Maestro Background

About Maestro

Published in 1989, Maestro is the first novel by Australian writer Peter Goldsworthy. A bildungsroman, it focuses on a teenage boy named Paul Crabbe and his relationship with his piano teacher, Herr Eduard Keller. The book draws on many biographical details from Goldsworthy's life. Like Paul, Goldsworthy is originally from Southern Australia, but finished high school in Darwin before attending the University of Adelaide. His daughter Anna Goldsworthy is a classical pianist. He dedicates the book to Anna, his parents Jan and Reuben, and to Anna's childhood piano teacher, Eleanora Sivan. Anna considers Sivan a central guide and inspiration, and their relationship likely inspired Paul and Keller's relationship in Goldsworthy's novel.

Since its publication, Maestro has sold over 200,000 copies in Australia and has also been published in Austria and Germany. It was voted one of the Top 40 Australian Books of All Time by the Australian Society of Authors, and it was shortlisted for the Miles Franklin Award for the best Australian published novel or play portraying Australian life. Goldsworthy and his daughter adapted the novel into a play, which the State Theater Company of South Australia debuted in March 2009.