An Equal Music
{{short description|1999 novel by Vikram Seth}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2022}}
{{Infobox book
| name = An Equal Music
| image = BroadwayBooks ImprintofRandomHouse 1999 VikramSeth AnEqualMusic FirstEdition Cover.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Vikram Seth
| country = United Kingdom
| language = English
| cover_artist =
| series =
| genre = Romance
| publisher = Phoenix House
| release_date = 8 April 1999
| media_type = Print (hardback & paperback)
| pages = 383 pages (first edition, hardcover), 400 pages (hardcover edition) & 400 pages (paperback edition)
| isbn = 1-86159-117-9 |isbn_note= (first edition, hardcover), ({{ISBN|0-7679-0291-2}} (hardcover edition) & {{ISBN|0-375-70924-X}} (paperback edition)
| oclc= 41381950
| congress=PR9499.3.S38
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
An Equal Music (1999) is a novel by Vikram Seth.
Plot
The plot concerns Michael, a professional violinist, who never forgot his love for Julia, a pianist he met as a student in Vienna. They meet again after a decade, and conduct a secret affair, though she is married and has one child. Their musical careers are affected by this affair and the knowledge that Julia is going deaf.
A recurring element throughout the plot is the pair's performance of Beethoven's Piano Trio Opus 1 No.3, which they first perform in their college days.
Seth together with Philippe Honoré marketed a double CD of the music mentioned in An Equal Music, performed by Honoré.{{citation |url=https://www.amazon.com/Vikram-Seth-Johann-Sebastian-Bach/dp/B00003OO0L |title=Amazon: An Equal Music (CD) |publisher=Amazon}}.
Reception
The book was especially well received by musical fans, who noted the accuracy of Seth's descriptions of music.{{Citation needed|date=September 2021}}
Paolo Isotta, one of Italy's most significant music critics, wrote in the influential newspaper Il Corriere della Sera of the Italian translation that no European writer had ever shown such a knowledge of European classical music, nor had any European novel before managed to convey the psychology, the technical abilities, even the human potentialities of those who practise music for a living.{{citation |periodical=European Review |date=20 January 2005|volume=13 |pages=103–113 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |doi=10.1017/S1062798705000104 |url=http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=276618 |first=Silvia |last=Albertazzi |title=An equal music, an alien world: postcolonial literature and the representation of European culture|s2cid=144544406 |url-access=subscription }}.
Works referenced
Several musical works figure prominently in An Equal Music. Among these are the Trout Quintet by Franz Schubert, the String Quintet in C minor by Ludwig van Beethoven, and The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Notes
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{{Vikram Seth}}
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Category:Novels by Vikram Seth
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