OpusOpus relates the story of two diplomats - American and Soviet - both of whom are Cultural Officers accredited to their respective embassies in Budapest during the mid-1960s, bonded by their common Armenian heritage. They discover that each is involved in the search for the score of a Beethoven Cello Concerto which was stolen during a World War II air-raid on Leipzig. The American, a musicologist by education, is hoping to make a remarkable musical discovery for purely cultural purposes. The Soviet, on the other hand, suspected of secret police ties, appears to have different reasons, evoking the question: how could music composed 150 years ago serve the interests of the KGB? The plot explores diplomatic life and activities, relations with the Soviet Union, Hungarian political and cultural intrigue, espionage and murder. In the course of his search the American travels to East Berlin, Leipzig and Dresden (with a cooperative KGB escort), where he learns of links between the Beethoven manuscript and the German Resistance’s plot to assassinate Hitler. Upon his return to Hungary his Soviet counterpart fills him in on the KGB’s involvement in that plot and maintains that the resolution of the search will be found in the Soviet Union, to which he strongly recommends the American go. The final section of the novel takes place first in the Soviet Republic of Armenia, and then in Moscow at the KGB’s Headquarters - Lubyanka. Although a work of fiction, some of the events described in Opus are based on actual happenings in Budapest during the period the story takes place. This is also true of many of the persons appearing in the book, especially the American cultural representatives. The cast of characters include: the American, Soviet, British and French Ambassadors, Yuri Andropov (former Soviet Ambassador to Hungary and later KGB Director), Joseph Cardinal Mindszenty, Janos Kadar (Hungarian Communist Party chief), Zoltan Kodaly (Hungarian composer) and American visitors to Budapest - Isaac Stern, Kirk Douglas, ZsaZsa Gabor, Ella Fitzgerald, Leopold Stokowski and Alwin Nikolais. |
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