The Ballroom Pianist (Chekhov)
Short summary
Moscow, presumably 1880s. At two in the morning, Peter Rublev returned early from a wedding where he had been working as a pianist. He appeared unusually agitated, with pale face and inflamed eyes.
Rublev told his roommate about a humiliating incident at the wedding. While playing piano, a young woman engaged him in conversation about music. She was critical of composers but seemed interested in talking with him. Suddenly, an older woman whispered something to her, and the girl fled, embarrassed.
Later, Rublev overheard that the girl had been warned he was merely a ballroom pianist, not a guest. Though Rublev claimed to be used to such treatment, the incident deeply affected him. While playing dance music, he became overwhelmed with thoughts about his failed ambitions and current lowly status. Unable to contain his emotions, he broke down in hysteria during his performance.
"A big guy... a big man, as tall as a fireplace, and suddenly he's hysterical! Ha-ha-ha!... But Petya's laughing and in his laughter I easily recognise hysteria."
The host accused him of being drunk and had him thrown out. Though Rublev tried to laugh off the incident while telling the story, his laughter turned into another bout of hysteria. The narrator, concerned for his friend, regretted that their Moscow room had no water available at night to help calm him.
Detailed summary
Division into chapters is editorial.
The narrators encounter with the distraught Peter Rublev
At two o'clock in the morning, while the narrator was writing commissioned verse in his room, his roommate Peter Rublev unexpectedly returned home. Wearing a top hat with his fur coat wide open, Rublev appeared pale with unusually sharp, inflamed eyes. When asked why he had returned so early from the wedding he was playing at, Rublev didn't immediately answer. Instead, he went behind the partition, undressed, and lay on his bed.
After ten minutes of silence, Rublev whispered to himself to go to sleep, laughing nervously. When the narrator inquired about his laughter, Rublev explained that something funny and shameful had happened to him. He came out from behind the partition, sat beside the narrator, and declared that he had been "nicked in the neck" at the wedding, which was why he had returned early.
"I look at Rublev... His face is threadbare and shabby, but his entire appearance has preserved so much decency, such lordly pampering and propriety, that this rude 'nicked in the neck' doesn't fit his intelligent figure."
Peters role as a ballroom pianist at the wedding
Rublev began to explain what had happened at the wedding. He had been hired to play piano at the home of Prisvistov, a retired lieutenant colonel who lived on Arbat Street. Prisvistov was marrying his daughter to a merchant's son named Eskimosoff, whom Rublev described as a parvenu with bad manners. When Rublev arrived at nine o'clock, the wedding guests were eating fruit after the ceremony and waiting for the dancing to begin.
Prisvistov greeted Rublev with a warning to play well and not get drunk. Rublev wasn't offended by this treatment, as he was accustomed to being treated as a servant rather than a guest.
"What am I? A ballroom pianist, a servant... a waiter who can play... Merchants have poked me and tipped me – and it doesn't hurt at all!"
Peters conversation with the young woman and subsequent humiliation
With time to spare before the dancing began, Rublev started playing to warm up his fingers. Soon, he noticed a young woman standing behind him, watching him play and singing along. When he acknowledged her, she complimented his playing, and they began to converse. The young woman was talkative and opinionated about music, criticizing composers like Rimsky-Korsakov and Varlamov while lamenting that contemporary young people weren't interested in serious music.
As they talked, Rublev noticed people whispering behind him and heard the word "ballroom pianist" followed by giggling. He ignored this and continued the conversation. However, the young lady was becoming increasingly animated in her musical critiques. Suddenly, a large woman approached and whispered something in the young lady's ear.
"The young lady blushes, clasps her cheeks and leaps away from the piano like a woman on fire... What's the story? Oedipus the Wise, allow me!"
Confused by the young lady's sudden departure, Rublev went to the hallway to check his appearance, wondering if something was wrong with his clothes. There, he overheard an old lady with a scarf explaining to a footman that the young lady had been talking to the musician as if he were a guest, not realizing he was merely hired help. The old lady mentioned that someone named Marfa Stepanovna had informed the young lady of her mistake, saving her from further embarrassment.
Peters emotional breakdown while playing
Rublev returned to the piano and began playing dance music - waltzes, monster caprices, and marches. He told the narrator that he tried to laugh off the incident, as he was accustomed to such treatment. However, something began to gnaw at him internally. Despite his attempts to distract himself by singing along to his music, he felt increasingly sad and sick.
"I don't know why I feel sad and sick... I convince myself, I scold, I laugh... I sing along to my music, but it hurts my soul, but somehow it hurts... It twists in my chest, bites, chews..."
As he played, Rublev's mind filled with painful thoughts. He remembered coming to Moscow with dreams of being a composer and pianist, only to end up as a "crooner." He thought about his roommate writing about trivial subjects, and about all his artistic friends who had once had great ambitions but had amounted to little. He reflected on the Russian social hierarchy, where one could socialize with the upper classes when free, but became a "cricket" when subordinate to them.
These thoughts overwhelmed Rublev, and he felt a lump forming in his throat. Eventually, he broke down in tears while playing Boccaccio, disrupting the wedding with his hysteria. The master of the house demanded to know who had given the pianist alcohol, and Rublev was unceremoniously thrown out.
The aftermath and Peters attempt to mask his pain
Back in their room, Rublev tried to laugh off the entire incident, finding it absurd that a grown man like himself had become hysterical. He repeatedly told the narrator how funny the situation was, though his laughter betrayed his true feelings. The narrator recognized that Rublev's laughter was itself a form of hysteria and began to worry about his roommate, regretting that their Moscow rooms didn't have water available at night to help calm him down.