While The Music Played

A Remarkable Story of Courage and Friendship in WWII

by Nathaniel Lande

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Pub Date May 12 2020 | Archive Date Jul 02 2020

Blackstone Publishing

General Fiction (Adult) | Historical Fiction

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Description

It is 1939, in prewar Prague, and Max Mueller, a budding musician, piano tuner, and nascent journalist, is on the cusp of adolescence, as the Nazi influence begins to invade the city’s tolerant spirit with alarming speed. As everyone Max loves is compromised by intolerable conditions, his world grows increasingly conflicted. Music is the one constant connecting him to both his lost childhood and the man he still hopes to become. But will it be enough to sustain him against the relentless Nazi threat?

Blending historical and fictional characters and sweeping across Prague, London, and Berlin, as World War II rages, this meticulously researched novel is unique with diverse narratives, threaded with news accounts, and encompassing some of the most triumphant and devastating moments of the war—from the opera houses of Berlin to the music halls of London and the making of the famous children’s opera Brundibár.

While the Music Played is a lyrical, absorbing, and heartbreaking story of love and courage from the widely revered and bestselling author Nathaniel Lande.

It is 1939, in prewar Prague, and Max Mueller, a budding musician, piano tuner, and nascent journalist, is on the cusp of adolescence, as the Nazi influence begins to invade the city’s tolerant...

A Note From the Publisher

Nathaniel Lande is a journalist, filmmaker, and the author of twelve books, including Cricket and Dispatches from the Front: A History of the American War Correspondent. A full listing of his works can be found at www.NathanielLande.com. He was creative director for the Magazine Group at Time, Inc.; director of Time World News Service; director of Time-Life Films, where his documentaries won over ten international awards; and executive producer at CBS and NBC Television. Lande was educated at Oxford University; earned his doctorate at Trinity College Dublin, where he was a Distinguished Scholar; and held appointments as professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Nathaniel Lande is a journalist, filmmaker, and the author of twelve books, including Cricket and Dispatches from the Front: A History of the American War Correspondent. A full listing of his works...

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A Note From the Publisher

Nathaniel Lande is a journalist, filmmaker, and the author of twelve books, including Cricket and Dispatches from the Front: A History of the American War Correspondent. A full listing of his works can be found at www.NathanielLande.com. He was creative director for the Magazine Group at Time, Inc.; director of Time World News Service; director of Time-Life Films, where his documentaries won over ten international awards; and executive producer at CBS and NBC Television. Lande was educated at Oxford University; earned his doctorate at Trinity College Dublin, where he was a Distinguished Scholar; and held appointments as professor of journalism at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He lives in Santa Barbara, California.

Advance Praise

“Nathaniel Lande has written an epic, compelling and cinematic, richly imagined, often chilling but ultimately life-affirming tribute to the power of music and art, honoring the human spirit.”

-Richard Zoglin, contributing editor, Time Magazine

“Lande’s gripping debut entwines a complex set of relationships brought together by music and disrupted by the Nazis…Lande describes the Nazis’ appreciation for music in stark irony, as Max’s initial respect for a camp commandant’s perfect pitch turns to horror when he learns of the gas chambers. This is a fine addition to the shelf of WWII fiction.”

-Publishers Weekly

“The horrors of the Nazi domination of Europe are seen through the eyes of a son of a famous Czech conductor, whose fictional life is symbolized by a piano tuners red ribbons, interweaves with some of the most important figures of his time. At the heart of the story is the shining light that was Hans Krasa, the creator of the children’s opera, Brundibar, that was used by the oppressors to deceive the world to the true nature of the ‘model’ concentration camp, Tererinstadt. The vast panorama of the war is covered in intimate, yet in epic proportion, (newspaper dispatches with historical accuracy are a remarkable device threading the novel) as the truth slowly dawns on what will befall a civilized and gentle people trapped by hatred and a twisted ideology. The reader is not spared: amazing characters lose their lives, many suffer intolerable circumstance, others live to inspire. Motives and behaviours are—just as in life—kept obscure until the final chapters, when the touchtones from Mark Twain, inspire a flight to freedom. Throughout, the powers of music and Nathaniel Lande’s beautifully written words provide evidence that, even in the darkest times, man’s creativity shines through. While the Music Played is a compelling novel, with brilliant characters never to be forgotten and long remembered.”

-Dr. Andrea Tanner, senior fellow, Institute of Historical Research, University of London

“Through an epic WW2 landscape following the footsteps and footfalls of young Max Mueller and David Grunewald, master storyteller Nathaniel Lande has unleashed a moving novel for a new generation of readers. Hans Krasa, the great Viktor Mueller, and Frau Schmidt are memorable characters that seem to jump off the pages, looking to find their way onto a cinematic screen.”

-Valcav and Zdena Flegl, senior correspondents, Český rozhlas, Czech Radio Prague

“Nathaniel Lande has written an epic, compelling and cinematic, richly imagined, often chilling but ultimately life-affirming tribute to the power of music and art, honoring the human spirit.”

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