DiscoverNPR's Book of the Day'The Instrumentalist' is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà
'The Instrumentalist' is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà

'The Instrumentalist' is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà

Update: 2024-09-03
Share

Description

Harriet Constable learned a lot about the real life of Anna Maria della Pietà — that she grew up in an orphanage, that she was a star violinist and a favored student of Antonio Vivaldi. But in her new novel, The Instrumentalist, Constable also merges fact with fiction to tell the story of Anna Maria's synesthesia and musical talents. In today's episode, she speaks with NPR's Scott Simon about Anna Maria's life, the challenges and excitement of the classical music world at the time, and what we make of Vivaldi today.

To listen to Book of the Day sponsor-free and support NPR's book coverage, sign up for Book of the Day+ at plus.npr.org/bookoftheday

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy
Comments 
In Channel
loading
00:00
00:00
x

0.5x

0.8x

1.0x

1.25x

1.5x

2.0x

3.0x

Sleep Timer

Off

End of Episode

5 Minutes

10 Minutes

15 Minutes

30 Minutes

45 Minutes

60 Minutes

120 Minutes

'The Instrumentalist' is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà

'The Instrumentalist' is a story about music, imagination and Anna Maria della Pietà