Maestro

In 1967, Paul Crabbe and his mother, Nancy, arrive at the Swan Hotel in Darwin, Australia to meet Herr Eduard Keller, a renowned pianist. Keller’s appearance is striking: his face is red and weathered, with sun-damaged skin, yet he wears a pristine white linen suit. As they approach his room through a crowded beer garden, Keller greets them in a thick continental accent, and Paul notices that his manner is oddly formal. Two pianos dominate Keller’s lesson room: a grand Bösendorfer for Keller and a worn-out upright for Paul.

The space is cramped and hot, yet Keller does not open the windows or turn on the ceiling fan because he believes discomfort helps piano players stay alert. Paul sits at the upright piano, sensing that Keller is testing him, though Keller doesn’t ask him to play. Instead, Keller focuses on Paul’s hands, commenting on their large size and hinting that they will be difficult to control. Keller, known for his eccentric teaching methods, then discusses the personalities of each of Paul’s fingers. He singles out the thumb as arrogant and the forefinger as greedy.

Despite feeling uncomfortable, Paul is fascinated with Keller—particularly his small, dainty hands, which seem at odds with his weathered face. One of Keller’s hands is missing part of the fifth finger, which he dismisses as unnecessary for playing piano. He insists that great pianists like Bach and Mozart rarely used their little fingers, then he demonstrates how he can still perform flawlessly without it.

When Paul suggests playing something, Keller refuses, claiming he already knows how Paul’s hands will sound based on their appearance alone. This dismissive attitude leaves Paul frustrated. After the lesson, Paul is unsure whether Keller will be a good teacher, but Paul’s father, John, insists that he still continue with lessons. John also says that Keller needs the money to pay for his drinking habit.

During Paul’s next lesson, Keller continues his lecture on the personalities of the fingers, assigning character traits to each one, before allowing Paul to play a piece by Chopin. However, Keller interrupts Paul before he can even begin, insisting that Paul’s positioning is all wrong and stating that he already knows what Paul’s Chopin would sound like. Paul, enraged, demands to be taught properly. Keller, in turn, insists that Paul first learn to listen and throws away Paul’s music book, deeming it worthless.

That evening, Paul stews over the lesson, but his parents push back. John believes Keller is pushing Paul to be better, while Nancy attempts to calm Paul’s frustrations. They dismiss Paul’s complaints, particularly when he calls Keller a “Nazi,” a comment that upsets John. Later, Nancy comes to talk to Paul in his room and explains that John wants him to have opportunities that were not available to John when he was young. Paul, annoyed, suggests that John take lessons from Keller instead of him.

Paul reflects on his childhood and the personalities of his parents. He thinks of his parents as complete opposites in almost every way. John is tall, quiet, and punctual, while Nancy is short, emotional, and late to everything. They engage in playful arguments about all manner of subjects, but these disagreements are more like a game and aren’t overly serious. Music is a central part of their lives, though even their musical tastes differ. John’s approach to music is precise, while Nancy allows herself more freedom. Caught between these two opposites, Paul grows up seeing both sides of every argument. John often refers to Paul as a “fence-sitter.”

At home, Paul’s parents quiz him about his lessons, joking about the absurdity of Keller’s methods. Nancy worries about the lack of progress, but John finds Keller’s approach amusing. Paul explains that Keller wants him to forget everything he’s been taught and start over, which his parents find strange but somewhat interesting. At one of his lessons, Paul learns about Keller’s musical training. Keller reveals that he studied under Leschetizky, who had been a student of Liszt. This revelation thrills John, who spends the night practicing Liszt’s Transcendental Studies on the piano. The next morning, he announces his intention to attend Paul’s next lesson with Keller.

John soon becomes a regular presence at the lessons, sitting in the corner with a notebook. Keller remains focused on his teaching, indifferent to the extra observer. Sometimes the lesson are short and sometimes they are long, depending on Keller’s mood. John, captivated by Keller’s knowledge, continues to absorb every word, while Paul grows more frustrated with Keller’s refusal to let him play.

At school, Paul befriends Bennie Reid, a fellow outsider who recently moved to Darwin. Bennie, an awkward but kind boy, is obsessed with butterflies and plays the violin. The two boys ride their bikes to school together to avoid being bullied on the bus. Though Paul tries to distance himself from Bennie at school, their parents force them together on the weekends. Bennie’s relentless pursuit of rare butterflies leads them on adventures through the Darwin wilderness, but Paul eventually loses interest in the hobby, finding little satisfaction in it.

