The Instrumentalist

Anna Maria is now eight. Even though she is still a young girl, she knows that she is destined to do great things. She plays make-believe games with friends and fellow Pietà girls, Paulina and Agata, during which she is awarded the title “maestro.” Although the other girls giggle, Anna Maria takes their play seriously: She knows that one day she will be granted this title.

The girls have little time for play. Their days in the Pietà are strictly regimented: They wake early, tidy their beds, attend mass, eat breakfast, and then complete their chores. After noon prayers, their music lessons take place: Anna Maria lives for the hours devoted to music. Unlike everyone else she knows, Anna Maria experiences music not only as a series of notes, but also as a series of colors. She has synesthesia, which means that for her music and color are inextricably interwoven.

After noon prayers one day, she finds a new instrument in their practice room. It resembles a harpsichord, but is larger. She is told that it is a pianoforte. She tries it out and enjoys it, but only to a degree. Like the flute which she has been training on for the last year, it produces colors that are dull and muted. She is still searching for the instrument that will catapult her to greatness.

Leaving the pianoforte behind, she hears an amazing sound accompanied by the brightest colors she has ever seen. She follows it to one of the practice rooms and sees a young, red-haired man, barely out of his teens, playing the violin. She listens in awe and, when he leaves, picks up the instrument. In her hands it produces a terrible screech, and the man returns. He berates her for using his violin without permission, and Anna Maria puts it down, chastened.

Anna Maria lies awake at night as Sisters Madalena and Clara make their rounds. She pretends to be sleeping so as not to earn extra chores the following day. She cannot sleep because the older girls have been whispering ghost stories: There are rumors that a shadowy “Raven Man” enters the Pietà on foggy evenings and snatches a girl, taking her with him back out into the night. Anna Maria knows that this is just a story, but still, she feels unsettled. The next day she sings off-key during class and muddles her notes while practicing flute. That night she again experiences her recurring nightmare that she is drowning in ice-cold water. Paulina and Agata wake her and offer words of comfort.

The next day the girls find that they have a new teacher. Anna Maria recognizes him as the red-haired man who yelled at her for using his violin without permission. She realizes that he is Antonio Vivaldi, a violin virtuoso and an important maestro. The other instructors, she knows, find him arrogant. After hearing him play, however, Anna Maria believes he merits her respect.

He tells the girls that they will begin violin lessons and directs each one to choose an instrument. Wealthy patrons donate old, unwanted instruments to the Pietà. The girls know this and scramble to find the best among the bunch. Vivaldi shows them how to hold their violins, but tells Anna Maria that she will not be allowed to play because she does not respect other people’s belongings. Anna Maria does her best to remain silent and still. As the other girls begin to play, she becomes overcome with emotion. She knows in her heart that the violin is her instrument. She grabs one, starts playing, and loses herself in the music. After class, Vivaldi instructs her to stay.

Vivaldi cannot believe that Anna Maria has never received violin instruction and tells her so. She assures him that she sings and has trained on flute, oboe and pianoforte only. He picks up his own violin and instructs her to play the notes that he does. When he plays, the colors burst from his violin explosively, and Anna Maria does her best to keep up. She can mimic almost everything that he plays. He asks her how old she is and what her ambitions are. She informs him that she would like to be, like he is, a great violin player. He scoffs and explains that he is also a composer. Players, he tells her, are soon forgotten. He cuts off their conversation and tells her to meet him on Tuesday for a private lesson.

Anna Maria has a new ambition: to become a composer. She realizes that she cannot begin publishing music until she is a maestro, and that distinction is likely years away. Still, she has a timeline and a goal. She recalls the birth of her ambition: She was ill with the pox and woke to find her half-playing card next to her in bed. Something about it calmed her and gave her strength. She knew in that moment that she was destined for greatness.

The sisters inform Anna Maria that she will cease her other music lessons and devote herself entirely to the violin. She will miss Paulina and Agata, but knows that violin is her path toward renown. Besides, Agata is becoming a skilled pianoforte player and Paulina’s singing and oboe are coming along well. She worries about Agata’s health: Agata has always been prone to illness, but mostly the girls focus on their burgeoning musical skills and their friendship.

