آلگرو: ترانه‌ی زندگی

by Ariel Dorfman, حسام امامی (Translator)

آریل دورفمن این معمای جنایی-موسیقایی واقعی را از دل تاریخ بیرون کشیده؛ سال ۱۷۸۹ است و موتزارت از سر احترام و کنجکاوی‌ بر مزار یوهان سباستین باخ حاضر شده. شایعه است جراح چشم‌پزشکی باخْ، آهنگسازِ کبیر، را به قتل رسانده‌است. چهل سال بعد، موتزارت جوان برای پیدا‌کردن پاسخ این معما در هزارتویی از موسیقی و شرارت گم می‌شود و در روزگار سرکشی‌ها همراه با آهنگ‌سازان نابغه‌ در سالن‌های موسیقی و نجیب‌خانه‌ها دم‌خور شارلاتان‌ها و نجیب‌زادگان می‌شود. موتزارت با آن صدای گرم و جوانش راوی این معماست؛ در جست‌وجوی سرنخ سراغ مرگ مرموز فریدریش هندل، موسیقی‌دان هم‌عصر باخ، رفته و البته سایه‌ی کریستین باخ به‌عنوان میراث‌دار باخ کبیر در تمام این مسیر بر سرش سنگینی می‌کند و بازمانده‌ی آن جراح متهم‌به‌قتل او را هر دم به جهان زیرینِ مملو از عیش و عشرت می‌برد.

Genres: Historical Fiction, Mystery, Fiction, Music, Historical, Historical Mystery, Germany

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2015

About the author

Vladimiro Ariel Dorfman is an Argentine-Chilean novelist, playwright, essayist, academic, and human rights activist. A citizen of the United States since 2004, he has been a professor of literature and Latin American Studies at Duke University, in Durham, North Carolina since 1985.

Reviews

[حسام آبنوس]

بهشت جایی است که همه ترانه می‌خوانند

https://youtu.be/3jN9_hM_Vec?si=H1xAv...

[امیرمحمد]

آریل دورفمن، نویسنده‌ی خلاقی‌ست که هربار سعی در خلق اثر، در بستری تازه و با زبانی سلیس اما غریبه است. او این‌بار، موتزارت کبیر را به‌تصویر می‌کشد که برای حل معمایی جنایی، سیر تکامل فاهمه‌ی خود را از میان زندگی و استعداد مادرزادش دنبال می‌کند: موسیقی. چگونه می‌توان در این حد از نبوغ نوشت که معما را در موسیقی جای داد؟ یک همپوشانی قدرتمندِ داستانی، که نیازمند علوم موسیقی و ادبیاتیِ بالایی‌ست، و ترجمه‌ای فوق‌العاده.

[Iman Majdi zadeh]

زمانی که شروع به خوندن کتاب کردم، فکر میکردم مثل بقیه کتاب های این چند وقت کلی زمان ببره تا بخونمش ، اما دیدم ظاهراً فرصت مناسب، حوصله و تا حدی گیرایی کتاب باعث شد که زود تموم بشه.
اوایل این کتاب، خیلی برام جذاب نبود و قصد داشتم بگم که از اون دست کتاب هاس که دانشجو های هنر تو کافه ها بشینند و درموردش حرف بزنن چون فکر میکردم برای اون ها باید جذاب باشه. ولی....
داستان چیز دیگه ای بود. درسته که شخصیت های اصلی این کتاب اسطوره های موسیقی جهان هستن ( موتزارت و باخ) اما نویسنده با وارد کردن این شخصیت ها و نوشتن یک سری اتفاق و کشمکش های معمولی که شاید برای هر شخصیت خیالی هم میتونست اتفاق بیفته، کتاب رو جذاب کرده بود.
نمی‌خوام بگم قصه این کتاب خیلی خاص و پیچیده بود، شاید خیلی ساده و پیش پا افتاده هم بود. اما یک نکته جالب داشت که من خیلی در ریویوهام بهش تاکید کردم. اون هم اینه که خوشبختانه شخصیت اول داستان که موتزارت بود ناله نمی‌کرد.
در کل کتاب بدی نبود، ولی با شاهکار شدن خیلی خیلی فاصله داشت.

[Jorge Zuluaga]

¡De todo mi gusto!

Una novela escrita seguramente con esmero y que nos acerca de manera muy bella a lo que pudo pasar por la cabeza de grandes personajes de la Historia de la Música.

