Birdsong functions as a motif that signifies important relationships throughout the text. The first mention of birdsong occurs in the prelude chapter, as the narrator describes the violin, “Awakening desire in the hearts of musicians for almost two hundred years, she is built of birdsong and promises, crafted from wood and bone” (Location 101). Birdsong is a key element of the violin’s construction, and the violin is what instigates the formation of the novel’s key relationships.

Birdsong is also connected to William and Clara’s relationship. When Clara goes into the woods to sing, she hears “birdsong welcom[ing] [her] into a little grove by a stream” (74), the place where she meets William the first time. When William returns years later to find Clara dying, he notes that “the birdsong overhead grew quieter” (82). Their relationship changes fundamentally with Clara’s death, but it doesn’t end. The birdsong quiets, but it doesn’t disappear.

Birdsong also appears in the novel’s representation of the reparation of Gabrielle’s relationship with her father Gregory. After Gregory apologizes for failing to help Gabrielle, he jumps in front of a bullet to save her. Gabrielle sits in the hospital with him and notes that “the birdsong that floated through the open window almost drowned out the beeping sound of the machines” (385). Birdsong, a topic Gabrielle and her mother used to discuss, appears in Gabrielle’s relationship with her father once they grow close again.

Similarly, birdsong also appears in Devlin and Gabrielle’s relationship. When Devlin writes a song inspired by Gabrielle, the lyrics read, “By the water’s edge, We heard birdsong melody, Now every song I write, Is in the key of G” (394). Devlin views birdsong as an important element of the development of his and Gabrielle’s relationship, as music brought them together, further affirming the connection between birdsong and the novel’s important relationships.