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The Seventh Partita: A novel in the form of a ricercare
“A stunning novel, enchantingly peculiar and deeply moving.” –Kirkus Reviews
“FRILLIANT (fucking brilliant)!! A bonkers combination of Bach, exotic setting, mystery, history, wild philosophizing and social criticism…” – Victor Apostle
“This book is a must read. Clever, funny, sad, represents for houselessness and nationlessness, music and art, and the persistence of love” –John Winieski
Kaden Oshima is obsessed with finding Johann Sebastian Bach’s missing Seventh Partita for keyboard. But he can’t seem to convince anyone that Bach’s Seventh Partita for keyboard is missing in the first place, let alone understand why it’s so important to find.
But Kaden’s familiarity with the seedy side of Honolulu life gets him an assignment to find Susan Zhao, a violin prodigy, who lost her parents at the age of 10 and was sent to an institution at 15, then…vanished! Or perhaps, abducted. Her brother reveals that she may be in possession of the music Kaden seeks.
When inept harpsichordist Marco Rico claims to have discovered the Seventh Partita, Kaden crashes the private recital of the work at Eve Rath’s luxurious Kahala home. A physical conflict with Marco gets Kaden put on the suspect list when Marco turns up dead.
Everything in this novel takes place within a small radius of Thomas Square Park in parallel-world Honolulu, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and a mere 7,347 miles from Cothen, Germany, and only 5,032 miles from Shanghai, China.
The novel emulates the contrapuntal musical form of the ricercare, where varied themes chase after themselves before being resolved. “Ricercare” means “to seek.” Kaden is seeking the Seventh Partita, but everyone in this ricercare is seeking something.
“FRILLIANT (fucking brilliant)!! A bonkers combination of Bach, exotic setting, mystery, history, wild philosophizing and social criticism…” – Victor Apostle
“This book is a must read. Clever, funny, sad, represents for houselessness and nationlessness, music and art, and the persistence of love” –John Winieski
Kaden Oshima is obsessed with finding Johann Sebastian Bach’s missing Seventh Partita for keyboard. But he can’t seem to convince anyone that Bach’s Seventh Partita for keyboard is missing in the first place, let alone understand why it’s so important to find.
But Kaden’s familiarity with the seedy side of Honolulu life gets him an assignment to find Susan Zhao, a violin prodigy, who lost her parents at the age of 10 and was sent to an institution at 15, then…vanished! Or perhaps, abducted. Her brother reveals that she may be in possession of the music Kaden seeks.
When inept harpsichordist Marco Rico claims to have discovered the Seventh Partita, Kaden crashes the private recital of the work at Eve Rath’s luxurious Kahala home. A physical conflict with Marco gets Kaden put on the suspect list when Marco turns up dead.
Everything in this novel takes place within a small radius of Thomas Square Park in parallel-world Honolulu, in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, and a mere 7,347 miles from Cothen, Germany, and only 5,032 miles from Shanghai, China.
The novel emulates the contrapuntal musical form of the ricercare, where varied themes chase after themselves before being resolved. “Ricercare” means “to seek.” Kaden is seeking the Seventh Partita, but everyone in this ricercare is seeking something.
392 pages, Kindle Edition
Published December 19, 2024
About the author
H. Doug Matsuoka
7 booksObviously under construction. But come back soon! This post from 03/14/2025
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