The White Hotel by D. M. Thomas

Author:D. M. Thomas [Thomas, D. M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
ISBN: 9781101651506
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 1993-09-01T05:00:00+00:00

About a year later, I met Frau Anna again, quite by chance. By a pleasant coincidence, the meeting occurred at Bad Gastein, where I was on holiday with another member of my family. We were out walking when I saw a familiar face. It emerged that Anna was playing in the orchestra of a small touring company, and I was glad to see that she looked well; indeed, she had rather too much flesh than too little. She appeared pleased to see me, and expressed the hope that we would attend the performance that evening. She was on her way to a rehearsal. The opera she was due to play in was a modern piece of some obscurity, and I protested my lack of appreciation of modern music—adding that I should certainly have come had she been performing in Don Giovanni! The sly allusion was not lost on her, and she smiled. I inquired if she was familiar with the language of the opera (the score of which she had in her hands) and she replied that, yes, she had added Czech to her repertoire. My companion expressed admiration that she could learn to read so many languages, and Frau Anna replied with a melancholy smile, delivering her words rather to me, that she sometimes wondered from whom she had acquired that gift. It was perhaps inevitable that she should ask herself whether her father’s coldness, after her mother’s death, sprang from a suspicion that she was not his child.

Frau Anna said she had continued to suffer some mild recurrences of her symptoms from time to time, but not to a degree that would interfere with her playing. However, she feared that her belated start, and prolonged setback, would prevent her from reaching the heights of her profession. I am happy to say that I have continued to hear of her over the years, as a talented musical performer, pursuing a successful career in Vienna, and still living in the company of her aunt.

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