Nocturne of Lost Souls

Ambition and passion have long marked the career of violinist Cordelia von Kraat. However, at the dawn of her fifth year as doctoral student at St. Albertus Magnus Catholic University in Nouvelle Arniers, Louisiana, her momentum has stagnated. Her music has become sterile; performance opportunities have dried up, and her love life is but a distant memory.

Then, on a rainy September night, she enters a shadowy and forgotten pawn shop and purchases a violin whose soundboard was carved from an...