Émilie feels that she cannot tell Charpentier that she loves him, even when he says he loves her. Given her decision at the end of the book, do you think Émilie ever truly loved Charpentier? Do you think she loves her voice more?
Émilie makes very few decisions for herself in this story. How is she used by those around her? Do you think that, in his own way, even Charpentier uses her? Why do you think Émilie refuses, or is unable, to take charge of her own life?
The author has cleverly tied several subplots to create a slowly building sense of anxiety about Émilie’s fate. What are some of the threads that threaten to entangle and ensnare Émilie? Do you think she ultimately triumphs or succumbs?
How did you expect the novel to end? Were you satisfied with the ending?
Music is at the heart of this novel. How does the author convey its importance and demonstrate its effect on the characters? Do you have an image of what Émilie’s voice must have been like? Does the author succeed in making you “hear” the novel?
Could what happened to Émilie in the seventeenth century happen to someone today? Why or why not? What about Émilie is very old-fashioned, and what is not? Are there any characters that bring to mind modern-day counterparts?
An Interview with Susanne Dunlap
1. Émilie’s Voice is a song as much as a story. What involvement do you have in the world of music?
I began studying music at the age of five, when I started piano lessons. I was a music major at Smith College, and eventually went to graduate school at Yale to study music history. Opera was my area of specialization, in particular early opera, because I have always been fascinated by the relationship of words and music. Beyond that, I have been working for the last four years at Connecticut Opera, a regional opera company, where I have come to know many singers and other artists and production professionals, as well as hear a lot of great performances.
2. What made you decide to become a novelist?
Ever since I was a child, reading has been one of my greatest joys, on a par with music. I have been a “writer” all my working life, first writing advertising copy, then scholarly papers and a dissertation. But my imagination was sparked by the music history I studied, and I felt a burning need to bring the stories and themes of that history to a wider public. The challenge of writing a novel was both inspiring and energizing, and I feel very fortunate to have several mentors who have helped me develop as a writer.
3. What gave you the inspiration for Émilie’s Voice?
Actually, it was the study of an entirely different seventeenth-century work that brought to my mind the idea of an innocent young singer unaware of the power of her own voice. That work was an oratorio by the seventeenth-century Italian composer, Alessandro Stradella, called La Susanna. Susanna is a character from the Apocrypha who is virtuous and beautiful. But Stradella’s music is seductive and powerful. I wanted to explore how music can transform the singer and the listeners, and not always in the way intended by the performer or the character.
4. Your descriptions of seventeenth-century Paris and Versailles make these locations (and their inhabitants) come alive. Did you spend time in France to research your setting?
It was my great pleasure to take two trips to Paris, during which I also went to Versailles. On the first trip, I hadn’t even started the book. By the time of the second, I was polishing up a late draft, and I really walked around and thought about where Émilie and her father would go, what it would be like to live in Paris during the seventeenth century, and what life at Versailles must have been like. Apart from that, I read a great deal about Paris and Versailles and the period, including works by people who were alive at that time.
5. Émilie’s Voice is a historical novel that blends fact with fiction. Can you point out some of the real persons and historical events that give Émilie’s Voice its flavor?
The composers Lully and Charpentier are both real figures, and there really was an outdoor performance of Lully’s Alceste at Versailles in the Cour de Marbre. Both Madame de Maintenon and Madame de Montespan are historical figures too, and the things they actually did are in some ways more shocking and devious than the fictional events of Émilie’s Voice. Mademoiselle de Guise was also real, as are the singers in Lully’s troupe, whose names are recorded in history. Very little is known about the details of Charpentier’s life, but Lully really was a rather unsavory character with a preference for men and young boys, and a voracious appetite for power and influence. And, yes, he did make the king pass those ordinances. (King Louis XIV is, of course, historical too, as are the other members of the royal family and the illegitimate children of Madame de Montespan.)
6. First novels are often said to be very autobiographical. Are there elements of your own personality in Émilie? Do you identify with any of the other main characters?
Aside from the fact that my middle name is Emily, I don’t really think I’m much like my heroine at all! I can’t sing, and I’m rather ornery and outspoken. I suppose I might identify more with Sophie, who is a tough, hardworking survivor. I think the only part of Émilie that I really relate to is her dreaminess. I used to drive my parents mad with my ability to sit for hours and just daydream.
7. The ending of the novel is not what one might expect. Why did you choose such a bittersweet twist, as opposed to a more traditional happy ending?
I think that Émilie came to understand that, to everyone around her, she was truly just an embodied voice. She needed to do something dramatic to reclaim herself from the life she had been forced to lead. And yet, I wanted an ending that was true to the time: women really didn’t have many choices then. Her voice, her expression, was the most powerful thing she had, and ultimately it’s what kept her involved with Charpentier. Besides, there’s no historical evidence that Charpentier ever had a wife, and while I have freely bent the historical facts when necessary, I always try to resist obvious falsehoods.
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