What happens when a student surpasses their teacher? How about when that student is an orphaned girl, and the teacher is one of 18 th century Venice ’s most feted composers? In her debut novel The Instrumentalist, Harriet Constable infuses historical fact with richly wrought fictional details, to investigate admiration and resentment, ego and legacy. And while the book is steeped in time and place, it nonetheless sheds light on gender dynamics that will be all too familiar to readers today. The Instrumentalist follows Anna Maria della Pietà, born in Venice in 1696, from her childhood in an orphanage to the dizzy heights of musical stardom as a violinist and composer.
That premise might sound far fetched – certainly, it’s hard to imagine another moment in European history when a penniless girl could have been celebrated for her musical talents – yet, Anna Maria was a real person , and the Pietà (the girls’ orphanage cum music school where she lived) was a real place . Resolving to transcend her humble beginnings, Anna Maria’s ruthless ambition comes at the expense of friendships: “I’m going to be the best. This is what it takes,” she says.
Instead, her life orbits the one eccentric, enigmatic teacher who recognises her ability. While he is unnamed throughout the book, classical music fans will recognise Anna Maria’s teacher as Antonio Vivaldi , who worked at the real-life Pietà between 1703 and 1715. In The Instrumentalist, his relationship with prote.