After months of anticipation, Keller finally allows Paul to play the piano. However, instead of the advanced pieces Paul desires, Keller hands him The Children’s Bach. Paul protests, insisting it’s too easy, but Keller firmly replies that Bach is never easy. Keller plays the entire book through, instructing Paul to learn every note before their next lesson. At home, John echoes Keller’s words, agreeing that Bach is never simple, reinforcing Keller’s teachings.

As the Dry season begins, Paul’s parents become more involved in Darwin’s social scene. They host Friday night musical gatherings, where local musicians—including Paul and his parents—perform. Keller never attends these soirées, despite John inviting him every week. Gossip swirls about Keller at these events. Some speculate that he is a war criminal, while others believe he survived the Holocaust. Regardless of the rumors, John remains steadfast in his admiration for Keller, finding his pedigree and teaching methods impressive.

The Dry season drags on, with perfect weather each day and cloudless, cool nights. Paul and his parents move their evening meals outside to the balcony, enjoying the evening air before heading inside for music and homework. Keller, too, has moved outside, and every Tuesday, Paul finds him in the beer garden of the Swan Hotel. Dressed in his white suit and Panama hat, Keller stands out among the drinkers. As Paul arrives for his piano lesson, Keller rises and follows him upstairs, always picking up their conversation exactly where they left off the week before.

Keller’s advice often takes the form of cryptic sayings. When Paul admits he has only half-finished a piece of music, Keller compares it to water at fifty degrees, asking if it can be half-boiling. Keller asks what separates good pianists from great ones, and when Paul can’t answer, Keller tells him the difference is very subtle, yet impossible to bridge. He teaches Paul that no piece is ever perfect or complete—it can only be abandoned at a certain point.

Frustrated, Paul tries to defy Keller’s advice by practicing even harder, hoping to achieve the perfection Keller says is unreachable. At school, however, Paul becomes distracted by Megan Murray, a girl who sits in front of him in class. Paul is infatuated with Megan and, one morning, after a vivid dream about her, Paul wakes to discover he has had a nocturnal emission.

At lunch the same day, Paul approaches Megan and nervously asks her to go to the movies. She smiles but declines, telling him she already has a man. Without thinking, Paul tells Megan that he had a dream about her. Megan realizes that the dream was sexual and tells Paul that he is allowed to dream about her whenever he wants, though he will never have the real thing.

Later, a boy named Jimmy Papas confronts Paul, warning him to stay away from Megan because Megan dates his friend, Scotty Mitchell. As a result, Paul and Jimmy get into a fight, which ends with Paul covered in minor injuries. At home, Paul is surprised to find that John does not mind that he got into a fight and even seems encouraging. The next morning, Paul wakes again to find that he had another nocturnal emission. He wonders whether Megan is aware that he is dreaming about her.

One Tuesday, Paul arrives at the Swan and finds Keller absent. He takes the opportunity to sit at the grand piano and play, enjoying how smooth the keys feel compared to the stiff upright. While playing, Paul notices a photo frame on the piano, containing two old photographs of Keller with a woman and child. Paul examines the photos closely, finding a note on the back of one, which reads “Habe Dank, Salzburg, Oktober, ‘27.”

Just as Paul is putting the photo back, Keller enters the room, and they begin the day’s lesson. After the lesson, as Paul is leaving, Keller reveals that the people in the photos are his wife, Mathilde, and his son, Eric. At home, Paul shares his discovery with Nancy, and they speculate about Keller’s past. Nancy wonders if Keller’s family died during the war, while Paul jokes that they might have left him after a piano lesson. John, though outwardly uninterested, still shows signs of curiosity, especially about Keller’s connection to Leschetizky.

As the weeks go by, Paul’s parents become heavily involved in a local production of HMS Pinafore. Rehearsals dominate their time, and Paul finds it difficult to keep up with his piano practice while balancing school and the opera. Keller becomes impatient with Paul’s excuses and tells him he is free not to practice—but he’s also free not to attend lessons. Paul resents Keller’s harshness, but he continues pushing himself to improve.

With the Wet season approaching, the atmosphere in Darwin changes. The humidity climbs, and Keller’s mood darkens. His teaching becomes more rigid, and he dismisses certain composers, claiming their music is insincere. Paul protests, calling their music beautiful, but Keller insists that beauty in music is dangerous and trivializes complexity. Instead, he pushes Paul to play only the most disciplined pieces, like the works of Bach and Mozart, and to treat music like arithmetic, playing it stripped of emotion. When Paul fights back, still believing in the value of beauty, Keller responds, “If you want people to believe your lies […] set them to music.”