Solo por recrearnos las almas de Mozart y de Bach ya está obra tiene suficiente mérito.

Imperdible para amantes de la música clásica.

Reseña en extenso en cocción…

P.D. Es de verdad muy extraño que “Allegro” tenga tan mal puntaje y tan negativas reseñas aquí. No se si la gente no la entendió o no aprecia realmente el valor de la obra.

[Daniela Guarneros]

La historia no es maravillosa pero no es mala. Sin embargo, la forma de narrar es suprema. Justo es una novela en la que la historia como tal no es lo más importante; los pasajes que describen las emociones de los grandes músicos de la historia a través de la música son poesía pura. Releí vários pasajes que me gustaron mucho. Es un libro que recomendaría a cualquier persona que tenga una mínima sensibilidad para el arte. Y me parece un imperdible para cualquiera que ame la música.

[Jen Diemer]

This was not exactly what I expected, but I loved it! If I would have taken longer to read it, I may have lost interest as it does move a bit slow sometimes. If you’re looking for something fast paced with a big reveal moment, this is not it. I loved the writing style- so many good lines, and it felt like it really was written in Mozart’s voice.

[Victoria Ramírez]

La historia es interesante, sin embargo, el desarrollo es lento y tedioso. Hubo muchas cosas que no me cuadraban y que no tenían justificación, ojalá hubiera podido disfrutar más de esta historia.

[فریبرز نوری]

آلگرو رمان متفاوتی سرشار از موسیقی است از آریل دورفمن.

شخصیت اصلی و راوی داستان، موسیقی دان و آهنگ ساز برجسته، موتزارت است. داستان در 9 سالگی موتزارت شروع می شود. در این زمان خانواده ی موتزارت در لندن زندگی می کنند و او تحت تعلیم و حمایت معنوی مرشد خویش، یوهان کریستیان باخ، فرزند یوهان سباستیان باخ است که به دلیل اقامتش در لندن با عنوان باخ لندن از او یاد می شود. موتزارت در حاشیه ی یکی از اجراهای مشترک خود با باخ لندن با چشم پزشکی میان سال به اسم جک تیلور آشنا می شود که فرزند چشم پزشک مشهوری در سنین پیری و بازنشستگی ملقب به شوالیه تیلور است.

شوالیه تیلور سالها پیش چشمان باخ پدر را در دو نوبت عمل کرده است. عمل ظاهراً ناموفق از کار در آمده و باخ نابینا شده و اندکی بعد درگذشته است. در این زمان باخ لندن پسری نوجوان بوده و فوت پدر مسیر زندگی او را به کل تغییر داده است. باخ لندن از آن زمان کینه ی شوالیه را به دل گرفته و در دوره ی بزرگسالی و شهرت دست به تخریب چهره ی او در جامعه ی اشرافی و دربار زده است که این امر بر شهرت فرزند او نیز تأثیری نامطلوب به جای گذاشته است.

در این میان امّا رازی وجود دارد که تلاش برای گشودن آن موتور محرک داستان است و جک تیلور معتقد است افشا شدنش به اعاده ی حیثیت پدرش خواهد انجامید؛ رازی که با اسم موسیقیدان بزرگ معاصر باخ پدر، جورج فردریک هندل گره خورده است.

جک تیلور که به هیچ طریق دیگر امکان دسترسی به باخ لندن را ندارد، موتزارت را واسطه قرار می دهد تا راز یاد شده را با او در میان بگذارد. داستان یک مقدمه ، دو بخش و یک مؤخره دارد. در پایان بخش اول که عنوان آن لندن است تلاش موتزارت نه ساله برای کمک به حل راز مزبور به جایی نمی رسد.

تلاش تیلور بی نتیجه می ماند اما این آخرین تلاش او نخواهد بود و موتزارت طی سالیان بعد که در نخستین گام 13 سال و در گام بعدی 11 سال دیگر جلو خواهد رفت بیشتر و بیشتر درگیر ماجرا خواهد شد تا از طریق گشودن راز سباستیان باخ راز زندگی و هنر خود را بگشاید.

[Illiterate]

A reflection on life as loneliness, love, and mortality, and music as solace, intimation of immortality, and god..

[Paula]

A glorious book.

[Diane Shearer]

How beautiful! It’s more like a poem than a novel. I am a huge fan of baroque, classical, and romantic era music. I’ve read biographies of the musicians in this story, so I’m able to appreciate what the author has done here. If I were ignorant of the history I don’t think I would have gotten much out of it. There is even a playlist in the back so you can listen to the music that is referenced. And to think it was originally written in Spanish and it still reads so beautifully in English. If you love good writing and you are familiar with Bach and Mozart you will enjoy this story.

