The Instrumentalist

Anna Maria angrily accuses Vivaldi of having stolen her compositions for years, and he responds with more vitriol than she has ever seen from him. He explains icily that as a woman she will never publish her work under her own name. He adds that he “created her” in his own image, honed her skills, and gave her opportunities she never would have had without his mentorship. When she rages back at him that he is just afraid because he has come to recognize her as both the superior musician and composer, he hisses at her that she should have been drowned in one of the canals, like the rest of the babies born to women like her mother.

Suddenly, her nightmares make sense. She is stricken and asks for her composition book. Vivaldi doesn’t respond. Rather, he looks at the fire. Anna Maria is without words: Years of compositions are going up in flames. She returns to her room in a panic. She fears that she will never be anything other than a “monster:” After all, her mother was the kind of monster who wanted to kill her child. She knows now that relationships are what matters most in life.