Music In Anne Michaels's Fugitive Pieces

In Anne Michaels’s novel, Fugitive Pieces, the role of music is crucial to many of the characters. The art form acts as a form of expression for characters in the book, it helps certain people escape their troubled pasts and become free, and it helps evoke memories from the past as well as previous experiences. The characters that music have been deeply affected by include Ben, Ben’s father, Jakob, Bella, Naomi, as well as Alexandra. I was interested to determine why Michaels utilizes decided to utilize music as her form of expression for her characters. The type of music, such as the genre, the style, and the mood of the pieces that Michaels had associated chosen to associate with each character, reveals more of their personality traits and

However, it was through listening to music that Ben had “access” to his father. On page 217, Ben states that “as long as the symphony lasted, the song cycle, the quartet, I had access to him.”. To me, this says that Ben is more focused on being able to communicate with his father while listening to the music, rather than actually enjoying the music, as his father did. “I could pretend his attention to the music was attention to me. His favourite pieces were similar, finite journeys we took together, recognizing the signposts of ritardando and sostenuto, key changes.”. To Ben, his relationship with his father has fully been developed throughout the music they’ve listened to, rather than spending time in real life. They recognize musical gestures and pieces, rather than remembering the good times they have spent together. Ben’s father is evidently on the edge of his seat whenever they listen to music, as he actually converses with Ben during their listenings, “Ben, do you hear how he rushes the arpeggios. Listen to how he draws it out… but if he emphasizes here, he’ll ruin the crescendo later on!”. Ben’s father often shares his insight and musical knowledge with Ben when listening to recordings of familiar pieces that are conducted and played by unfamiliar musicians. Having his father teach him the musical gestures and phrasing of musical pieces, to me symbolizes a father teaching his son how to live life, how to plan things out, and how to prepare one’s self for the future. However, because they do not have a good relationship outside of music, explaining symphonies and song cycles seems to be the best that Ben’s father can give