The Year of Shadows (43 page)

I didn’t know how to keep my promise to Mom, how to forgive the Maestro. What I was about to do stung a little, deep in my chest. That deep, stinging part wondered if the Maestro really deserved it.

But then Henry took my hand. “Come on, it’s all right.”

And it was. Or at least it would be, somehow.

Together, we opened the organ loft door. I stepped out first, into the blinding light. Betty Preston, our organist, didn’t even notice me. It was the very end of the symphony, where it’s pretty much impossible to notice anything but the organ thundering and the choir singing their brains out and the trumpets and horns climbing over the top of it all.

I crouched behind the chipped wooden railing and found the man on the conductor’s podium, waving his arms in gigantic sweeps, mouthing the German words along with the choir, pointing at the trumpets—
You there, it’s your turn. Strong, now. Be strong.

I stared at him until my eyes burned.

“Look at me,” I whispered. “Please, Maestro. Please.
Dad.
Look at me. I’m here.”

And he did, right at the end, when the choir sang their last words. He found me, and his eyes locked with mine. Behind me, Henry squeezed my hand.

I held on tight, to Henry’s fingers and to Dad’s eyes. They smiled at me, only for me, and I didn’t let go

Author’s Note

For readers interested in learning more about the music mentioned in The Y
ear of Shadows
, I’ve included below the City Philharmonic’s full concert schedule for the year of Olivia’s adventures. Just like a real-life Maestro Stellatella would strategically plan his concert programming, I also tried to be strategic in planning the music of
The Year of Shadows
, selecting musical works that fit well, thematically, with Olivia’s story.

For example, the first series of concerts, in September, all deal with either fate or ghosts.
La Forza del Destino
means “the force of destiny.” Tchaikovsky’s
Francesca da Rimini
, as Olivia explains, tells the story of people condemned to Hell, stuck there forever as ghosts and tormented by the memories of their former lives. (If you’ve read
The Year of Shadows
, that should sound familiar!) And Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony opens with a brass fanfare—the “Fate” theme—that occurs regularly throughout the rest of the symphony.
Fate
and
ghosts
are both ideas to which Olivia is introduced early on in the book.

(Of course, sometimes I simply selected pieces that fit well with the time of year. For example, the February concerts feature romantic works in honor of Valentine’s Day.)

One more quick note: You’ll notice that I’ve listed programs for the April and May concerts, even though, in Olivia’s story, April and May don’t turn out the way anyone originally planned. I thought interested readers might want to see
what pieces the original concerts were scheduled to include, just in case they wanted to go find recordings of all the music the City Philharmonic plays in
The Year of Shadows
. I know I, as a former trumpet player—yes, just like Richard Ashley—would have done that, if I were in your place, reading this book for the first time.

SEPTEMBER

First Series:

La Forza del Destino
Overture—Verdi

Francesca da Rimini
—Tchaikovsky

Symphony No. 4—Tchaikovsky

Second Series:

Leonore
Overture No. 3—Beethoven

Violin Concerto No. 5—Mozart

Symphony No. 3 “Eroica”—Beethoven

OCTOBER

First Series:

Overture to
The Flying Dutchman
—Wagner

Toccata and Fugue in D minor—Bach

Symphony No. 5—Beethoven

Second Series:

Night on Bald Mountain
—Mussorgsky

Bachianas Brasileiras
No. 3—Villa-Lobos

Symphonie Fantastique
—Berlioz

NOVEMBER

First Series:

Violin Concerto in D Major—Brahms

Symphony No. 9 “From the New World” —Dvorák

Second Series:

Hungarian March
—Berlioz

Cello Concerto—Dvorák

Pictures at an Exhibition
—Mussorgsky

DECEMBER

First Series:

Suite from
The Nutcracker
—Tchaikovsky

Pavane—Fauré

“Hallelujah Chorus” from
Messiah
—Handel

Second Series:

Skater’s Waltz
—Waldteufel

In terra pax
—Finzi

A Christmas Festival
—Anderson

JANUARY

First Series:

Overture on Russian and Kirghiz Folk Themes
—Shostakovich

Piano Concerto No. 1—Tchaikovsky

Suite from
The Firdbird
(1919) —Stravinsky

Second Series:

Divertimento for Orchestra—Bernstein

Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis – Vaughan Williams

The Pines of Rome
—Respighi

FEBRUARY

First Series:

Prelude and Liebestod from
Tristan und Isolde
—Wagner

Butterfly Lovers Violin Concerto—Chen Gang and He Zhanzao

Romeo and Juliet
Fantasy-Overture—Tchaikovsky

Second Series:

The Water Goblin
—Dvorák

Suite from
Der Rosenkavalier
—Strauss

Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
—Rachmaninov

MARCH

First Series:

El Salon Mexico
—Copland

Piano Concerto, op. 67, “Memo Flora”—Takashi Yoshimatsu

Sinfonia No. 6
—
Carlos Chávez

Second Series:

Roman Carnival Overture
—Berlioz

Adagio for Strings
—Barber

Ein Heldenleben—
Strauss

APRIL

First Series:

Piano Concerto—Schumann

Symphony No. 7—Bruckner

Second Series:

Sensemayá
—Revueltas

Violin Concerto in D—Stravinsky

Concerto for Orchestra
—
Bartok

MAY

First Series:

Overture from
Egmont
—Beethoven

Valse
—Ravel

Symphony No. 4
—
Ives

Second Series:

Brandenburg Concerto No. 2—Bach

Symphony No. 1,
Jupiter
—Mozart

Enigma Variations—
Elgar

SPECIAL SEASON FINALE

Symphony No. 2, “Resurrection”—Mahler

CLAIRE LEGRAND
used to be a musician until she realized she couldn’t stop thinking about the stories in her head. Now a writer, Ms. Legrand can often be found typing with purpose at her keyboard, matching patrons with their books at her local library, or embarking upon spontaneous adventures to lands unknown. Her first novel was
The Cavendish Home for Boys and Girls
. Claire lives in New York, New York. Visit her at
claire-legrand.com
.

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Text copyright © 2013 by Claire Legrand

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Legrand, Claire, 1986–

The year of shadows / Claire Legrand.—1st ed.

p. cm.

Summary: Forced to move into a haunted concert hall with her distant father, “The Maestro,” and aging grandmother, Nonnie, twelve-year-old Olivia, and classmate Henry try to lay to rest ghosts tied to the Hall’s past before time and money run out.

ISBN 978-1-4424-4294-8 (hardcover)

ISBN 978-1-4424-4296-2 (eBook)

[1. Ghosts—Fiction. 2. Haunted places—Fiction. 3. Orchestra—Fiction. 4. Family

problems—Fiction. 5. Fathers and daughters—Fiction.] I. Title.

PZ7.L521297Ye 2013

[Fic]—dc23

2012034667

Contents

Acknowledgments

Part One

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Part Two

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23