In 1629, Peter Claire, a young English lutenist, arrives at the Danish Court to join King Christian IV's Royal Orchestra. But he finds that the musicians perform in a freezing cellar underneath the royal apartments, their music conveyed to the King by a system of pipes.
From this central image, the novel develops into a tale of good and evil, light and dark, encompassing the lives and loves of all those involved with the Court and the fortunes of the stricken state of Denmark.
Peter Claire finds himself falling in love with the young woman who is the companion of the King's estranged, adulterous wife, Kirsten, thus dividing his loyalties and leaving his happiness uncertain.

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Personen: Tremain, Rose