4.5 stars

THE INSTRUMENTALIST is a sweeping tale of female musicians in 18th century Venice.

I love classical music and Vivaldi is one of the best known composers out there, so naturally I was intrigued by a tale about the girls who made his career. These girls - abandoned children, often the children of prostitutes and many with disabilities and disfigurements - were some of the most talented musicians in the world. And they've largely been overlooked by (male-written) history. It was so nice to see them put front and centre of this book.

It is such an engaging tale, weaving ambition and music and the way girls are pitted against each other for recognition while men don't have to work half so hard for it. I really loved the way it delved into the fact that many composers (and other master artists) through time have taken the credit for their students' work (male and female!) It was a situation that you could see happening, but Anna-Maria couldn't, too starved for attention and being carefully manipulated by a much older man, someone who was abusing a position of trust.

I really liked how Vivaldi was not named in the book. He was simply "the teacher", his named deemed unimportant like hers has been. It helped keep the focus away from him and on Anna-Maria and the other girls. Plus it lead to a little mini-game of "guess the music from the description" as not all the pieces had names mentioned!

Anna-Maria, in the book, has synaesthesia, seeing music as colours. It was such a nice way of showing the magic of music to the reader. Music is this duality of personal - happening on an individual level for the performer - and collective, bringing in the audience. It can be so hard to explain what's happening in the performer's head and body, and this was a great way of presenting it in a more easily comprehended form.

Emilia Clarke narrates the audiobook and she did a great job. I also liked the fact that it started and ended with musical excerpts. Plus the historical note was very thorough, explaining the context of the tale.

Based on the real life story of Anna Maria della Pieta, who grew up in an orphanage in Venice. This orphanage taught music to its girls, and the talented ones could join its orchestra, which became known as one of the best in Europe. Anna Maria was taught to play the violin by Vivaldi, who was the director of music. She was so driven and ambitious because she loved it, but also because she knew it was her only chance of a future. Did she really help compose some of his famous music? This story opens the question up, and adds its own colour to the known facts to bring it all alive. The characters are full of life and you can nearly hear the music.

Anna Maria is just one of hundreds of girls that was abandoned and got to grow up at the Ospedale Della Pietá. Although she’s not like the others, Anna Maria knew she was gifted from a young age and it’s always been her dream to become Venices greatest violinist and composer. The odds may be stacked against her but when the maestro takes her under his wing she knows that’s her way to get in. She works harder than anyone else putting her career before anything and anyone. Despite her efforts her mentor threatens to eclipse Anna Maria’s bright future.

The synopsis immediately caught my attention, a historical fiction set in eighteen century France with a music element. I wish the first couple of chapters moved a bit faster but other than that I thoroughly enjoyed it.

I listened to the audiobook and it made my reading experience way better. The narrators voice is so pleasant to listen to and the music effects made it so easy to picture the scene.

When I found out it’s loosely based on reality it made it all the better. I’ll definitely do some more research on Antonio Vivaldi and his star pupil. I’m glad that the forgotten women of classical music like Anna Maria got their flowers.

It’s a great book, I reckon I would’ve liked it even more had I known the truth behind it before I listened.

Read this if you like
💫Historical Fiction
🎻Classical music
💙Strong female characters
📖Emotional reads

'On the horizon, Venice is a flat, silent land, the islands like discarded clothes floating on the skin of the sea. But as they draw closer, it changes shape. It is lifted into mountains of sound: the canals the strings, the islands the body; vibrating and melding, clanging and whistling; a giant instrument of a place.'

Harriet Constable’s debut novel ‘The Instrumentalist’ is audaciously colourful. It’s really a novel about synaesthesia, using as its vehicle the violin playing of the historical figure, Anna Maria della Pietà. Descriptions of her sound-as-colour synaesthetic experience of music are the most innovative and captivating passages in the novel; I think I could’ve read a whole book of just that, and been satisfied. As a backdrop and a foil to this colour, the eighteenth-century Venice of ‘The Instrumentalist’ is rendered often grim, even savage in its immediacy. Either way, purple passages of each form of description are why I kept on reading, when I repeatedly felt like giving up on the book.

Like ‘The Flames’ by Sophie Haydock a couple of years ago, ‘The Instrumentalist’ is one of those pieces of Historical Fiction based on the lives of real figures from history for which you have to discard aforeknown fact and suspend all disbelief, and I have to say, I found it as unconvincing as I did ‘The Flames’.

In a manner not dissimilar to Haydock’s representation of Egon Schiele’s relationships portrayed in that novel, the relationship between Anna Maria and her music teacher in ‘The Instrumentalist’ is uncomfortable to the point of problematic. Not just because it depicts a young girl’s suffering at the hands of her abuser, but rather because, in the character of Anna Maria della Pietà, Harriet Constable transposes a kind of prototypical twentieth-century or twenty-first century narrative onto the Seventeen Hundreds.

