Vikkan Lantry, a pianist with more talent than ambition, is content with his job at an upscale cocktail lounge until a request from reclusive soprano, Ulrike Vogel, draws him grudgingly back into the world of classical music. Ulrike’s mysterious past, and her friendship with elderly Viennese piano teacher, Dieter Mann, usher Vikkan into an intrigue that begins in the nineteenth century with an unknown song cycle composed by Robert Schumann, and ends in the present-day with a grisly double murder. As Vikkan probes the layers of deceit obscuring a killer’s identity, The Schumann Proof reveals itself to be a study in ambition gone awry. The theme is hardly new, but The Schumann Proof gives it a fresh slant, examining not only the devastating results of too much seeking after personal glory, but the painful consequences of too little.

Peter Schaffter is a musician and writer. A frequent award winner during his teens, Peter was encouraged to develop a wide range of interests outside of music, including photography, botany, and languages. Upon completion of his studies at the Royal Conservatory, Peter enrolled in the University of Toronto's Faculty of Music, from which he graduated after receiving the BMI Scholarship for excellence in composition, and the Faculty of Music's largest cash honour, The Percy Faith Award. Between practising piano and attending lectures, Peter also studied German and completed an academic minor in cinema studies. Regular stints as a lounge pianist at Toronto's prestigious McGill Club also formed part of his musical activities. A personal upheaval resulted in Peter leaving Toronto in the mid-eighties and spending several years in the country, working as a stable hand, manual labourer, and landscaper. Upon his return to the city, he first turned to writing. Peter later moved to Montreal, where he first came into contact with multi-awardwinning National Film Board of Canada animation director Louise Johnson. The two have subsequently collaborated on several of her projects. Although living and working in the French milieu of Montréal provided both economic and creative rewards, Peter chose to leave the city in the mid-nineties. Settling first near Lac-St-François on the St. Lawrence River, he has subsequently moved to Québec's Gatineau Hills. The Schumann Proof is his first novel.

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