Karina’s friend Elise, who is a professor of music, invites Karina to join her on a trip to New Orleans to listen to jazz. While listening to a skilled pianist, Karina sees clearly that she has been deceiving herself and others, and she resolves to live more deliberately and openly from then on by, among other things, playing jazz.

Richard’s grand piano is the instrument he uses to practice daily in his home. As the novel opens, Richard’s visits to the piano take on a disheartening tone as he tests for the further deterioration of motor skills in his arms and fingers. For a while, Richard focuses on repertoire written for the left hand only, but eventually he is forced to give up playing entirely. As a physical manifestation of his career and favorite hobby, the piano symbolizes all that Richard has to lose when he is diagnosed with ALS. By the end of the novel, when Karina surprises Richard by having his piano moved to her house, it represents both a cherished past and a hopeful future, with Karina set to play the jazz music she loves on the instrument that now holds sentimental value for her and Richard. The piano becomes a symbol of hope.