Music and Silence

By: Rose Tremain

Narrated by: Jenny Agutter

Length: 18 hrs and 27 mins

Publisher's summary

In the year 1629, a young English lutenist named Peter Claire arrives at the Danish Court to join King Christian IV's Royal Orchestra. From the moment when he realizes that the musicians perform in a freezing cellar underneath the royal apartments, Peter Clair understands that he's come to a place where the opposing states of light and dark, good and evil, are waging war to the death.

©1999 Rose Tremain (P)2014 Audible, Inc.

Lyrical writing, very long story

The writing style is beautifully lyrical, the narrators voice and modulation was perfect for this audible book. There were so many story lines. I felt it was too long and needed editing.

Very entertaining story

I was thoroughly captivated by this book. I felt the characters to be described beautifully, so that I could practically picture each one. Sometimes the back and forth was confusing and the audio was a bit trickier to back up and review, but the chapter deliniations were perfectly spaced. Can't wait for our book club discussion!

Overlong but punctuated with brilliance

At times I thought I would give up on this long, complex and intricately woven tapestry of a novel.But I am glad I persevered. The prose throughout is luminous and beautiful, almost poetry. But most of the main characters are self-absorbed. Kirsten, the queen-consort of Denmark, is psychopathic in the way she manipulates others and connives to bring about her obsessive ends. Emilia, Kirsten's maid servant, is obsequious, weakened by her too close and overly dependent relationship with her mother. The polar opposite of Kirsten, she can take no action whatsoever to achieve her heart's desires whether to rescue her abused younger brother from a cruel and demented step mother or to make contact with her fiance after an abrupt separation. The King of Denmark is unable to see reality and lives in a world of dyspepsia and dreams of bygone glories. And the young lute player, Peter Claire, is blessed with beauty and talent but, because of the strictures of the times, cannot rise above his fate. Mixed in are a few wonderfully charming and good natured people who go about their lives finding happiness and fulfillment in what life offers them. It is their stories which kept me engaged.

Can Rose Tremain Write a BAD Book?

From my experience so far, the answer would have to be a resounding, "NO!" Tremain gets just right the mix of opulence and stringency, melancholy and joy, hope and despair that war with one another in the 17th century court of King Chistian of Denmark. All of her characters may not be likeable (the selfish Kristin, for one, and Tillson's second wife Mordalena, for another); but each one is unique and fascinating in his or her own right. What is Music and Silence about? The disappointment of love--and the perseverance of love. The power of art and the power of words. Family dynamics that can almost destroy its members yet somehow manages to pull them together. The influence of the past and the persistence of memory. And so much more. To give you any more details, if you haven't read this beautiful novel, would spoil the experience. Highly recommended!

Very messy, and very wrong

This story is all over the place.. the author wants to tell to many stories, and that comes out as all the stories being pretty underwhelming.. there is a love story, where you don’t believe in their love what so ever.. then there is the historical inaccuracy.. as a Dane reading this was extremely annoying. Queen Sophia plays a huge part in why, Denmark is the country it is today. She was the wealthiest person in Denmark, and that she did in fact not hide at all, she funded most of the building of Copenhagen, she owned most of the island Falster, where she made Nykøbing Falster, an extremely important trades city, she rebuild the castle in Nykøbing - where she lived, she did not live in Kronborg castle. She was a very important woman, who this author made into a mad old woman who was collecting gold in secret.
It just made me extremely mad! And I want to do Sophia justice in this review.
There where tons of “normal” historical inaccuracies as well, but these where fine, but the one about Sophia was so unnecessary for the plot, and extremely far from the real woman.