ROTHSCHILD'S VIOLIN (Skripka Rotshil'da)
by Anton Chekhov, 1894

Anton Chekhov probably first had the idea for "Rothschild's Violin" ("Skripka Rotshil'da") in 1892, but it was not published until 6 February 1894 in the newspaper Russiye Vedomosti (Rus-sian Bulletins). It later appeared in a collective volume of Chekhov's tales and stories. In its tone and moral gravity "Rothschild's Violin" is considered to have been influenced by the moral stories of Tolstoii, which had made a deep impression on Chekhov a few years earlier. But in this instance the didactic element is kept strictly in check, which means that the reader is more likely to respond positively to the tale and the characters, especially since the author reveals his usual insight into the quirkiness of humanity.

In the story Jacob, a 70-year-old man, lives in a wretched small town, hardly bigger than a village. He reflects with grim irony that the elderly inhabitants are so slow to die that his trade as a coffin maker languishes, forcing him to live in poverty. It is the case that he has pride in his trade, taking particular care to do a good job of work when a coffin is required for one of the gentry. Things are made all the more difficult, however, by the fact that it is not permissible to work on Sundays or saints' days or on Mondays either, for that would bring bad luck. From time to time he falls to calculating just how much money he has lost because of this enforced idleness and even how much interest he might have received annually if only he had been able to work all of the time and to bank the proceeds.

Jacob also plays the violin with a Jewish band that performs at weddings in the town, which is another minor source of income. But the miserly Jacob can never forget that the tinker who conducts the band generally pockets half the fee, and though he does not think much of the Jewish musicians, he has a particularly low opinion of Rothschild, who is named after the famous financier only in heavy-handed mockery of his utter destitution. As a musician Rothschild was known as a flute player who generally made even the merriest tunes sound miserable, and he and Jacob often nearly come to blows. Despite his annoyance with the band, Jacob does find consolation in his wretched existence when he plays his violin.

Things take a turn for the worse when Jacob's wife, Martha, dies. She is old and decrepit, and the staff at the hospital make little effort to save the life of an impoverished woman. As she lies dying, waiting for the last rites, Martha tries to make her husband remember happier days, 50 years before, when the couple had a baby and sat under the willow trees by the riverside. To his horror Jacob finds that he has no recollection of it whatsoever. The only satisfaction he has is in seeing his wife decently buried, and at a very moderate expense, in a coffin he had made for her shortly before her death.

As he returns from the burial, Jacob begins to feel ill, and he is in anything but a good mood when Rothschild comes to tell him that he is needed to play at a wedding. Jacob's temper flares. There is a good deal of the anti-Semitism that plagued Russia in the nineteenth century in Jacob's abuse of Rothschild, and he is rather pleased when he hears that the Jew has been bitten by the dogs that chased him off. But then, as Jacob comes to the river, he begins to be reminded of the past. He starts asking himself what has happened to him over the decades to alienate him so thoroughly from the rest of humanity. "Life," he reflects, "has flowed past without profit, without enjoyment—gone aimlessly, leaving nothing to show for it." And now he knows that the future holds nothing for him either. What good had it done, he wonders, to spend his time cursing and threatening people with violence.

Though he is perfectly aware that there is no treatment that can cure him, the next day Jacob goes to the hospital. He finds comfort in the wry reflection that at least he will not be spending much on himself anymore. As he lies on his deathbed, Rothschild comes again to call him to play at a wedding, and this time there is regret when he has to say that he cannot. A little later, after he has made his confession to the priest and is invited by him to think over the sins of his life, he has the idea of asking that his violin be handed over to Rothschild.

—Christopher Smith