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Music

Music pervades the novels: indeed the entire novel sequence begins with Aubrey meeting Maturin for the first time at a performance of a string quartet in C major by Locatelli. It has been pointed out that since Locatelli wrote no quartets this work is probably an invention of O'Brian's, though conceivably the performers could be playing a quartet arrangement of Locatelli's Concerto Grosso Op. 1 no. 10. Jack Aubrey's musicality considerably exceeds Maturin's earliest assessment of it and becomes one of the primary bases of their enduring friendship. Maturin himself plays the cello, and throughout the novels the two characters perform duets together, usually in the privacy of Aubrey's cabin, occasionally inviting other characters to take part. O'Brian displays a knowledge of music contemporary with the series. He makes frequent allusions to period music, including the works of such composers as Corelli, Mozart, Molter, Hummel, Johann Christian Bach and indeed his father Johann Sebastian Bach. Correctly for the period, the name 'Bach' means J.C. rather than J.S. to both Aubrey and Maturin. Aubrey attempts to learn a piece in The Ionian Mission which O'Brian's clues suggest is J.S. Bach's Solo Violin Partita No. 2. As he struggles with the chaconne, O'Brian writes impressively about the music, first in a technical analysis, then in a suggestion of its emotional implications. In the same novel Aubrey hopes to get a choir of seamen in HMS Worcester to perform choruses from Handel's Messiah. Aubrey and Maturin often improvise on favourite themes, folksongs or operatic airs, and passing references suggest that Maturin sometimes composes small pieces of his own.