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Finally I’ve finished this book! I bought it in a second hand bookshop in Grenada in 2019, so it’s taken me a while. And it reminds me of Spain for that reason, though it is actually about Denmark! This was rather a strange read, the plot was a bit rambling and sprawling rather than going any one place fast, and as a result it took me quite a while to get through, and though I didn’t hate it, and I’m not sure I can say I loved the read either. It follows a rather melancholy King Christian IV of Denmark and an English lutenist named Peter Claire, who goes to join the Royal Orchestra in the Danish court in the year of 1629. There he finds not everything is quite as expected, for the musicians are required to play their music in a cellar, and the King seems to think he is an angel sent to watch over him. We also follow the King’s wife, Kirsten, who is rather unhappy with her life and loves capital letters; an Italian Countess who Claire once knew in Ireland; and a young woman who has been supplanted within her house by her new stepmother and now joins Kirsten’s retinue of women as a companion. There’s a lot going on, sometimes veering into the philosophical and sometimes seeming to evoke folk fairytales. Kirsten was unlikeable but rather amusing, if also horrifying. Peter and Emilia have a rather basic romantic storyline which lacked some believability due to the simplicity of it. I’m not 100% sure what the aim of the story was but I sort of enjoyed it nevertheless. Some character motivations could have done with more explanation.

A marvellous romp!

Not quite five *****. A bit irritating in the beginning, but then it became intriguing.

Some of it (Kirsten, the King’s Consort) is very funny in parts. It’s a treatise on the misuse of power and there is some redemption. Its story lines interweave well and I always knew where I was with what was going on; the characters were well delineated.

I wasn’t convinced that it was historically accurate, though, particularly (given that it’s set 1629-1630) the references to America (The New World).

It stands up reasonably well in comparison to more recent historical fiction. Tremain writes very well.

Definitely worth reading.

In the Danish court of king Christian IV and his glamorous but quite deplorable wife Kirsten, a young lutenist Peter Clare meets Emilia, one of Kirsten’s mades. Something special happens when they set eyes on each other. They seem to share some kind of understanding, but the prospects for their union don’t look too good. He is bound by a promise to the king who considers him his “guardian angel”, and she is the queen's favorite and not likely to be released from her service anytime soon.

Around this perhaps trivial event, Rose Tremain weaves her rich and complex fabric of plots, characters, relationships and ambitions, nicely complemented by a historical setting of 17th century Denmark tormented by financial difficulties.

In contrast to many other novels with multiple characters and plots, Rose Treiman does not seem to have a limit on how much attention she can give to her characters. It doesn’t matter that there are many. They are all fully developed and interesting, so much so that, in the end, surprisingly, even the relationship between Peter Clare and Emilia doesn’t seem that important.

I want to repeat after one of her fans “Can Rose Tremain even write a bad book?” I personally don’t think so. She kept me mesmerized for the entirety of the five hundred pages in ‘Music & Silence’ and I believe she will probably do it again with her other books.

Set in 1629 in the court of Danish King Kristian IV and his queen Kirsten. We follow young Peter a young music player as he enters the court. This was a reread, originally read it in 2019 and gave it 3 stars. This time I gave it 3 stars. Bummer. I had hoped I would enjoy it more as I've seen a raveing review on it and I had hoped I felt the same but sadly I did not. It was alright but wasn't my kind of music.

Due to my unreasonable irritability the author's reversal of the historical relationship between Christian IV and his mother over money and the bizarre invention of having the Danes ask the Russians for mining experts to help them develop silver mines in Norway but who are eaten by wolves on their way there, (the Russians had no expertise in silver mining in the 17th century and as is well known wolves only eat mining experts if they are also grandmothers
If you are not prone to the same character faults as myself you could well enjoy the slightly dreamlike atmosphere of the flashbacks in the Kings mind to the battle of Breitenfeld in which his hopes for dominion over northern Germany were crushed (which I did enjoy, not the crushing of Christian IV's political ambitions a sad day, for a hard working monarch who seemed to have nothing but bad luck but Tremain's writing), the tragic relationship of the King and his friend and the way that the King frames that relationship to himself and the end of the relationship between the King and Kirsten Munk.

All of which is at a tangent to other story in the book of the English musician, like some fictional John Dowland, sent to Denmark to play at his court, but who, owing to a singular encounter with a beetle, suffers from a disabling case of deafness.

