There was a moment where Isabette plays one of her own compositions for her mother, moving her to an emotional keel whilst realising she couldn’t relate the true origins of who composed it afterwards. It spoke to the heart of the story, where Isabette felt a bit trapped by her gender and the traditional viewings of musicians being led by men. She was able to break through that absurdity if only for a brief reprieve but to truly breach it, it would take more than she felt she had to give.
This is where I believe Cram did a wonderful job at endearing us to Isabette – showing us how hard she strove for peer acceptance for her abilities whilst giving us a firm back-story on the tone of Vienna during a time where there were too many musicians and not enough avenues for them all to become employed.
– quoted from my review of A Woman of Note by Carol M. Cram
This is a true treasure for historical fiction writers who have a deep appreciation for Music History and Classical Music – the composers and compositions are happily alive in this story by Carol M. Cram! So much so, I wanted to ask the author several questions relating to how she composed the story itself and how she knitted together the realistic counterparts of the persons who lived during this time in Austrian history.
She found a balance between where the fictional world of Isabette thrives and the real counterplay of what was happening to both composers and performers of music during this era – it was a swelling sea of talent without a lot of platforms to launch a career, as everyone was vying for the same opportunities at the same time. It was a very convicting narrative in how you get tucked inside the emotional journey of Isabette whilst seeing how she was pitted against the men who despite their indifference to her talent, were not always on equal ground to her abilities. There was a large discrepancy between who had the natural insight into how the notes were composed and who was merely making it by the skin of their teeth.
I like settling inside stories of this nature because they bring the fullness of music to the forefront whilst giving us a heart-centered story focusing on how much courage it takes to realise your dreams. Cram gave me a story I enjoyed reading and a conversation which answers the most pulsing questions I had whilst I was reading her novel. I look forward to seeing your comments and hope you find equal enjoyment in reading where the conversation took us.
Virtuoso pianist Isabette Grüber captivates audiences in the salons and concert halls of early nineteenth-century Vienna. Yet in a profession dominated by men, Isabette longs to compose and play her own music—a secret she keeps from both her lascivious manager and her resentful mother. She meets and loves Amelia Mason, a dazzling American singer with her own secrets, and Josef Hauser, an ambitious young composer. But even they cannot fully comprehend the depths of Isabette’s talent.
Her ambitions come with a price when Isabette embarks on a journey that delicately walks the line between duty and passion. Amid heartbreak and sacrifice, music remains her one constant. With cameos from classical music figures such as Chopin, Schubert, and Berlioz, A Woman of Note is an intricately crafted and fascinating tale about one woman’s struggle to find her soul’s song in a dissonant world.
How did you find a segue window into the musical past to allow Isabette to come alive against the pages of your novel “A Woman of Note”?
Cram responds: “A Woman of Note” draws upon my love of classical music and the piano. I’ve been playing the piano since I was five years old and although I will never be a concert pianist like Isabette in the novel, I get a great deal of pleasure out of my daily practice. After I finished my first novel, “The Towers of Tuscany,” about a fictional woman artist in 14th Century Tuscany, I realized that I really wanted to carry on exploring themes related to women in the arts. My love of music led me naturally to creating a character who plays the piano and composes. I chose the 19th century because most of the music I play was composed between about 1780 and 1850. I am a huge fan of Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert, Chopin, and Mozart, to name just a few of the biggest names. As a result of my research for “A Woman of Note,” I also discovered amazing compositions by women composers from the same period, most notably Clara Schumann and Fanny Mendelsohn.
My third novel “Upstaged” is about an actress in early nineteenth century London partially because I am also very interested in theater and was a drama teacher early in my career. Through my novels, I get the opportunity to explore and share my love of the arts.
I, too, have been an appreciator of Classical composers for the full of my life (sharing favourites with you) and felt this was a classical writ novel wherein you held the ‘time and setting’ of the story quite true to the era in which it was set. You created the right tone for the novel and you gave us a story which was easily drinkable to understand what was happening during Isabette’s time. I liked how your heading to the theatre next, as I can well imagine how lively 19thC London will be to write! What a blessed writerly career – to share your passions as a patron of the arts and find readers like me who find equal enjoyment in promoting them! Champion!
