Rothschild's Fiddle (Chekhov)
Short summary
A small Russian town, late 19th century. Yakov Ivanov made coffins for a living and occasionally played fiddle in the local Jewish orchestra for extra income.
Yakov was constantly calculating his financial losses and developed a particular hatred for Rothschild, a flutist in the orchestra. When Yakov's wife Marfa fell ill, he took her to the hospital where the assistant told him she was dying.
Yakov made a coffin for Marfa while she was still alive. Before dying, she reminisced about their baby who had died years ago and about sitting by the river under willows. After her death, Yakov realized he had never shown her any affection during their fifty-two years together.
Feeling ill himself, Yakov visited the willow tree by the river that Marfa had mentioned and reflected on his wasted life. He regretted his hostility toward others, including Rothschild, whom he had recently chased away. Returning home, Yakov began playing his fiddle with newfound emotion.
Thinking of his wasted, profitless life, he began to play, he did not know what, but it was plaintive and touching, and tears trickled down his cheeks. And the harder he thought, the more mournfully the fiddle wailed.
When Rothschild cautiously approached with a message from the orchestra leader, Yakov welcomed him kindly. Before dying, Yakov asked the priest to give his fiddle to Rothschild. The Jewish musician mastered the instrument and became known for playing Yakov's sorrowful melody, which moved audiences to tears.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
Introduction of Yakov and his life as a coffin maker
In a small town that was worse than a village lived Yakov Ivanov, a coffin maker and fiddle player. Business was poor as few people died in the town. Had he lived in a provincial capital, Yakov would have owned a house and been addressed respectfully as Yakov Matveyitch. Instead, in this small town, he was known simply as Yakov or by his nickname "Bronze." He lived modestly in a single-room hut with his wife Marfa, where they shared space with his coffin-making materials.
Yakovs relationship with Rothschild and the Jews
Besides making coffins, Yakov earned additional income by playing the fiddle in the local Jewish orchestra led by Moisey Ilyitch Shahkes, a tinsmith who kept more than half the earnings for himself. The orchestra typically performed at weddings in town. Yakov played Russian songs particularly well, which was why Shahkes occasionally invited him to join them for half a rouble per day plus tips.
In the orchestra, Yakov would become flushed and sweaty from the heat and the smell of garlic. He played alongside a gaunt, red-haired flutist with a network of red and blue veins on his face, who was named after the famous millionaire Rothschild. This Rothschild played even the liveliest tunes plaintively.
For no apparent reason Yakov little by little became possessed by hatred and contempt for the Jews, and especially for Rothschild; he began to pick quarrels with him, rail at him in unseemly language and once even tried to strike him.
After Yakov's aggressive behavior, Rothschild was offended and said he would have thrown Yakov out the window if he didn't respect his musical talent. Rothschild then began to weep. Because of these incidents, Yakov was invited to play with the orchestra only when absolutely necessary, in the absence of one of the Jewish musicians.
Marfas illness and death
On the sixth of May of the previous year, Yakov's wife Marfa suddenly fell ill. Despite her labored breathing and unsteady gait, she still managed to light the stove in the morning and fetch water. By evening, she had taken to her bed. While she was ill, Yakov spent the day playing his fiddle and later calculating his financial losses for the year, which totaled more than a thousand roubles.
Her face was rosy with fever, unusually bright and joyful-looking... It looked as if she really were dying and were glad that she was going away forever from that hut, from the coffins, and from Yakov...
At daybreak, Yakov took Marfa to the hospital. There, they waited three hours to see Maxim Nikolaitch, the assistant who was filling in for the ill doctor. The assistant examined Marfa and concluded that, at nearly seventy years old, she had lived her life and it was time to say goodbye. Despite Yakov's pleas for cupping or leeches, the assistant refused additional treatment and simply prescribed cold compresses and powders.
Upon returning home, Yakov measured Marfa for her coffin and began making it. When finished, he recorded in his book: "Marfa Ivanov's coffin, two roubles, forty kopecks." Meanwhile, Marfa lay silently with her eyes closed. In the evening, she called to Yakov, asking if he remembered their baby girl with flaxen hair who had died fifty years ago. Yakov could not recall the child. Soon after, a priest administered the last rites, and by morning, Marfa had died.
Yakovs realization and regret
After Marfa's funeral, Yakov was overcome with depression. He felt unwell, with labored breathing and weak legs. As he walked home from the cemetery, he reflected on his relationship with his wife. He realized that in their fifty-two years together, he had never shown her affection or paid attention to her. Yet she had faithfully tended to all household duties and cared for him when he was drunk, always in silence and with a timid, anxious expression.
Yakov had never felt for Marfa, had never been affectionate to her. The fifty-two years they had lived in the same hut had dragged on a long, long time, but it had somehow happened that in all that time he had never once thought of her.
On his way home, Yakov encountered Rothschild, who had been sent by Moisey Ilyitch to invite him to play at an upcoming wedding. Still in a state of grief and irritation, Yakov shouted at Rothschild and chased him away. Some boys joined in taunting Rothschild, and dogs barked and chased him until one apparently bit him, causing a desperate scream.
Yakov wandered to the river, where he saw an old willow tree with a hollow and a crow's nest. Suddenly, he remembered the baby with flaxen hair that Marfa had mentioned, and recognized the willow as the same one from their past. Sitting under it, he began to recall how the landscape had changed over the decades and contemplated all the opportunities he had missed in life.
Yakovs illness and final days
Yakov fell ill and went to the hospital the next morning. The same assistant, Maxim Nikolaitch, prescribed cold compresses and powders, but Yakov understood from his tone that his condition was serious and no medicine would help. Walking home, Yakov reflected that death would be a benefit—he would no longer need to eat, drink, pay taxes, or offend people. A man's life meant loss, while death meant gain.
A man's life meant loss: death meant gain. This reflection was, of course, a just one, but yet it was bitter and mortifying; why was the order of the world so strange, that life, which is given to man only once, passes away without benefit?
At home, Yakov sat in his doorway with his fiddle pressed to his chest. Thinking about his wasted life, he began to play a plaintive, touching melody that brought tears to his eyes. Rothschild appeared at the gate but stopped short, afraid of Yakov's previous aggression. Yakov, now in a friendly mood, beckoned him to approach. He told Rothschild he couldn't play at the wedding because he was ill.
Yakov continued playing his fiddle, with tears streaming down his face. Rothschild listened attentively, and his expression gradually changed from fear to deep sorrow. He too began to weep as he was moved by the music.
The fiddles new life with Rothschild
Yakov spent the rest of the day in bed, grieving. That evening, when the priest came to hear his confession, Yakov was asked if he remembered any special sins. Straining his failing memory, he thought of Marfa's unhappy face and Rothschild's despairing shriek when the dog bit him. With his last words, Yakov instructed, "Give the fiddle to Rothschild."
When the priest confessing him asked, Did he remember any special sin he had committed? straining his failing memory he thought again of Marfa's unhappy face, and the despairing shriek of the Jew when the dog bit him, and said, hardly audibly, "Give the fiddle to Rothschild."
After Yakov's death, people in town wondered how Rothschild had acquired such a fine fiddle. Rothschild abandoned his flute and now played only the violin. When he attempted to recreate the melody Yakov had played in his doorway, the effect was so sorrowful that his audience would weep, and Rothschild himself would roll his eyes and exclaim "Vachhh!" This new melody became so popular that merchants and officials frequently requested Rothschild to play it over and over again.