There is the same richness of description as in the author's Restoration but also the same preference for atmosphere over historical accuracy. I think there's an argument that you are best off considering these books as fantasias on historical themes and go with the flow of them. My desire for historical accuracy no doubt is just pedantic. Ah, actually I'd best confess, I have a soft spot for Christian IV. He was one of those people in history who tried hard and saw their best efforts come to naught. He rushed about founding new towns to enhance Danish commerce, slowly built up his political reach, patiently built up cash reserves, but in life planting seeds doesn't ensure a thriving plant. I'll endeavour not to grind my teeth over it.

Anyway, recommended for those hard and unsentimental readers indifferent to Christian IV's fate, yet easy going on questions of accuracy and precision.

Music & Silence is beautifully written. Though the plot is relatively simple, it becomes suspenseful towards the end. There is a feeling of disconnect from the characters, perhaps due to the prose style itself or the historical era. The other character that the reader seems to fully get to know is Kirsten. The character of Christian IV is kept at a distance, almost King Arthur like. This is not wholly surprising considering the historical background for the story and who the actual people really were. I did find myself wishing that she would have used Danish place names and not the English versions of said names.

Rose Tremain is a consummate storyteller. In Music & Silence she weaves a tale from a number of different, distinct but interlinked points of view. 

Set in Denmark in the 17th century, the narrative meanders between many voices, including:

A music-loving king
His sensual but music-loathing wife
A man who dreams of divine music and drives himself to the brink of madness trying to recreate it
An English lutenist
A small boy who can hear the whisperings and mutterings of the creatures of the fields and forests

All these, and their families, add to a rich and absorbing story about loyalty and betrayal, love and lust and of course, music and silence.

Music and Silence is the third of Rose Tremain's novels I've read following on from The Way I found Her (excellent) and The Gustav Sonata (masterpiece). It most certainly won't be the last.

The story is set in 1629 and 1630 in Denmark while the Thirty Years War rages in the background. Moving from one location to another (part of the novel is set in Ireland and part in England), this is essentially a complex love story and a tale of coming to terms with one's own weaknesses and willingness to make final amends.

The characters are fascinating. There are two women villains who make Melissa Leo seem kind. The men are never quite sure which way to turn and often act indecisively causing distress to themselves and others. The result is an absorbing novel, brilliantly researched,which builds to a thrilling, and in many ways, unexpected climax.

David Lowther. Author of The Blue Pencil, Liberating Belsen, Two Families at War and The Summer of '39, all published by Sacristy Press.

Set in the time of Christian IV of Denmark, this ambitious oeuvre by Rose Tremain doesn't quite pull off the grandeur it promises. The multifaceted king is portrayed a bit lopsidedly - as a sensitive soul, weighed down by the betrayal of his wife, the ghost of his school buddy, his bad economic policies.... The theme woven through the narrative, of music & silence (which first attracted me to the book) is a wee bit tenuous. Though much is made of the importance and influence of music, specially that of the English lutenist, on soothing the king's humours.

I enjoyed the detailing of many of the characters. The fiery, lascivious queen, a puppet to her corporeal desires, but so honest with her diary she is almost likeable; Peter's frankly feminist mistress Countess O'Fingal, whose husband is driven almost insane trying to pin down the elusive tune in his head; the conscientious Lutheran preacher, Molle, who feels so deeply for his congregation. Tremain has sketched out some truly intriguing characters. Though her female voices (apart from the rather vapid Emilia) show more complexity and joy than even the more promising lads - like Bror the king's dyslexic best friend, and Marcus, Emilia's gifted, autistic brother.

I would have like more historical accuracy. Given that Christian IV reigned for almost 59years, not much of the stability and wealth he brought to his kingdom has been touched upon. Yet, I did enjoy the book, a glimpse into a hitherto unknown time and place.

I didn't give this book five stars because there were some anachronisms that really set my teeth on edge - they were things that should have been quite simple to check such as the fact that wood pulp wasn't used to manufacture paper until the 19th century. In spite of this, it's a beautifully written story with a very engaging quirkiness to it. Almost all the main characters seem delightfully eccentric, not the least being the King of Denmark himself who has lots of plans to help his people but very little money to carry them out. The love story between Peter Claire, the English musician who plays in the King's orchestra, and Emilia, a girl who serves the King's wife reads almost like a fairy tale - love at first sight, a cruel separation, a strange reunion. But there are other strands to this novel, it is very densely woven. You get to know the ups and downs of the King's marriage, the turmoil in Emilia's family back in Jutland, the woes of a mining village in Norway, the sorrows of an Italian girl who becomes an Irish countess, the worries of the King's Mother. They all weave together to make a very dense tapestry indeed.