[Maggie Houts]

Was for sure 2 stars until the epilogue; bonus points for the gentle nod to women forgotten in history

[Maritza]

Me gustó mucho su manera de escribir. La trama pudo desarrollarse mejor.

[Karen]

This seemed like a winner for me ... Paris ... music ... BUT. Not a single engaging, likeable, developed character. Lots of wheel-spinning and snail-like pace. Ugh.

[Firefly]

Uhm this was classical musicians RPF, and since I'm not rly in the classical musicians fandom I found this book horribly boring

I started it cuz the cover was cool, and kept up with it initially cuz I thought it was a murder mystery and I'd been in a murder mystery mood recently, but this wasn't a murder mystery at all

This was just like a character analysis fanfic of Mozart with a side of bland plot

Maybe there's a deeper meaning somewhere that's going straight over my head because I don't rly care for this fandom, but ugh I pushed myself through this all for the hope of something in the end but nothing

At least the female character in the end was actually interesting, a whole 7hr audiobook and only one female character who gets more than 3 lines of speech and she's literally the most interesting character in this whole book.

(His mum was also interesting but she was only there for a few short moments in the book)

Also the random hornines was not it for me at all, it was just weird and icky
_________
"But I did not care that he was now inventing all this coupling, borrowing from every fictional or real source at his disposal in order to invigorate me again, get my blood red-hot, my juices flowing, my spirits and other things up, up, up, he said."
...
"Two, I’m in love with two girls.” And added: “Each different from the other,” in case he had misunderstood my meaning.
...
"Two, I’m in love with two girls.” And added: “Each different from the other,” in case he had misunderstood my meaning."
...
“I have explored every hole in her body, every infinite cavity, why not, why not, why not,”
------------
"My little rascal [his D*** 🙄] cannot live without you, without seeking refuge in your nest, without your lovely bottom that I will spank many times as punishment for having doubted me, on that you may count."
-------------
Like wtf did this for the story? What did it add?

"OH iT's JuSt HoW tHeY tAlKeD bAcK tHeN"

Ok? Doesn't change the fact that I found these parts so weird and jarring that they straight up took me out of the story

I don't often 1 star a book, but I wish at least when I do it's book I hated the book, at least then it made me feel something and think about it

This was just boring

[Gabriel Benitez]

Supieron venderme el pato. La portada de ALLEGRO de Ariel Dorfman (Ajá, el mismo Có-autor de Para leer al Pato Donald) venía acompañada de una pequeña tira negra en una esquina de la portada que dictaba: "Una historia policíaca del niño Mozart"... Y ándale, que me emociona la propuesta: ¿Mozart detective? ¿Y niño? ¡Eso merecía leerse!
Y pues sí merece leerse pero pues no es lo que me prometieron. No hay Mozart detective, y así que digamos un crimen - crimen pues tampoco. Hay un misterio, si. Y secretos. Y el libro es entretenido. Pero la verdad es que más parece un cuento, alargado deliberadamente para...
En fin.
El niño Mozart, de 9 años, acude a su primer recital en solitario sin la compañía de sus padres, excepto por su maestro, Christian Bach (el hijo de Sebastián Bach) y en aquel lugar se encuentra con un misterioso hombre, Jack Taylor que le hace prometer lo ayudará a tener un encuentro privado con el Bach de Londres para aclarar una situación que tiene que ver con la muerte y la ceguera de Bach padre. Mozart acepta sin darse cuenta que acaba de aceptar formar parte de un misterio que no se resolverá hasta muchos, muchos años después...

[Doreen]

Friends and readers, what a glorious thing it is to have music in the world! Whether you appreciate it for itself, or for the ways in which it can bring you closer to divinity -- as Johann Sebastian Bach, among so many others, believed -- music is a gift that connects the interior world ineffably with the external.

Writing about music, thus, has always been one of the most difficult literary tasks (and thank goodness we live in an era where any lapses in education and exposure can be remedied by looking up works on the Internet, for those of us with that not uncommon privilege.) Luckily for readers, Ariel Dorfman not only writes about the music of Bach and Handel and Mozart with both appreciation and passion, but also plunges us into the composers' worlds, using a curious chapter where all three lives intersected in order to propel his story.

