The loneliness of the pianist by Maria Victoria Louvain

About the book

And The Loneliness of the Pianist If it were music, it would be a Night Chopin’s pieces, like those that Mijaíl practices and practices on his grandfather Vador’s piano in the house in Vallvidrera and with which Maria Victòria Lovaina sets the rhythm of this choral novel set in Barcelona at the beginning of the 20th century.

Mikhail’s passion for the piano comes from afar. He inherited it through family tradition on his father’s and mother’s sides, but also through memories of a distant childhood that he will try to reconstruct while preparing the concert he will soon give in a hall in Paris. To prepare for the audition, Mikhail stays at his grandfather Vador’s house for a fortnight during which he will discover the family’s best kept secrets.

«Mijaíl has never imagined any meanness in his family, he has always seen it as a very well-harmonized symphony, with a balanced rhythm and each one with his role, a role that they played with precision and discretion, without bothering too much, but taking into account the instructions, explicit or not, of grandfather Vador, who for him is the director of the family orchestra and with whom he has always felt connected; an intense emotional and affective bond that makes them need each other, to tell each other their thoughts, ideas, the small details of everyday life. And if they have not spoken for many days, when they meet again it is as if they had talked the day before, that if “I have done such and such a thing, I must tell you I don’t know what.”»

Grandfather Vador will tell Mikhail that the Carreras-Pascal family comes from a working-class Barcelona at the beginning of the century, where everyone had to make a place for themselves. He will tell him how his father, Sindo Carreras, Mikhail’s great-grandfather, was shipwrecked on a ship bound for Argentina and how, on his return to Barcelona, ​​he met the love of his life, Graciela, who had come to the city fleeing the claustrophobia of her family in Langreo, Asturias. In Barcelona, ​​Sindo found his place as a pianist, first at the Peninsular hotel and at the Belio-graff cinema, and later as a teacher of upper-class ladies.

On that ship that sank on the way to the New World was also travelling Mateu Pascal, Mikhail’s great-grandfather on his mother’s side. After seeing his dream of achieving a better future on the other side of the Atlantic cut short, he travelled to Germany and stopped in Leipzig where he learned the trade of piano tuner. He then returned to Barcelona and, as fate would have it, the Pascal family became linked to the Carreras family. And they remained linked by all possible seams, by love, by work, by blood and even by interest and revenge.

Nothing was easy for the Carreras or the Pascals. In Vador’s story, one can also smell the gunpowder of the most unionist Barcelona of the early twentieth century. A surprising death and a flight to Switzerland will mark the destiny of the family and divide it forever. That is, precisely, what Mijaíl will want to understand during his stay at grandfather Vador’s house.

THE BARCELONA OF THE LONELINESS OF THE PIANIST

Like a well-tuned piano, that’s Barcelona. The Loneliness of the PianistFor the novel’s protagonists, the city is like a blank score, full of opportunities to create the best symphony of their lives.

Maria Victòria Lovaina portrays a passionate, open and welcoming Barcelona. Graciela from Langreo, Sindo and Mateu from the shipwreck, and years later, Mijaíl from a distant childhood, will find a new home in the heart of Barcelona. The city will give them shelter, love and new opportunities.

«She soon saw that the city was indeed big, she had not been deceived; there were people everywhere, and carts carrying goods and people carrying trunks, and bustle, so much bustle, and she could not find even a shred of silence.»

The story begins in the early years of the 20th century, when industrial Barcelona was booming, increasing production and, with it, wealth. The Catalan bourgeoisie visiting Barcelona stayed in hotels like the Peninsular on Sant Pau Street with a live pianist to liven up their evenings, and hired private music teachers for their daughters. There was work for anyone who wanted it, but there was also an increasingly better organized and demanding working class. In the pages of The Loneliness of the Pianist There is room for union struggles, strikes and settling of scores.

«The cheerful and festive Rambla at the beginning of September, the noisy Rambla, with the people, the air, the conversations, the dynamism that he had always known about Barcelona, ​​suddenly offered him an image that he already knew. It was more lively, it seemed to him that everything was more crowded, that there were many foreign people, and he even had the impression that everyone was much more elegant than when he left.»

This is a fictional story sprinkled with reality. The streets and places where the story takes place are real, as are the names and historical events mentioned, such as the attack on Cambó or the death of the musician Enric Granados.

THE PROTAGONISTS: CARRERAS-PASCAL FAMILY

If the chapters are organized in movements, as if it were a symphony, the story consists of two families that will end up being one. On one side, there are the Carreras family. On the other, the Pascals family. Both are originally from Barcelona and, in both cases, the starting point of the story is the shipwreck of the Sirio off the coast of Cartagena. On that ship, the hopes of Sindo Carreras and Mateu Pascal will be lost, but they will soon recover them elsewhere. Sindo in the Peninsular hotel in Barcelona and Mateu in Leipzig.

The piano is another element they have in common. Sindo will succeed in turning his passion for the piano into his profession, as a pianist and piano teacher. And Mateu, with no talent for playing, will become an excellent piano tuner. Together, the Carreras and the Pascals will achieve an infallible combination: the conjunction of pianist and tuner.

