//Checkpoint (2)//

While learning the notes and coming up with the fingerings to play the piece, I did some online research on the side as well. From looking at the comments people posted under that YouTube video, I learned that the piece was actually the “Prelude”  from Shostakovich’s film music The Gadfly Suite, Op. 97a.

It’s the first time I had ever listened to a complete film music score in one go. Although the “Romance” from this suite is the most popular piece, the “Prelude” still remains as my favorite to this day.

But… what on earth is “Gadfly”? After some Googling, it turned out the film was based on the novel The Gadfly by Irish writer Ethel Voynich. So I downloaded the novel to my Kindle and made it a mission to read the whole novel the following weeks.

Here’s a 2017 BBC article by Benjamin Ramm about this novel (see reference 1).

It contains a good summary of the story:

“The Gadfly is set in Italy during the revolutionary ferment of the 1830s and ‘40s. The protagonist is a young Englishman, Arthur Burton, who moves to a Catholic seminary after the death of his mother. There he becomes devoted to his guardian and mentor Montanelli, who, unknown to him, is also his biological father. In the company of his childhood sweetheart Gemma, Arthur becomes involved in the Young Italy movement fighting Austrian imperial rule. But he unwittingly betrays his comrades, after his private confession is relayed to the police. He then discovers his family secret, and loses all faith in the church.

Arthur feigns his suicide and escapes to South America, where he endures years of torture and degradation. He returns to Italy in the guise of ‘The Gadfly’, a fearless and revered revolutionary whose true identity is masked. After his capture, he is visited by Montanelli, now a cardinal, who offers him a lifeline. But Arthur, unforgiving and uncompromising, demands that his father renounce the church. Montanelli refuses and condemns his son to death. Arthur, now a Christ-like figure, commands his own execution and forgives the firing squad. At the Corpus Christi mass, Montanelli denounces God’s sacrifice, then dies of a broken heart.”

I don’t even remember how long it took me to finish the novel as I somehow found the writing to be a bit dry, despite many good reviews from other readers. After I finally finished reading the novel, I spent over an hour with my teacher going through the storyline. We dissected the personality of the main character Arthur and his relationships with his father and his love interest. Teacher supplied some historical background and explained the motives behind the actions of the character. “Now, why on earth my teacher always loves to talk about history of this and history of that, I will never understand. It just bores me to death.” Although my teacher liked the story, at the end of our lengthy discussion I still had a hard time liking Arthur and the choices he made.

If I couldn’t relate to or even like the story, I knew for sure I wouldn’t be able to interpret it through music. But my teacher always says it is important for us as students to have a story behind the music we play. “So, now what?”

Reference:
1. BBC article by Benjamin Ramm, 2017.
http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20170119-the-irish-novel-that-seduced-the-ussr