The Silver Swan

In her novel The Silver Swan (2015), Elena Delbanco explores the family legacy of a musical gift and the inheritance of a priceless cello called The Silver Swan. The main characters are Alexander Feldmann, an award-winning and much-revered cellist, and his only child, Mariana, a skilled cellist in her own right. After her father's death, Mariana is left to grapple with the reputation of her father's musical genius, the many secrets he kept from her, and the fate of the Silver Swan, which Mariana has coveted since girlhood, and which will complicate her life more than she ever imagined.

As the novel opens, Mariana is at a lawyer's office. She is waiting to hear the news about her father's will; he was the esteemed cellist Alexander Feldmann. Mariana is not after her father's money, however. She is interested in the Silver Swan, a Stradivarius cello her father found after decades of searching, which takes its name from the beautiful silver inlay on the wood face. Alexander had always promised his only daughter that the cello would be hers after his death, but in the lawyer's office, Mariana is surprised—instead of the cello, she receives a letter revealing a dark family secret. Mariana's father had a mistress. And with his mistress, he had another child.

From there, the novel goes back in time to Mariana's girlhood. She recalls her passion for playing the cello, learned from hours of watching her father; learning from his movements, his fervor, and his teaching. Loving music as much as her father does, Mariana soon becomes his student, and he, her most vicious and talented tutor. Mariana realizes from an early age that playing the cello, and playing it well, will get her father's attention and earn his love. She plays to impress him and so he will love her.



Meanwhile, Mariana's childhood home is riddled with conflict. Her father and her mother, Pilar, are always arguing, and their arguing only increases when Alexander buys the Silver Swan. Deeply envious of the cello, Pilar believes her husband values it more than he values her. As the story continues, and Mariana’s talent develops, Pilar begins to accuse her only daughter of stealing her husband from her. The melodrama leads to a broken family, held together by the Silver Swan alone.

At 19, Mariana is a skilled musician. Some say she will outpace her father in talent. She plays around the world, but after a year of intensive performance, she collapses onstage, and her career is cut short. Rumors spread that the attack was brought on by grief—Mariana's Russian lover left her, suddenly. Following her father's advice, Mariana never loves again, believing men to be tricksters and cheats. She also never performs again, claiming performance anxiety too deep to overcome.

Upon finding out the fate of the Silver Swan and her father's double life, Mariana becomes frantic and crazed. Her obsession with the cello—an obsession that takes root in everyone who touches it—becomes a device to move the plot dramatically forward, as Mariana steals the instrument, travels the world, and commits arson in an attempt to rid herself of the pain of her memories.



Author Elena Delbanco is the daughter of the famous cellist Bernard Greenhouse. The Silver Swan, her debut novel, is based on her father's life and his cello, the Countess of Stanlein ex-Paganini Stradivarius violoncello of 1707. Delbanco and her husband, Nicholas Delbanco, worked with John Gardner to found the Bennington Writing Workshops, where Delbanco taught for a number of years. She taught for 27 years at the University of Michigan in the school of public policy.