There’s a particular challenge that comes from writing a book in the world of another artistic discipline. Why? The usual challenges that apply to writing fiction apply, but so does the task of accurately depicting a very different creative word. In the case of Martha Anne Toll‘s new novel Duet for One, that world is classical music. Set in the wake of the death of an acclaimed pianist, Toll’s novel explores how her loved ones grieve and reflect on their own artistic triumphs and frustrations. I talked with Toll to learn more about book’s origin and the difficulties she faced while writing it.
Both Duet for One and Three Muses are set against the backdrop of other artistic disciplines. What draws you to these worlds?
Primarily personal experience. I studied ballet as a young child. With no talent, I did not continue past my early teens. Nevertheless, I fell in love with the artform and have continued to watch ballet ever since. Watching professional ballet dancers rehearse, and the physical discipline it takes to reach any kind of proficiency, left deep imprints. Music is a different story. I studied viola with an eye toward becoming a professional and was totally immersed in classical music from an early age through my mid-twenties. In the end, I made a different career choice, but music is part of who I am.
What are the challenges you face in rendering them accurately?
I see two huge challenges. The first is that both dance and music are ephemeral. How to capture them on the page when they take place in the present and are gone as soon as they are performed? These art forms contrast with books or paintings that have a physical form that we can return to again and again. The second challenge is how to communicate the emotion that dance or music transmits. Every fiction writer faces this challenge—to convey emotion without treacle or hyperbole or boredom. Both of these challenges have to be met with specific vocabulary that is not shopworn or clichéd.
One of the lines that struck me from this novel was, “There is no music without silence.” Do you find that the same is true for language?
Emphatically yes! Poets, especially, understand this. They are selective about blank spaces and line breaks. The analogue to silence in writing is the pause. Pauses are key to the “music” of prose on the page. During revision, I often end up deleting the last lines of chapters or the ends of paragraphs, to take a beat or a pause before moving on to the next part. I use blank space as well.
In the afterword for this novel, you spoke about the role Lilian Kallir played in inspiring the book. How much research into her life did you do while preparing to write?
I didn’t do any research into her life because I wanted to ensure that Victor and Adele Pearl, the two-piano team in my novel, were fully fictional.
What are some of the challenges of writing about a creative partnership? Are there any others — in any artistic field — that you find inspiring?
This is such a good question. I’ve never thought about it, even though Duet for One is about a married two-piano team and Three Muses contains a fraught creative partnership between protagonist ballerina Katya Symanova and her choreographer Boris Yanakov. To some extent, we writers are among the few creatives who do solitary work—even though we’re not really on our own. We read other people’s work, we get edited, we have readers, we collaborate with a publisher. But it’s not as apparent as it is in other artforms. The two, very different, creative partnerships in my books came to me organically. I am smitten by musical creative partnerships—the string quartet, the symphony orchestra—in particular. And in ballet, the cohesion of an ensemble. I find them all remarkable, and the creativity behind them equally remarkable. We could say the same for a theater or opera performance as well.
Do your own musical tastes run to the classical side of things? Was there anything in particular that you found useful to listen to while writing this — or any music you intentionally avoided while doing so?
I love this question. Yes, to my taste running to the classical side of things. But I love jazz and folk and classic rock and lots of other stuff too. I spent a long time listening to the music in the book, including while I was writing, before I discovered that my writing was going to sh-t every time I put on a classical recording. Too emotional, too fraught. My writing turned into sentimental drivel. For years I have been writing in total silence. I know other authors share playlists for writing, but I’m too influenced and sensitive to music. I have to be monastic about it.
Was there a particular aspect of Duet for One that you found especially challenging?
Aside from writing it? I’d say birthing it. Duet had a 20-year gestation before it found the perfect home at Regal House Publishing.