"Rothschild's Violin" ( – also translated as "Rothschild's Fiddle") is an 1894

short story A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a single sitting and focuses on a self-contained incident or series of linked incidents, with the intent of evoking a single effect or mood. The short story is one of the old ...

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

Publication

"Rothschild's Violin" was first published in ''

Russkiye Vedomosti ''Russkiye Vedomosti'' () was a Russian liberal daily newspaper, published in Moscow from 1863 till 1918. Founded in Moscow in 1863 by Nikolai Pavlov, it was edited by Nikolai Skvortsov (1866-1882) and by Vasily Sobolevsky, in 1882–1912. Aft ...

'' Number 37, in February 1894. In the same year it was published in the collection ''Novellas and Stories'' (Повести и рассказы). After the idea was proposed to him by

Dmitri Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and thereafter was regarded as a major composer. Shostak ...

, "Rothschild's Violin" was made into an opera by

Veniamin Fleishman Veniamin Iosifovich Fleishman, (, July 20, 1913 in Bezhetsk, Tver Governorate – September 14, 1941 in Krasnoye Selo, Leningrad Oblast) was a Soviet composer. ''Rothschild's Violin'' While studying under Dmitri Shostakovich at the Leningrad Cons ...

Synopsis

Yakov Ivanov (nicknamed "Bronze") is a 70-year-old coffin maker in a small village, where there are not enough deaths for his business to flourish. To make ends meet, he plays the violin for a Jewish

klezmer Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

orchestra when called upon by its director Moisey Shahkes. Yakov is

anti-semitic Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Whether antisemitism is considered a form of racism depends on the school of thought. Antisemi ...

and dislikes

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, especially the flutist in the orchestra named Rothschild. Yakov's wife Marfa becomes ill. Her illness makes him regret his flippant conduct, his coldness and indifference towards her. On the eve of her death, she reminds him of their shared past, but Yakov does not remember. He starts to build her coffin before she dies. Yakov eventually succumbs to illness as well. After grieving for his wife, and then facing his own mortality; Yakov's attitude changes. He eventually gives his violin to Rothschild before dying.

References

External links

Rothschild's Fiddle
text, translated to English by Marian Fell (copyright 1915); Eldritch Press website of literary works in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no Exclusive exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly Waiver, waived, or may be inapplicable. Because no one holds ...

Short stories by Anton Chekhov 1894 short stories {{1890s-story-stub

Publication

Synopsis

References

Further reading

External links