I really wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I enjoyed the premise and the characters, particularly the daughter. However, for being historical fiction, some of the more modern colloquial language used by the characters was inauthentic and kind of detracted from the overall imagery for me. I also wish there was more focus on the main character, Bart, and the piano invention. I did find it really neat to listen to the soundtrack and thought it was cool to have an auditory experience to go along with the story of the invention of the piano.
Thanks to NetGalley for the arc.

I was really looking forward to reading The Creation of Music. Bell's premise of trying to flesh out the life of a long forgotten inventor of the piano was intriguing. I am a great fan of the genre of historical fiction. My favorites in this genre are by authors who do a lot of contextual research for their stories, especially in those cases where factual information may be scarce. However, while Bell notes that not much has been written about Cristofori and about the invention of the piano overall, he doesn't seem to have done much contextual research about the time and place in which Cristofori lived, about which a lot has been written, and in the absence of this his melding of current language and social mores with scenes that take place in the 17th C was jarring and lent a false ring to his musings about Cristofori. So though I appreciated his desire to investigate this story line I don't think he was very successful Thus I cannot recommend this work.

I wanted so badly to love this book. I love historical fiction, and I’ve been playing the piano for 25+ years and teaching for 10+ years.

The plot itself is incredibly interesting. Centered on the real historical figure Bartolomeo Cristofori, the novel follows his life and his journey to build the first piano. I appreciated the exploration into the mechanics of the piano, and what a groundbreaking invention this really was. But we didn’t spend enough time focusing on the piano or on “the creation of music.”

The world the author creates around Bartolomeo is realistic and relatable. The characters and the story have such promise. It is ultimately a story of love… how love can motivate and strengthen you, how love offers a soft place to land…

My struggle with the book was the writing. I sincerely doubt that a man in the late 1600s would call his wife “babe” and “baby girl.” I appreciate some modernization to the language but this is just too much. It took me out of the world created in the book! Things would happen at the end of a chapter and there would be no follow up (a broken arm, a breakthrough on the invention, pages spent on a girl worrying about telling her parents she’s been skipping school but when she finally tells them we have no resolution). In addition, the writing was simple and cliched. I truly hate to leave negative reviews, but I spent so much of this book feeling outside of it, NOT immersed in the world and the lives of these people.

Thank you to NetGalley for supplying this digital copy for review!

This book was like a fresh out of the oven slice of bread with butter melting on it! 4 Stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️!

I really enjoyed this book. It was fascinating and educational at the same time. I can honestly say that I will never look at the piano the same after reading this. I think the author did an amazing job with the character growth and realism in this story. I recommend those history/historical fiction lovers out there to read this one. It really was fascinating, and I enjoyed every minute of it.

Thank you Net Galley ARC and Candor Publishing

The Creation of Music is the fictional story of Bartolomeo Christofori, the creator of the piano.

Starting when Chrisofori was a child, we see how his life progressed and how he was chosen to event the piano and the struggles with which he needed to deal along tge,way.

We hear about his marriage, the struggle to have children and devastation that can happen in life and where it can lead. And within these sect of the book, we see that he is very much human.

Given that not much is act known about Christofori, this brings to life both a man and what led to the piano, probably the most important instrument to Clinton existence.

I really enjoyed this book more than I expected. I think it might be a stretch to call it a historical fiction, but I did like the journey. After awhile Cuori's story started to annoy me and I couldn't figure out why her POV was so included. All I'll say is to trust the process. I do believe that without her side of the story, the climax wouldn't have had as much impact. I would highly recommend this to music lovers. You'll never look at a piano the same way. I was disappointed that the soundtrack comes out so far after the book is published. I think a lot of people are going to miss out on that by reading it without it. I would also have liked to see the songs included in the index. Overall I think the story outweighs those cons though.

Creation of Music

I visited Florence last year and got to see the earliest examples of the ‘new invention’ - the Piano. Being immersed in this story has really made me want to return! This experience is what tweaked my interest in ‘The Creation of Music’. This story’s timeline spans over a decade of family relationship and struggles in adapting to adversity, new cities and loss. I’m pretty ambivalent about this story. I had high hopes about learning more about the creation of the piano. In reality, this story barely covered it.

While the setting is 16th century Italy, the modern language and cursing made for a disjointed read. It kept getting confused about which time period I was in. Also, I highly doubt a young child in this time period would have had a lot of access to multiple books.

Thank you to NetGalley for the gifted ebook in exchange for my honest thoughts.

Maybe 2.5

This is an enjoyable story about Italy and the creation of the piano. However, I feel like the piano was not the forefront of the story and that's what I expected. I love having a narrative of the people and their lives but a few things were hard for me. First of all, the dialogue was just not believable (to me) as plausible for how people would have spoken in 15th century Italy. Everyone felt like a "perfect" character with always perfect resolution. All in all, I finished the book and enjoyed picturing the Italian cities and countryside. Thanks to NetGalley for this book.

This book is an absolutely beautiful piece of art! Getting to know the piano's inventor was absolutely a delight, and something about this book feels very charming and cozy, even if the plot might not necessarily be reflecting that. Bell's prose is absolutely marvelous and drew me in from the first page. It did feel a bit lengthy at times, however, it's not something that bothered me too much. While I'm not typically a fan of historical fiction, this book truly delivered. It provided something truly unique, and it's such a worth-it read.

This book would be such a sensation to read while listening to the soundtrack once it comes out! I can't wait to recommend it to my friends!