Do you find writing historical persons of the past more complicated than the imagined characters who take a whisper to our imaginations and inspire us to tell their stories? Why do you think historical persons are so tricky to reincarnate through historical fiction?
Cram responds: The principal characters in A Woman of Note are imaginary and in that way I don’t think they are much different from characters in a contemporary novel. People are people! However, breathing life into characters who lived in an era very different from our own can be tricky. I have to be very careful not to make a character’s thoughts too modern. People’s general wants and desires—to love and be loved, to seek happiness—have not changed. What has changed over the centuries is how people see the world and their place in it. For example, Isabette may chafe at the restrictions put upon her because she is a woman, but she would likely not question why those restrictions exist. To make Isabette a kind of 19th Century feminist would be wildly out of character and anachronistic. I think that’s the biggest challenge facing a writer of historical fiction—to create characters who are true to their period while not turning off modern readers. It’s a fine balance.
I admit I find the same to be true as a reader of historical fiction – there are certain liberties that I will accept being taken, including showing strong woman in the historical past before or during the rites of passage for women to conjoin their pursuits towards equal rights; however, like you, I believe there is a fine balance between what is acceptable and what will take me ‘out of the story’. It is strictly a story by story case for me, because there are moments where history is left behind in order to tell a character’s journey and this will not wrinkle me inasmuch as other stories where the language and texture of a century of era are dismissed out of hand – where the novel reads too contemporary without it’s historical references.
Did you uncover anything in your research or whilst you were writing the bones of the novel that surprised you?
Cram responds: When I started the novel, I had the idea that few women were composers in the 19th Century. Like most people, I had heard of only a small handful, and presumed that women just didn’t compose much. As I dug into my research of music history, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that women played a much larger role as composers than I had originally thought. In fact, a quick Google search of “women composers in the 19th century” yields web sites listing many dozens of composers. The issue is not that that were no women composers in the 19th Century, but that we just don’t know about them. A great deal of their work has been sadly lost, although music scholars are now discovering and performing work that women have composed over the past three centuries.
I felt this was the greatest disheartening chapter of the historical past on behalf of women (although there are other contenders, surely!) due to how blatantly their light of music was blighted out of the pages of time. It is one thing to be dismissed whilst your alive but to have your life’s work cast out of record and barely able to be brought back forward through time is truly depressing if you think about how well preserved the compositions of men have lasted.
How were you influenced yourself by the composers and compositions that anchour the backstory of inspiration for Isabette? How did these influences paint a larger scale of portraying the journey of Isabette?
Cram responds: I read a great deal about composers of the period, particularly Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, and Berlioz who all have cameo appearances in the novel, and also about women composers, particularly Fanny Mendelsohn and the incomparable Clara Schumann. As I discovered in my research, Clara was a very important figure in the musical history of the 19th Century. As a rival of Liszt, she was one of the period’s top concert pianists. She was also a composer, a musical editor, and an innovator in addition to being the mother of seven children and the wife of a mentally ill composer who died in his mid-forties after spending two years in an asylum. Reading about Clara’s contributions to western music and her struggles to balance her roles as wife, mother, and professional musician really helped me to structure Isabette’s story. The twelve-year-old Clara Wieck (Schumann) also makes a cameo appearance in the novel.
I never would have realised the fuller story behind Clara’s character in ‘A Woman of Note’ if you had not mentioned it in this conversation! I had a feeling there was more to Clara’s story, as you gave us such a strong presence of self with how you held her character true to her nature. Yet, I haven’t researched this time period as well as you have, and I found the truth behind the events to be quite remarkable. Yes, to imagine how she lived her life and accomplished everything she gave to music with the odds stacked against her is inspirational towards knowing all of us are capable of far more than we give ourselves credit to achieve. I love finding women of the past who can inspire today’s young women and adults alike! (such as the women I spoke about on ‘Scripture Princesses’)
Why do you think the History of Music has the tendency to overlook the success of women composers? Is it simply due to the gender bias we all know exists through the eras or is there another reason that has yet to have a light shined on it?