Anna Maria now divides her time between the drudgery of her chores and her lessons with Vivaldi. He is, as his critics note, gruff and arrogant. Anna Maria is untroubled by his difficult personality, however: He is a musical genius and she believes that men of his talent need not bother with pleasantries. During one lesson, he instructs her to see the hidden character of music. He challenges her to imagine what kind of figure each piece embodies. She enjoys this game and can easily see young boys skipping along to light, cheerful music or women tending gardens to slower, more somber tunes. Vivaldi is tickled by her descriptions, and he has to leave the room to recompose himself. In his absence, Anna Maria twirls around the small space playing her violin. She accidentally kicks over his bag. Noticing his composition book, she impulsively steals it.

After they have been working together for a few months, he informs her that Lorenzo Ciuvan, one of the Pietà’s important donors, will be visiting and a concert has been arranged. Anna Maria will be among the students selected to play.

Their days are busy, but often at night the girls are prone to insomnia and melancholy. Many of the girls, Agata, Paulina, and Anna Maria included, were left at the Pietà with small notes or remembrances, parting gifts from mothers they would never know. Some of the girls are sure that their mothers will return for them. Although she often clutches her own note and the half-playing card, Anna Maria is under no illusions that she will ever leave the Pietà: No one is coming for her. She will have to shape her own future.

Anna Maria begins to practice for the concert in honor of their donor. She is the youngest among the musicians and cannot help but compare herself to the other girls. Her eyes settle upon Chiara, a 16-year-old violinist who is already part of the Pietà’s figlie di coro. The older girls are allowed to grow their hair long, and Chiara’s is gathered into an elegant chignon at the base of her skull. Anna Maria seethes with jealousy. When Chiara begins to play, Anna Maria is so entranced by the sound and color of her violin that she inadvertently stands and moves toward her. The other girls begin to giggle, and Vivaldi admonishes them. The rest of practice goes well, and Vivaldi compliments Anna Maria on her playing.

Anna Maria’s high spirits are short-lived, however. Sister Madalena discovers Vivaldi’s composition book hidden in her bed, whips her in front of Vivaldi, and then sends her to “correction,” the small, filthy cells used to house girls guilty of serious infractions. She spends three miserable days in correction, although Agata and Paulina sneak her food. When she is released, Vivaldi tells her that she must not steal, but adds that if she needs something in the future she should ask. She tells him that she would like her own quill, ink, and paper, and also a higher-quality violin. He smiles and tells her that he will procure the desired items.

The day of the concert has arrived. Paulina interrupts Anna Maria to tell her that Agata is ill and is once again in the infirmary. Anna Maria knows that she should use all of her spare time for practicing and that if she leaves her practice room, she runs the risk of punishment. She tells Paulina that she will stop by the infirmary after she is done. Surprised, Paulina goes to see Agata alone. Anna Maria practices for so long that she is nearly late to the performance.

As she hurries to get ready, she sees a strange man knocking at the Pietà’s gates. She does not have time to see who he is and heads straight for the concert hall. The performance is amazing: Everyone, including Anna Maria, plays beautifully. Anna Maria is entranced by the feeling that performing for wealthy donors gives her and is sure that she has found her life’s passion.

During the show, however, she did think she saw the cloudy shape of the Raven Man in the back of the audience. She did her best to use his presence as a motivational tool: She played as hard as she could to silence him. Still, she feels a rush of energy from the performance that is like nothing she has ever experienced. She is a performer now, and she feels closer than ever to achieving her dreams. After the show, she does not go see Agata.

During the course of that night. Agata dies. Anna Maria is guilt-stricken and filled with grief. She regrets not having gone to see her friend and is horrified to think that Agata might have died alone. When she meets Paulina, Paulina says as much. Although in her heart she knows Paulina is right, Anna Maria surprises herself by screaming that music is everything to her, and she cannot let personal relationships get in the way. Horror-stricken, Paulina tells Anna Maria that if she truly feels that way, their friendship is over.