About Maestro! Maestro!
Heaven’s glorious music enthralls Satan, while Hell’s cringingly awful music enrages him. He commands his gargoyle servant, Villi, to find a genius composer ready to sell his soul.
Before Villi went to hell in 1795, he had led a life of princely status in Vienna, enjoying his reputation as a cruel-hearted music critic. His name had been Wilhelm von Stockenhaus.
As Stockenhaus, he arrives in 1900 Vienna. At a pompous concert, he discovers Anton Becker, outraging the stuffed shirts of tradition with his radical, pulse-pounding music. They call it ‘barbaric!’ But Villi’s discerning ears disagree. It’s brilliant.
Another who adores Anton’s music is Lisa von Schelling, the love of his life, but off-limits because of her father. After all, the Schellings are rich and aristocratic, while Anton is poor and a nobody. Competing for Lisa’s affections is Friedrich Mundung, a wealthy insincere cad.
Gargoyle Villi, watches from the dark as Anton pleads to a Beethoven statue for help, but the maestro is stone silent. Villi delights in Anton’s mounting troubles. He can’t pay his rent, and Lisa’s butler shuts the door in his face. So, now he’s lost Lisa.
On his way to jump into the river, a carriage pulls up, and an odd, dapperly dressed man, introducing himself as Herr Wilhelm von Stockenhaus, offers him a patron prince.
They go to his castle in the Vienna Woods. The prince (as in darkness) adores Anton’s music. He offers three magic tunning forks. “Accept this gift and you will rise to the pinnacle of success.” The price? Anton’s soul. He accepts, since he thinks he knows how to cheat on the deal.
Heaven sends the Angel Beethoven to save him. Anton won’t believe Beethoven’s Beethoven, much less an angel. Yes, he’s in old-fashioned clothes and he’s hard of hearing. But it’s not convincing. And Beethoven has next to no patience with ‘this young blockhead.’
Villi pulls every evil trick in the book to keep Anton on the ‘road to hell’ and off the ‘old straight and narrow.’ The magic forks transport him into amazing and terrifying adventures. Upon returning from each, he finds he’s created a new magnificent score. And with each, his fame and fortune rises. But Lisa’s respect and belief in him diminishes.
Finally, Anton faces a crossroads—one leading to more fame and fortune… the other to integrity for wherever it might take him.
Maestro! Maestro! is priced at .99 cents on 10/14/2024
Buy the book, and follow the author on social media
Author Bio:
: Fred Calvert began his career as an animation artist for Walt Disney. He contributed thousands of drawings to such classics as Sleeping Beauty and 101 Dalmatians. He left Disney and formed his own company and created programming for both commercial and public television, including hundreds of animation segments for Sesame Street. He has written and directed three live-action motion pictures. Maestro! Maestro! his second novel, is beautifully illustrated.