Maestro

Peter Goldsworthy
Introduction
 Maestro is a novel about music lessons and
life lessons, about growing up and growing
old, about coming to terms with past events
that defy understanding or easy
acceptance.
Background and context
 The main story is set against the backdrop
of the historical events of the Holocaust and
the European traditions of classical music
focussed on Vienna.
 This is contrasted by the main setting of
Australia, which is then contrasted with
Adelaide.
Background and context - Darwin
 Darwin seen strangely exotic – nature is ‘larger
than life’, tropical climate and contrasting wet and
dry seasons
 Goldsworthy uses this to evoke a relationship
between human behaviour and the natural world
 Darwin acts as a microcosm of Australia in terms
of ethnic diversity (muted presence of Aboriginal
and Chinese people)
 Cyclone Tracy (1974) provides a parallel to the
Holocaust and is another tragedy Keller must
survive
Background and context – Hitler
and the Holocaust
 Third Reich’s program of racial cleansing –
eradicate Jews so an Aryan master race
could rule central Europe
 Six million Jews murdered during this time
 Adolf Eichmann assured people that
‘Jewish members of German families would
not be harmed’ but, as Keller discovered,
this sympathetic façade was a lie
Background and context - Austria
 Austria was incorporated into the Nazi
empire between 1938 and 1945
 This political union was known as the
Anschluss
 This meant that Austrian Jews were
discriminated against and eventually
suffered the same fate as German Jews
Background and context - Vienna
 The capital of Austria was sometimes
called ‘The Land of Music’ – it was home to
numerous famous composers
 Forms our understanding of Keller’s cultural
heritage
Questions re: background and
context
 How important is Keller’s background to
this story?
 What would be different if he was a brilliant
pianist from Australia?
 Why Darwin?
Genre
 Maestro is a novel written in the form of a
memoir
 Paul’s memoir includes his rite of passage
from childhood through adolescence to
maturity
 Element of mystery as Keller’s past is
unravelled
Narrative point of view
 The novel is narrated from Paul’s point of
view – thus ‘first-person narrator’
 Limited viewpoint
 Retrospective – adult Paul adds maturity
and insight to the events of his childhood
and adolescence
Structure
 Seven parts
 ‘Darwin, 1967’ (14 short sections)
 ‘Intermezzo’
 ‘1968’ (eight short sections)
 ‘Adelaide’ (six sections)
 ‘1974’ (two sections)
 ‘Vienna, 1975’ (two sections)
 ‘1977’ (epilogue)
 Each short section is marked by a diamond-
shaped bullet
Characters
 Paul Crabbe – protagonist, only child, start
of the story is his move to Darwin, parents
believe he is a musical genius
 Eduard Keller – the ‘maestro’ of the title,
central figure in novel and Paul’s life, the
story of Paul’s rite of passage runs parallel
to the unravelling of Keller’s past
Characters
 John Crabbe – Paul’s father. A doctor whose real
love is music
 Nancy Crabbe – Paul’s mother. Stereotypical
domestic character, Paul’s sees her as opposite
to John, often acts as mediator between father
and son
 Rosie Zollo – Paul’s first and only girlfriend, they
later marry and have a child, her main role is as
Paul’s loyal lover and nurturer, despite her career
as a doctor
Characters
 Megan Murray – contrast to Nancy and Rosie
(nurturing). Megan is a ‘vamp’ who Paul is drawn
to
 Bennie Reid – the boy Paul does not want to be
though initially he and Paul are doubles
 Jimmy Papas – the king of the schoolyard
 Scotty Mitchell – one of Jimmy’s gang, boxing
champion and Megan’s boyfriend
Characters
 Reggie Lim – another gang member, a follower,
representative of minority groups
 Rick Whitely – fixes the ‘Battle of the Bands’
competition, inappropriate attraction to Jimmy –
comparison between his mentoring of Paul and
Keller’s
 Mrs Wallace – Paul’s maternal grandmother, a
nothing nurturing (though comical) female
 Josef Henisch – the only character that knew
Keller in Vienna
Themes, ideas and values
 Rite of passage / identity and personal growth
 Paul’s transition from adolescence to adulthood
 Involves proving his manhood and masculinity, as well as
his complex relationship with Keller and his attempts to be
a world-class concert pianist
 Adulthood involves the loss of his dreams
 Loneliness / alienation
 Paul and the maestro are loners
 Both isolate themselves from peers
Themes, ideas and values
 Ethnic and racial diversity
 Keller’s experience of anti-Semitism and the multicultural
nature of Darwin
 The parallel draws attention to Australia’s shameful past
 Band as a microcosm of Darwin at that time
 Human limitations
 Keller attempts to communicate a sense of human
limitation to Paul
 Keller feels his own life has been wasted because he was
arrogant and insensitive – he wants Paul to avoid this but
he also contributes to Paul’s sense of self-contempt
Themes, ideas and values
 Music / the pain and pleasure of music
 Music an essential aspect of life for the Crabbe’s and
Keller but for different reasons – pleasure, goals,
escape from pain, power and control
 Music unites John and Nancy but each stamp their
individuality on it
 Paul and Keller differ in their appreciation of music –
Paul likes the passion and extravagance of Chopin,
Liszt and Rachmaninoff; whereas Keller insists upon
Bach and Mozart
 Keller fails Paul by limiting his emotional expression
Themes, ideas and values
 Betrayal
 Keller betrayed by people he trusted – ruined his life and
resulted in him trying to alleviate his guilt by pretending to be
Jewish
 Paul betrays Bennie and Keller (is more interested in Rosie
when Keller begins to confide in him)
 Gender
 Maestro offers a male-dominated environment
 Megan – stereotypical sex-object
 Rosie, Nancy and Paul’s grandmother – all stereotypical
domestic women – nurturers and supporters of the men
Themes, values and ideas
 Art and horror
 Vienna as capital of art and culture prior to the rise of the
Nazis
 Keller’s understanding versus that of the Crabbe’s
 Hitler as painter / dictator / murderer
 Keller as musician / the reason (?) his wife and son are
killed
 Goldsworthy is showing us the ugly truth about humanity
that exists beneath the beauty of the world