Constable’s Anna Maria, a young girl of prodigious talent and aspiration, certainly might have shined in a contemporary novel by Joanne Harris, say, or Kate Atkinson, where her sass and her zest could really spark as her rebellion against societal norms for pre-teen and teenage girls is explored and spun out. But, for this book, our protagonist is gratingly anachronistic, and it dulled the whole effect for me. An eight-year-old claiming that the death of an adoptive sister is a necessary sacrifice to achieve musical greatness? I really think Harriet Constable lost the run of herself a bit with this one!

On the audiobook, Emilia Clarke’s narration is crisp, as hard-backed and disciplined as the musical practice of Anna Maria it describes.

My thanks to Bloomsbury UK Audio for affording me the chance to review the audiobook through NetGalley.

I was very impressed with this debut novel from Harriet Constable. Anna Marie Della Piétro is a wonderful protagonist who I found myself rooting for and wanting to research and learn more about after I’d finished the book, (for me a measure of a novel’s impact), in addition to the figlio, which I knew very little about. Maria is hard working and ambitious, with a unique and unmatched talent as a violinist (being able to play it proficiently on her first attempt at just 8 years old). As a young girl, she is determined to use this talent to rise above her position in society – that of a poor orphan in the care of the Ospedale in Venice, with very little prospects other than being married off at a relatively young age.

The novel is set in 18th century Venice, and Constable’s descriptions of Venice very cleverly portray the contrasting lives of the upper echelons of society with the poor, destitute and desperate, a state which is especially true for women from a poorer background.

Maria has sound-colour synaesthesia, in that she sees specific colours when she hears certain notes being played. I loved the way the author describes the effect which these sounds have on Maria. The notes from the violin float and dance through her in a flurry of vivid and vibrant colours, and in this way, you understand how she is complexly transformed and at one with the music.

I was interested in Maria’s relationship and creative partnership with Vivaldi and the important role she played in his compositions. Although just as talented as her mentor, almost inevitably, as a woman her work is uncredited, and she is cruelly exploited by someone she trusts and greatly admires. In fact, sadly this is a very abusive and manipulative relationship, which again is reflective of the unfair imbalance of power between men and women, at a time when women were expendable and only there to bolster the interests of men.

I really enjoyed this book and would highly recommend it. It is a very enjoyable work of historical fiction which provides a rare insight into the life of Anna Maria Della Piétro, a young woman with an incredibly unique talent, and a strong determination and ambition to succeed against all odds.

It seems another historical creative figure abused his power and position.
This is a fictionalisation of Vivaldi’s life whilst working with a young orchestra of orphaned girls.
We can’t know if this version is true but a fascinating look at some of the evidence and creating a story around it.

Oh my goodness I adored this! It made me cry and had me getting really mad (at the world, at men, even at Anna Maria sometimes!), but it was such a beautiful, brilliant read and one I’ll be thinking about for a long time.

I love that authors take a small snippet of history or one overlooked person and create an entire world and story and can somehow make me extremely invested in the life of someone I didn’t even know existed before reading their book. This is absolutely my favourite type of book to read, and Harriet’s writing is so exquisite and dragged me deep into the depths of music in 18th century Venice.

We start off with Anna Maria as a young child with friends and innocence and a love of music, and how so much of this changes as she grows up. There’s one bit in particular, after a long time of isolating herself from the other girls in order to be the best, when she thinks, maybe it’s not she who chose to not spend time with them, it was that they that chose to not spend time with her - and omg that hit me deep and had me crying for an outrageous amount of time.

But it is a beautiful story that will make you weep and rage and absolutely want to move to Venice. I don’t know much about classical music but if I ever find myself in a conversation in any way about it, Vivaldi will be getting ripped to pieces x

Venice, 1696. A baby is abandoned at the orphanage Ospedale della Pietà. The orphanage is a hard place to grow up in. But for its girls, it also offers a chance to receive an education as part of the figlie di coro. It is well known for teaching them to play musical instruments. The orphanage is also known for the performance they give to the rich and famous. These performances earn precious money for the orphanage. The baby will grow up to become Anna Maria della Pietà, a prodigy violinist and an amazing musician. The orphanage's master of music is Antonio Vivaldi. He teaches and admires Anna Maria and she becomes his inspiration for many of his compositions. This book is her story, as imagined by Harriet Constable. The story of her relationship with Antonio Vivaldi, of her life at the orphanage, of her relationship with her friends Agatha, Paulina, Chiara and her musical abilities and her ambition which will lead her to the role of master of music herself

I found this book fascinating. I realised that, although I have listened to Vivaldi's works, I did not know much about the details of Vivaldi’s life and I had never heard of Annamaria de la Pietà. The book is based on historical facts about their lives and the history and culture in Venice at the time. But because relatively little is known about Annamaria from her own account, the author brought her to life and gave us a glimpse of what it might have been to be her.

