I pursued music in college and graduate school, eventually giving up on having a career as a performer to concentrate on music history. I was fascinated by the stories—the ones that were told and the ones that remained untold, most often to do with women and girls. When I turned to writing fiction, it was only natural that I would find my inspiration in the music and music history that has permeated my own life.
Although I have never been a violinist, I have picked up a violin from time to time and tried to play. I am privileged to know some superb artists: among them the amazing Peter Oundjian, former first violinist in the Tokyo string quartet, and Elizabeth Wallfisch, one of my dearest friends and perhaps the foremost Baroque violinist today. I listened to them both play in intimate surroundings, and lived through many of Libby’s struggles with injuries and eventually her triumph in the musical world.
My Theresa is a combination of myself at her age, Libby’s deep devotion to the violin, and my imagination.
Suggested listening
Haydn, The London Symphonies, Volumes 1 & 2; Colin Davis conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Philips)
Haydn, String Quartets Op. 76; the Kodaly Quartet (Naxos)
Copyright © 2009 by Susanne Dunlap
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner
whatsoever without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief
quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews.
First published in the United States of America in January 2009
by Bloomsbury Books for Young Readers
E-book edition published in April 2011
www.bloomsburyteens.com
For information about permission to reproduce selections from this book, write to
Permissions, Bloomsbury BFYR, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10010
The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:
The musician’s daughter / by Susanne Dunlap.—1st U.S. ed.
p. cm.
Summary: In eighteenth century Vienna, Austria, fifteen-year-old Theresa seeks a way to
help her mother and brother financially while investigating the murder of her father, a
renowned violinist of Haydn’s orchestra at the court of Prince Esterhazy, whose body
was found near a gypsy camp.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59990-332-3 • ISBN-10: 1-59990-332-6 (hardcover)
[1. Musicians—Fiction. 2. Murder—Fiction. 3. Family life—Austria—Fiction. 4. Haydn,
Joseph, 1732–1809—Fiction. 5. Romanies—Fiction. 6. Vienna (Austria)—History—18th
century—Fiction. 7. Austria—History—1740–1789—Fiction. 8. Mystery and detective stories.] I. Title.
PZ7.D92123Mus 2009 [Fic]—dc22 2008030307
ISBN 978-1-59990-797-0 (e-book)