Cram responds: I think women of the period faced a great deal of opposition in many professions, not just music. In fact, music was probably one of the few areas where women at least had a chance to shine. Most young women of the middle and upper classes were given musical training and those with talent were often encouraged to perform in public. However, being a good pianist to entertain guests is one thing; becoming a professional musician, much less a composer, was quite another. Even men had a great deal of difficulty pursuing music as a profession. Then as now, the arts were not considered a particularly respectable way to make a living. The fact that Isabette is also a woman increases the level of societal restrictions on her career, but it’s really just a question of degree. Women were not encouraged to pursue any profession; their principal role was to marry and have children. Fanny Mendelsohn, who in her day was considered just as talented a composer and performer as her more famous younger brother, Felix Mendelsohn, was told that she could never expect to pursue music as a profession because she was a woman. On the other hand, Clara Schumann was renowned throughout Europe as a performer, although not so much as a composer, mostly because composing was a much riskier proposition in terms of financial rewards than performing.
I definitely agree – women who pursue the arts even today are slighted against for having such an alarmingly nontraditional path set before them which can wrinkle brows faster than any other choice we could make for ourselves. Although some of the commentary even in regards to my own writerly career has been a bit unsettling such as why write a book when the person questioning you is a librarian! I think women for whichever reason have had to rise above what is presumed to be our ‘only’ purpose in life (to marry and enter motherhood) and prove that there is dimensionally more to what we can give.
Did you seek out to create Isabette as a composite example of what the women of her era went through to make their mark on music at a time where only men were being taken seriously or was this a secondary focus that emerged whilst you were writing the story’s heart?
Cram responds: As I wrote Isabette’s story, I realized that she was becoming a composite (so to speak) of several composers of the period, most notably Clara Schumann. I would never say that Isabette’s story is anything like Clara’s; however, I will say that Isabette’s story is inspired by Clara’s. Both women loved music; both were very passionate and talented; and both had to overcome many obstacles in their lives. Isabette is not meant to represent the typical woman composer in the 19th Century (that would be impossible!). She is an individual and her story revolves around her struggle to reconcile her relationships with her passion to make music.
I was quite convinced of Isabette as a wholly true person fully conceived and fleshed out to reflect her own life outside of the historical counterparts but a part of me felt as I read the novel she could have become a composite or at least hold the essence of someone who honestly lived; therein, lives the connection to Clara.
Do you believe there is equal focus on women in music today or have we not come as far as we should from the time in which your character lives to allow women to take the spotlight and shine?
Cram responds: I don’t know if the focus is equal but I believe women composers and performers have more opportunities now than in previous eras. However, making a living in the arts is a challenge for all artists, regardless of gender. As a society, we may have respect for people who dedicate their lives to the arts, but we are not often willing to support them. The struggles faced by both male and female composers in the 19th Century are not so different from the struggles faced by composers today to get their work performed. I like to think that Isabette’s story is the story of a person who finds redemption through creativity. We need more Isabettes in our world—people who choose to pursue lives in the arts. How many schools have cut funding to arts programs? I love that great quote by Winston Churchill who, when advised during World War II to cut funding to the arts, replied “Then what are we fighting for?”
I grew up in school districts where the first budget cuts to be axed were the arts – so much so, by high school the ‘drama club’ was all that was left for theatre. Even that was sponsored directly by the teacher chairing the club rather than having it funded by the school. I am uncertain why the arts are heavily appreciated but underscored in our lives to the extent where the arts have to self-sustain themselves in order to continue forward into the future. It’s an about-face to logic and I am not sure if we will ever fully understand the reasoning. I am simply blessed I grew up in a family who encircled my childhood with the arts and gave me a lifelong passion as a patron!
What creative outlets inspired you as a child to become a creative economist as an adult?
Cram responds: As a child, I was an avid reader and writer and spent a lot of time on my own indulging my imagination. I definitely wanted to be a novelist “when I grew up.” Becoming a published novelist took a few more decades than I anticipated, but I did enjoy a great career as an educator and a writer of textbooks on business and computers in the interim. The skills I learned in my first career have been very useful in my second career.
