The very first chords which Mademoiselle Reisz struck upon the piano sent a keen tremor down Mrs. Pontellier's spinal column. It was not the first time she had heard an artist at the piano. Perhaps it was the first time she was ready, perhaps the first time her being was tempered to take an impress of the abiding truth.
Explanation:
An epiphany can be explained as a moment of having a sudden realization or discovery about something.
The moment of epiphany for Mrs Pontellier was when she heard mademoiselle Reisz play the piano. It was not the first time she heard someone at the piano, but that experience impressed on her a kind of "abiding truth"