The writing is beautiful. Having myself the experience of playing music, I found the text very immersive when it describes how Annemarie felt when playing music, her heightened senses and all the colours and other sensations that explode around her when she plays. The hard work that is required to be a musician at this level comes through the story, as well as the demands Vivaldi and the Ospedale place on them.

Although the girls at the orphanage were given these skills and opportunities, they were limited by the societal conventions that applied to women at that time. Anna Maria was definitely an extraordinary person to reach the positions that she held. I admire the author's work to imagine how Anna Maria saw her life, her relationships, her ambition herself. Women at that time were probably less assertive than they would be today, and Anna Maria seems to stand out as a bit forceful. But one has to agree that to reach the position she achieved, she must have had quite a personality.

I really enjoyed this book. The pace of the story varies, a little bit like the Four Seasons. The characters are rich and interesting and the writing is a real pleasure to read. A lot of research clearly went into it. As for any historical novel, the author states that she has made some choices, but it is a solid historical novel which prompted me to dig further into the period and characters of the novel.

The audiobook was extremely well read, introduced by the four seasons of Vivaldi, and closed as well by the same. It interpreted the beauty of the text and enhanced the experience.

I reviewed this title as a book some time ago and it was really enjoyable. I found the story both amazing and immersive and was keen to hear how it was delivered on audio. In short, it’s outstanding. The narration throughout is absolutely perfect and I was quickly lost in a different time and place. Harriet Constable has done an excellent job of melding fact and fiction and this tale has all the elements of great historical fiction. She captures not only the essence of the people, but it’s packed with descriptions that give the reader or listener a real feel for the era, the squalor and splendour, the manners and mores and it’s easy to be swept along by the narrative. This is a story I’ll listen to again as it’s relaxing and so well written.

I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it.
I liked the mix of history, culture and non-fiction.
I thought it was quite beautifully written, and told a steady story from Ana Maria, from baby to Master of music.
It showed a different kind of Venice, a bit murky, and not what you'd expect.
I'd read / listen to another book by this author.
I liked the narrator and felt she was the perfect choice.
Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

In my humble opinion, the cover for this beautiful story just doesn’t do it justice. If you’re a fan of historical fiction based on real people you need to get your hands on a copy of this book, pronto.
This is the story of Anna Maria della Pietà, born in Venice around 1696. She was an extraordinary orphan living in an extraordinary city who became a world famous violinist, composer and teacher. A pupil of Vivaldi, he wrote many of his most famous master pieces for her, and quite possibly with her, although there are no known compositions accredited to her.
Her story is all the more incredible when you consider the times she was living in, the fact that she was a woman, and an orphan.
It’s beautifully written, and the audio narrative from Emilia Clarke was (as you’d expect) just sublime.
This book way surpassed my expectations. It was an absolute joy to read. Five shiny ones from me.🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟
With thanks to NetGalley and Bloomsbury UK audio for the ARC.
The Instrumentalist is out now.

In 18th century Venice, the young orphan Anna Maria has a lot of things working against her - not least her poverty, relatively humble origins, and the fact that she is female.

But she also has an unusual degree of ambition and prodigious musical talent. So when she has the opportunity to be mentored by Vivaldi himself, it finally seems as though important doors might be opening for her.

But unfortunately for Anna Maria, soon enough her talent begins to present a direct challenge to Vivaldi's own gifts. Can she prevail or will her dreams ultimately end in despair?

This is an atmospheric and compelling story about a most unusual woman. Debut novelist Constable holds her audience effortlessly spellbound, determined to discover the outcome and Anna Maria's fate. Well worth checking out for lovers of historical fiction.

This is an absorbing debut about an exceptionally talented violinist in 18th century Venice. As a baby Anna Maria was left in the care of nuns at the Ospedale della Pietà, an orphanage and music school. She first held a violin at eight years old, and even then her potential was evident, but her drive to succeed as a musician and composer chips away at her friendships and her health. I was drawn into Anna Maria’s simultaneous rise to musical acclaim and fall to lonely self-absorption as she faces difficult lessons about what is really important. As a content note, Anna Maria has a very intense relationship with her violin teacher and there are several indications of grooming, but this never progresses to sexual assault.

The reason it wasn’t a five star read for me is that sometimes Anna Maria’s attitudes stretched credulity as an orphan raised in poverty by nuns who are notably lacking in tenderness and time for child-rearing. That may not be problem for reader who enjoy modern sensibilities in their historical fiction; I am unfortunately not one of them.