I think when we first set our mind to write a novel, we do not think about the time delay between composition of the story and final production of a book. At least, I do not. It’s too cluttered to constantly think about how to fuse the story in our imagination to the written page and then, counter those thoughts with publishing and marketing. Each step in turn will happen but writing is for the patient as stories have a way of arriving in their own time.
What was the impetus which gravitated you into writing? And, when did this occur? Who was your best cheerleader?
Cram responds: I remember my English teacher in Grade 10 telling me that he’d “see me in print” one day. That really galvanized me and throughout my teens and twenties I was committed to becoming a writer of fiction. However, the need to support a family led me into education (I was a college instructor and workshop facilitator for more than two decades) and non fiction (I’ve authored about fifty textbooks on business communications and computer applications). In recent years, I am again free to pursue my first ambition to write fiction. My best cheerleader is without doubt my partner in life Gregg Simpson. He is a visual artist and musician and has always been extremely supportive of my writing.
I loved finding out how writing was perennial in your career even though it might have taken on a different format of interest than your main attraction to fiction; the knowledge you gained in one vein of publishing has surely given you a strength in the other! I love finding out who are the cheerleaders for writers and I personally celebrate when I find it’s a loved one and/or life partner. I was smiling when I read your partner is a musician because for some reason that felt kismet to me that you were meant to be together.
What centers your joy when you’re not creating or working professionally?
Cram responds: I live on Bowen Island, a small island that is a 20-minute ferry ride from Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada. I’m very fortunate to live in a place where a great many artists and writers also live. It’s a very quiet and beautiful location that suits my husband and me perfectly. When I’m not writing, I take a great deal of inspiration from walks in the woods and on the beaches near our home. I am also a Nia practitioner and teacher. Nia is a mind/body holistic fitness practice that focuses on the joy of movement for every body. My Nia practice provides me with a great physical outlet, particularly when I’m deep into a writing project.
Islanders I do envy because you can unplug from the mainland and step outside the sphere of contemporary life on a level and keel that not everyone else can embrace. I am not familiar with this island but I do appreciate the area surrounding Vancouver as I one day would love to visit British Columbia. The Pacific Northwest is endearing to me for it’s depth of natural wonder and beauty; it’s a whole different world out there and I long to return. I can relate to what your saying about practicing Nia as I enjoy Tai Chi and centering myself through the movements of the long form. I haven’t had the chance to pick up where I left off in quite awhile but I will return to the practice because like you, I find a calm inner balance when I am doing it. Being in nature is tenfold to bliss for me so I could definitely relate to your walks!
This author interview is courtesy of: BookSparks
Previously I shared my ruminations on behalf of this Musical Historical Fiction wherein I truly felt attached to Isabette’s story and her journey towards finding her wings to fly! (review) This marks my first interview with a BookSparks author and I was thankful Ms Cram had time to respond to my enquiries shortly after my review ran for the blog tour itself.
Readers | Books Bloggers : Impressions of A Woman of Note:
{ a quick search + the twitterverse provided me the road map! }
This is not an ordered list as I simply found links in succession of each other. Be sure to follow the ‘A Woman of Note’ on Twitter to find more reader impressions and guest author features. Likewise as most of these bloggers did not mention if they were on the blog tour, I am unsure if they simply requested the book for review independent of the tour or are honestly a part of it.
A Woman of Note: Review & Q&A | I’m Lost in Books
Review of: A Woman of Note | The Avid Reader
Book Review: A Woman of Note | Mostly A Book Blog: Leeanna.Me
Be sure to visit my Bookish Events for (2015)
Lateron tonight I will be sharing my thoughts on behalf of Reading the Sweet Oak,
my next bookish review for BookSparks! Stay tuned!
Kindly leave your thoughts and comments for Ms Cram in the threads below!
{SOURCES: The cover art for “A Woman of Note”, the synopsis, author biography, and author photograph of Carol M. Cram along with the blog tour badge were provided by BookSparks and used with permission. Comment Box Banner made by Jorie in Canva. Conversations with the Bookish banner made by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination.}
Copyright © Jorie Loves A Story, 2015.
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