Short story about a composer publishing a piece by another composer?
October 20, 2016 12:00 PM Subscribe
Please assist me in re-finding this short story I read last year about a composer publishing his friend's unpublished symphony as his own, because his friend faked his death to escape from a crime.
Last year I read a short story about a composer whose friend fakes his death due to a crime in order to escape from the city. Said friend was a composer whose popularity far outstrips the main character, and he permits the main character to publish one of his unpublished symphonies as his own as his parting gift. The setting seemed pre-industrial, perhaps faintly 1700s. The main character receives accolades for publishing that symphony and struggles with whether he can ever compose something himself that would capture the popularity of his friend's style. In the end, he manages well and bumps into his friend who is now running a wine company. The friend makes an attempt to poison him for some reason. It was an excellently-written short story by an author who I believe also published other fantasy or sci-fi works. I am unsure as to how recently the story was published.
I wanted to reread the story because I remembered the writing style and the tightness of the plot gave me great satisfaction. I trawled through some of the Hugo and Nebula award winning authors again since I think that is where I stumbled onto the story, but no luck so far. I've been lurking on Metafilter for a while and this question eventually pushed me to create an account. Thank you.
Last year I read a short story about a composer whose friend fakes his death due to a crime in order to escape from the city. Said friend was a composer whose popularity far outstrips the main character, and he permits the main character to publish one of his unpublished symphonies as his own as his parting gift. The setting seemed pre-industrial, perhaps faintly 1700s. The main character receives accolades for publishing that symphony and struggles with whether he can ever compose something himself that would capture the popularity of his friend's style. In the end, he manages well and bumps into his friend who is now running a wine company. The friend makes an attempt to poison him for some reason. It was an excellently-written short story by an author who I believe also published other fantasy or sci-fi works. I am unsure as to how recently the story was published.
I wanted to reread the story because I remembered the writing style and the tightness of the plot gave me great satisfaction. I trawled through some of the Hugo and Nebula award winning authors again since I think that is where I stumbled onto the story, but no luck so far. I've been lurking on Metafilter for a while and this question eventually pushed me to create an account. Thank you.
Response by poster: Thank you, Rush! It is indeed. I'm off to reread it now.
posted by Iron Carbide at 1:03 PM on October 20, 2016
posted by Iron Carbide at 1:03 PM on October 20, 2016
And if you like the theme: My Purple Scented Novel, by Ian McEwan. "...his descent was my earthly triumph. I don’t deny there was wrongdoing. I stole a life, and I don’t intend to give it back."
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:16 PM on October 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Mr.Know-it-some at 2:16 PM on October 20, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by Rush-That-Speaks at 12:16 PM on October 20, 2016 [5 favorites]