In 1765, nine year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has already achieved some renown as a performer and composer. While staying with Johann Christian Bach -- the successful musician who was the son of the far more famous name, to modern ears -- Mozart is importuned by a surgeon named Jack Taylor to intercede with Christian on a matter of reputation.

Years ago, Jack's father, the famed ophthalmologist Chevalier Taylor, had operated on Sebastian's failing eyes. Shortly afterwards, the older Bach died. Ever since, Christian has publicly blamed the chevalier for his father's death.

Jack is determined to clear his father's name. He insists that the departed George Handel holds the key, if only Christian will meet Jack and admit it. Christian has no intention of coming face to face with the son of his father's killer, hence the desperate straits Jack has come to, begging a nine year-old for help. But Mozart is no ordinary nine year-old, and his insistence on seeing this mystery through will last over a decade, even as he seeks to find a place for himself and his music in the world.

In all bluntness, the mystery isn't really the point of this slender novel, tho I did find the resolution of that plot point extremely satisfying. What this book provides instead is a profoundly moving character study of sons and fathers, of men who value both the sacred and the profane, and of the bonds between family and friends (with a brief aside on how shabbily women were and still are too often treated.) At Allegro's heart is sweet, restless Mozart, a man who knows he's worth more than he's accepting but whose tender heart doesn't know how to claim what he deserves. I was actually not a fan of Mozart's before this -- you can likely blame that on watching Amadeus way too young, as well as my own penchant for Beethoven's broodier, more dramatic music -- but it was impossible for me not to love the book's protagonist, as he struggles to do genuine good to all.

The Mozart of these pages is one who loves deeply even as he understandably chafes at the multitude of responsibilities heaped upon his young shoulders, a man who's both generous and terrible with money, the sort of person who would thrive if humanity could live on music and beauty and kindness alone. In Mr Dorfman's hands, he is every artist, if not every person, who wants to believe that his hard work will be rewarded with at least the basic material needs, instead of being left to the mercies of a feudal economy that concentrates wealth in the hands of those most willing to exploit others.

The politics of empathy aside, this is also a deeply spiritual book in a way that I've dearly missed reading. When Sebastian and Mozart each talk about the power of music in these pages, and how it brings them closer to God and the eternal, I feel profoundly moved in a way that eschews the divisive dogma prevalent in the work of most other modern writers talking about the subject in the 21st century. I am not equipped in this review, what with my many and looming deadlines, to go into a full thesis why, but I can say that the idea of God in this book as something inclusive, that gave us music as proof of a cosmos in which we are all an integral, connected part, is something few people seem to write about any more without pinning the concept to a denomination's particular expression of the divine.

Because, above all, Mr Dorfman has written a Mozart here who believes in kindness and mercy, and for whom music is the natural expression of faith:

It told us that everything is uncertain in life except pain and beauty. It told us that we are always, till we breathe our last, masters of our own fate. It told us that the only real sin is to add even one more sliver of sorrow to a world already overflowing with loss. No more sorrow than is absolutely necessary, that is what the Allegro told us, what the Minuetto that followed it told us. It told us that grief need not be eternal. It told us to believe that grief need not be eternal.

Obviously, I cried reading this tender, gorgeous book. I hope that if you love music at all, that you read Allegro and that it moves you, too.

Allegro by Ariel Dorfman was published March 4 2025 by Other Press and is available from all good booksellers, including Bookshop!

This review first appeared at TheFrumiousConsortium.net.

[Heidi]

Beautifully told story of Mozart, J.S. Bach, his son Johann Christian (the London Bach) and Handel.

[David Dunlap]

A despondent Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has gone to Leipzig, to the grave of Johann Sebastian Bach, looking for answers to his life, hope for his despair. -- He recalls, as a child, in London, being mentored by J.S. Bach's youngest son Johann Christian and his meeting with the desperate Jack Taylor, the son of the eye surgeon who had treated both the elder Bach and composer George Frideric Handel. Jack wants Mozart to intercede on his father's behalf to Johann Christian, who has allegedly been spreading lies about the two operations 'the Chevalier' had performed on his father. Johann Christian adamantly refuses to see either father or son. -- Some years later, Mozart encounters Jack Taylor a second time, in Paris: Taylor's father has died in the interim, but Jack still seeks his vindication. Johann Christian Bach is expected in Paris soon, to finish and rehearse his new opera. Jack insists he wants to meet with him. The meeting comes about -- and Johann Christian shares the story of what he knows about his father's last days. Taylor leaves, disappointed; Mozart persuades Bach to tell Taylor something comforting. -- Then we are returned to Leipzig, in 1789, where -- at the cemetery where J.S. Bach is buried -- he has a surprising encounter with an impoverished old woman who ends up giving Mozart what he had hoped to find. -- There's a lot of talking in this book! Extended stories. Still, despite this -- or is it because of it? -- the author manages to create believable, identifiable characters. The settings are sketched minimally. But, while I was initially inclined to be more dismissive of this novel, the tale ends strongly. And powerfully. -- So a recommendation then, albeit a somewhat equivocal one.

