Harold Goldstein
Wrapped with mystery and intrigue, Bernard Selling’s newest book “The Duke’s Musician” is filled with a compelling story as well as a deeply rich and authentic historical background of the Italian Renaissance Era.
“The Duke’s Musician” is based in 1475 A.D., Milano, Italy. Galeazzo Maria Sforza, the Duke of Milan, enraging the noble families of Milan by assaulting their daughters and paying his court musicians handsomely at their own expense. Because of this, rumors of assassinating Sforza roam throughout the city of Milano. During this time of fury in Milano, A young English musician travels to the fine Italian city with his own dreams and ambitions.
Before the book was even a thought in his mind, Selling was a young officer on leave from the United States Air Force Academy. During that time, he was teaching humanities to future USAF generals and chiefs-of-staff. In the summer of 1963, he decided to travel around Europe taking pictures for an art history slide collection.
“I had a strong background in history,” Selling said. “I joined the Air Force after I got my Master’s degree…on leave from the academy, I was driving around Europe and I saw this old castle.
“There wasn’t much of it left but there was a dungeon that I could go down to. When I did, I had this amazing Déj√• vu experience, like it was somewhere I had already been before.”
As he searched around the old dungeon for its last remaining cellmate, he found a plaque that referred to Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan at the end of the 15th century.
“Within a couple of weeks, I had toured Spain and Italy and wounded up in Milan,” said Selling. “During the usual tourist things, I found Sforza Castle, which this amazing place, and wondered how could (Ludovico Sforza) go from (being a duke) to this and that got me going.”
After Milan, he began research on what was going to be “The Duke’s Musician” but found that writing had to be postponed due to other things that concerned his life.
“I had a whole other path to follow,” said Selling. “Once I got out of the Air Force, I was married and with a child on the way, heading for UCLA in a career of films which I pursued for 50 years.
“When my kids were grown, I headed back to Italy and started to do serious research that lasted for 10 years.”
Starting at this project at the age of 23, it took him a matter of decades to research, write, and publish the book.
“The writing process was difficult because I set out to write about the life of Ludovico Sforza,” said Selling. “I discovered the project when I was 23 years old, I began to get serious in my mid-’40s and now I’m in my mid-’60s.
“This whole project has a lot of things to teach us. It is one of those rare books that has a very good story, very interesting characters mounted on top of rock-solid historical accuracy.”
Bernard Selling’s “The Duke’s Musician” can be found wherever books are sold.
Bernard Selling, author of The Duke’s Musician and adjunct teacher at Pierce college, listens as a student reads during a life story writing class at Hughes Middle School in Long Beach sponsored by El Camino Community Adult School. (Drake Zimmerman)