Maestro

Is Maestro just a novel about music' Discuss. ‘Maestro’ a novel written by Peter Goldsworthy is a novel based around a boy named Paul who strives for musical ‘perfection.’ To guide Paul on his journey is his piano teacher, ‘the maestro’ Eduard Keller. The relationship between the introverted and slightly odd Keller and the somewhat arrogant Paul gets off to a rocky start. Paul struggles to understand Keller’s teaching methods and so does John and Nancy Paul’s parents. But lesson after lesson the conflicting personalities of the teacher and the student creates a strong relationship which they both are desperate for. A relationship which puts both Paul and Keller on the same levels none having more authority than the other. This novel turns out to be so much more than a novel just about music and the piano. It is a novel of growth and maturity, with music linking certain people together. Music allows Paul to grow and understand that he isn’t the best in the world and learns humility while at the same time Keller learns to love again seeing a lot of his own son with in Paul. From Paul’s growth he learns what true love and appreciation is having to make tough decisions between Rosie and Megan. Also from this novel it’s a lot about first impressions and not judging people by their first appearance. Herr Eduard Keller, ‘a drunk’ ‘relies on piano lessons payments to get by,’ ‘loveless’ are all quotes from the novel that are used to describe Keller. Goldsworthy’s use of setting and writing in the style of an autobiography of Paul’s life gives the reader the impression that these quotes are in fact true. But as you read on the novel goes deeper and deeper into Keller’s life, and we learn that he is just escaping from his previous life, which is full of hurt and anger. Keller did seem to have it all fame and even fortune and was the best he could possibly be in his chosen field. But as the Nazi’s ‘betrayed’ Keller by killing his family his life goes into turmoil and he registers himself as a Jew and omits himself to a concentration camp, to die it seems. Keller then goes unseen and presumed dead by his friends in Vienna, but really Keller has escaped to Darwin to get away from it all. He leaves a place of fame and where he was well known to a city ‘full of boozers and wife beaters’ hardly the setting for the appreciation of Mozart. When Paul is entered into a music competition in Adelaide Keller offer to pays for air fares for the two of them and refuses financial help from John and Nancy Crabbe. While on this trip Keller doesn’t touch a drink of alcohol and is a true turning point in the novel. Its where Keller begins to open up to Paul and start to show his love and affection towards him. The battle between love and lust is a constant struggle for Paul in the novel. Not only choosing between his fantasy but yet venomous girl Megan, or the true love of his life Rosie. But the choice between Keller and Rosie also comes into the novel. Pauls selfishness is shown in the scene when Keller wants to sit Paul down and open up his entire life story to Paul. Paul cant help but ignore the ‘sexual tension’ coming from the car waiting for him at the front of The Swan, he leaves Keller before Keller has the opportunity to open up to him. Paul had chosen the lust of a good night out with Rosie over love which is finding out more and understanding his father figure on a deeper level. The maturity of Paul finally does develop while he is in university when he realizes how much he needs Keller and how much Keller has done for him, but yet Paul still doesn’t write to Keller. The effects of betrayal and guilt are also key features of the novel. Paul feels a great deal of guilt that he underestimated Keller once Keller dies in 1977. This is shown by his actions after Keller’s death ringing up random people and making posters on the death of Herr Eduard Keller the Maestro, when no one really cared or knew who Eduard Keller was. This feeling of guilt leads to Paul to understand and see that he is an arrogant person and couldn’t get to where he was without the help of the people around him. Maestro is a novel which is much deeper and intimate than just a boy learning the piano. It’s a novel of self-discovery of both Paul and Keller where music is just the common ground between them, forcing these two people together.