Rothschild's Violin
"Rothschild's Violin" (Russian: Скрипка Ротшильда, romanized: Skripka Rotshilda – also translated as "Rothschild's Fiddle") is a short story by Anton Chekhov.
Publication
"Rothschild's Violin" was first published in Russkiye Vedomosti Number 37, in February 1894. In the same year it was published in the collection Novellas and Stories (Повести и рассказы).[1]
After the idea was proposed to him by Dmitri Shostakovich,[2] "Rothschild's Violin" was made into an opera by Veniamin Fleishman.
Synopsis
Yakov Ivanov (nicknamed "Bronze") is a seventy-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 orchestra when called upon by its director Moisey Shahkes. Yakov is anti-semitic and dislikes Jews, 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
Further reading
- Livak, Leonid. The Jewish Persona in the European Imagination: A Case of Russian Literature. Stanford University Press, 2010.
- Rosenshield, Gary (October 1997). "Dostoevskii's 'The Funeral of the Universal Man' and 'An Isolated Case' and Chekhov's 'Rothschild's Fiddle': The Jewish Question". Russian Review. 56 (4): 487–504. doi:10.2307/131561. JSTOR 131561.
External links
- Rothschild's Fiddle text, translated to English by Marian Fell (copyright 1915); Eldritch Press website of literary works in the public domain
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- Bibliography
- Platonov (1881)
- On the Harmful Effects of Tobacco (1886, 1902)
- Swansong (1887)
- Ivanov (1887)
- The Bear (1888)
- A Tragedian in Spite of Himself (1889)
- The Wedding (1889)
- Tatiana Repina (1889)
- The Wood Demon (1889)
- A Marriage Proposal (1890)
- The Festivities (1891)
- The Seagull (1896)
- Uncle Vanya (1897)
- Three Sisters (1901)
- The Cherry Orchard (1904)
- The Shooting Party (1884)
- The Steppe (1888)
- The Duel (1891)
- The Story of an Unknown Man (1893)
- Three Years (1895)
- My Life (1896)
Motley Stories (1886) |
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In the Twilight (1887) |
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Stories (1888) |
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Gloomy People (1890) |
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Ward No. 6 (1893) |
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Novellas and Stories (1894) |
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Little Trilogy (1898) |
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Stories (1901) |
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Other stories |
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- Olga Knipper (wife)
- Maria Chekhova (sister)
- Mikhail Chekhov (brother)
- Osip Dymov (character)
- Birth house and museum
- Chekov Shop, home and museum
- Melikhovo, home and museum
- White Dacha, home and museum
- Chekhov Gymnasium and museum
- Chekhov Library
- Bust, Taganrog
- Statue, Taganrog
- Statue, Rostov-on-Don
- Chekhov's gun
- Show, don't tell
- Fragments
- Wild Honey
Category
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