THE RACES

Sindo Carreras and Graciela Santos: Sindo and Graciela meet at the Peninsular Hotel. Together they form the family that years later will become that of Mijaíl, the grandson to whom Vador will tell the secrets hidden for years. Sindo, a pianist, earns his living on the city’s pianos. And Graciela, who has just arrived from Asturias, will dedicate herself to cleaning to get ahead. She has left her town and her family behind, determined to find a better life in Barcelona.

«Graciela Santos Pereira smelled of walnuts and tangerines. She had left behind half-crazy lovers, lovers fascinated by the citrus scent of her skin, by her way of speaking and laughing, of moving, of making her skirts flutter when she walked, of turning around when someone captivated her or of leaving someone else hanging if they didn’t convince her. She was like that and she charged against all those who wanted to dominate her; she was the owner of herself and against that convinced free spirit, nothing could be done.»

«Sindo Carreras, after meeting that girl from the Peninsular, sensed that his life was taking a great, pleasant turn and little by little he forgot about failures and difficulties, and seriously thought about starting a family with Graciela. The girl seemed affectionate and attentive to him, and that very particular smell obsessed him wonderfully; he was able to recognize with his eyes closed the places that Graciela had stepped on by the aroma she left in the air, and when she approached him from behind, while he played the piano, he knew exactly how close she was.»

Octavi and Salvador (Vador) Races: Octavi and Vador are the Carreras’ two sons. Octavi was born with a disability, which led his parents to seek out the best education and opportunities possible for him, and his brother Vador to become his inseparable companion. Vador also inherited his father’s passion for the piano.

«Graciela could only be happy after three years when the second child arrived, Salvador, who would always be called Vador, a bright child, who would have all his senses sharpened and would be the support that Octavi would always need, his voice and his ear forever.»

THE PASCALS

Mateu Pascal and Sofia Müller: After seeing his dream of travelling to Argentina run aground on the coast of Cartagena, Mateu Pascal will seek his fortune in Germany. There he will meet Sofía and her family, a clan of piano makers in Leipzig who will give him the opportunity to learn the trade of piano tuner. Mateu will also be like a father to Octavi and Vador thanks to the friendship forged with his father, Sindo, after the disaster of the ship to the New World.

«That day, Sofia Müller’s gaze was more intense than ever, and Mateu thought that the girl’s gaze was like honey, one was trapped in it by so much sweetness, so much intensity. For a while, Sofia Müller had done everything possible to get Mateu’s attention, but he was going about his business, attentive to the work at hand, to the language that Hans Müller and his wife, Benita Müller, were teaching him. He did not want to let down this man who had not only given him an opportunity in that city, but also trained him in a trade: Mateu would be a piano tuner. According to Müller, his ear and that fine perception of the instrument made him a prime candidate to calibrate pianos.»

«Now he thought he was rich, he had found what he had always been looking for and had never even imagined, nor had he been able to give it a name: it was a profession, an immense esteem for the piano and knowledge that no one could take away from him.»

Elvira Pascal: She is Mateu’s sister. Passionate and a fighter, she plays a fundamental role in the plot of The Loneliness of the Pianist through the notes in her diary in 1917. Next to Elvira, Paulí stands out, her great love, who would introduce her to the world of workers’ unionism at the beginning of the 20th century.

«“She did cause trouble, but Mateu did not. Mateu only had trouble with his father, they never got along very well. But Elvira, yes, she would always, always cause trouble, and with everyone; she really did take after her father,” the woman would lament, and she would never know the path her youngest daughter would take.»

«And Elvira looked at Paulí, who still didn’t know his name, and saw his childlike face, because in reality he was almost a child, a child who reminded her of her brother, also full of dreams. At that moment, Elvira was filled with joy at being able to touch his face, and so, suddenly, she would have caressed his lips and that nose that she would always describe as elegant.»

MIKHAIL CARRERAS PASCAL: Grandson of Vador and great-grandson of Sindo Carreras, Mijaíl is the driving force behind The Loneliness of the Pianist. Through questions and conversations with the grandfather, the reader discovers who is who in the Carreras-Pascal family, while also unraveling the story of Mikhail, a young man who lived for and by the piano.

«And there he stayed, in front of the piano, and it was very difficult to tear him away from the keys. His parents and grandparents understood then. The piano caught Mikhail’s attention and even his eyes changed, they lit up as if he had discovered a hidden treasure. It was the first time they saw that expression on Mikhail’s face. Suddenly, he was a different child. A plump and cheerful child. A happy child. The piano. «It’s the piano, Ramon,» said his mother, amazed. They would all remember the moment forever. The piano was what he was missing.»

«For Mikhail, the piano is life, he knows it; he carries the instrument so deep inside him that he and the piano are one. Music. The smell of wood. The enigma of that sound that expands, that captures him, that penetrates deep within him, that accompanies him through all his solitudes. The silence of words. He lives for the piano.»