(One last word about the book: I personally believe it is an error to market this novel as an historical mystery. There are, to be sure, mysterious aspects to the story, but it does not conform to my understanding as to what constitutes a mystery in the literary sense...)

[Robbie See]

John Milton once wrote that his books were for a “fit audience, though few,” and I think that is true of this book as well. Our book group enjoyed this novel, but we agreed that not everyone would stick with it. As music lovers, we were the right audience.

Mozart, as the protagonist, drew us in. We appreciated his depiction as a prodigy and his inarguable genius made certain aspects of the plot believable. The relationships between members of the court and the importance of reputation and patronage were interesting as influences on his career.

Using the death of JS Bach as a driver of the plot and the life of Johann Christian Bach also kept us reading. Not only did we want to learn more about these historical figures, but the reality of living without the world’s greatest musician is a compelling allegory of life in a fallen world.

In the novel Mozart is able to provide grace in an imperfect world, both through his music and his friendship. That grace is imperfect, though, and questions remain.

If you are a music lover who is willing to follow an author through conversations and rumination about loyalty, love, family, death, and redemption, you will enjoy this book.

[Marty Mangold]

This book fell into my path by a happy accident. I was in Politics & Prose bookstore on an errand, and an author was giving a book talk. I was not in the mood for a book talk, but I listened as I waited in line. When I reached the register, I picked up the book I had ordered and also asked for whatever book the man in the back was here to discuss. It was Allegro, the author was Ariel Dorfman. I was delighted to meet him and chat for a moment after his talk.

What a tender, sweet book. The main protagonist is Mozart himself, as a child in London, a young man in Paris, an adult visiting Leipzig from Vienna. The secondary characters are the London Bach, JSB’s son, and the jolly cellist Carl Friedrich Abel. Several pieces of music make their appearance, and some additional characters, most particularly Jack Taylor, son of the oculist that actually appears in the history of Bach’s life, operating on his eyes towards the end of the life of “the blind cantor from Leipzig.”

This author gently moves into this time period, looks around, shares what he sees, and leaves without disturbing anything that was there.

[Max Folsom]

This just goes to prove the point that not every book is for every person. The New York Times book review says this book is 'profoundly moving' and The New Yorker calls it 'exhilarating.' It's supposed to be a thrilling historical mystery with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart trying to discover the real cause of the death of Johann Sebastian Bach. It fell flat for me. Couldn't summon up enough interest and involvement to care.

[Michelle]

At first I wasn't sure if I was going to like it. The author was throwing out a lot of big words, like he's trying to prove he's smart. But I ended up getting hooked especially when the back cover said it's a mystery. It wasn't a mystery that I was used to, but I did get into and wanted to see what happened. Pretty good.

[Richard Silberg]

I loved the concept but there was simply no action. Young Mozart meets a gentlemen whose father has restored Bach’s sight, only to be later accused of botching the operation and ultimately killing him. The book meanders along with very little else and I just never could get a sense of the author’s purpose in this tale. Disappointing read.

[Patrick Kornegay, Jr.]

I enjoyed reading this book, for the fact that I’ve visited the graves of both Bach and Mozart in Leipzig and Vienna, respectively. Somewhat hard to follow in some parts of this book, even if it was interesting to see the story follow along in Mozart’s eyes at the end of the 18th century. 🎼🎻

[milo]

to be so honest it never really got started. as a thesis "everything is song" kind of rips but why did i have to struggle through 235 pages of pointless arguments about cataract surgery to get there? and with no meaningful character development from mozart either.. what was it all for

[Iria]

It is not an easy book to read, but if you like classical music it is worth it.

It is a kind of detective story where you do not know if there is a crime or a criminal.

[Judy Stewart]

Didn’t like the book

[Jenny]

Weird book.

[Zackarie]

Just read the back cover.