Rothschild's Fiddle by Anton Chekhov
"Rothschild's Fiddle" is a poignant short story by Anton Chekhov, set in a bleak Russian village. The narrative revolves around Yakov Ivanov, a coffin maker, and Rothschild, a Jewish musician, both struggling with poverty and personal dissatisfaction. Yakov, who is emotionally detached from his long-suffering wife, Martha, finds solace in playing the violin but harbors resentment towards the Jewish musicians, particularly Rothschild. The story explores themes of loss, isolation, and the human condition, as Yakov meticulously documents his perceived losses throughout life.
As Martha's health deteriorates, Yakov's indifference becomes starkly apparent, culminating in her death, which he records as another loss. In the wake of her passing, he reflects on his life choices and treatment of others, including Rothschild, leading to a moment of unexpected compassion. Ultimately, Yakov’s dying wish is for his violin to be given to Rothschild, symbolizing a moment of connection across their divides. The narrative concludes with Rothschild's newfound ability to evoke deep emotions through music, leaving a lasting impression on the village and highlighting the transformative power of art amidst human suffering.
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Rothschild's Fiddle by Anton Chekhov
First published: "Skripka Rotshilda," 1894 (English translation, 1915)
Type of plot: Psychological
Time of work: The 1890's
Locale: Western Russia
Principal Characters:
Yakov Ivanov , the protagonist, an elderly, impoverished coffin makerMartha , his wifeRothschild , a Jewish village musicianMaxim Nikolaich , an ignorant but haughty doctor's assistant
The Story
The setting of "Rothschild's Fiddle" is a squalid little village where Yakov Ivanov, a Russian coffin maker, and Rothschild, an equally poor Jewish musician, both live. Yakov lives in a one-room hut, which contains his gloomy wares as well as his humble domestic possessions. Childless, the dour Yakov barely notices Martha, his downtrodden wife of fifty years. Yakov has an unexpected side to his character, for he is a gifted, if rude, violinist who is sometimes invited to join the local Jewish orchestra to play for weddings. Although the coffin maker needs the occasional money, he dislikes the Jewish musicians—especially the flutist Rothschild, who turns even the merriest songs into lugubrious plaints. Yakov abuses Rothschild and is once on the point of beating him. The quarrel ends Yakov's association with the orchestra, apart from rare occasions when one of the Jews cannot perform.
Yakov sees his life as an endless succession of "losses." Sundays and holidays when he cannot work represent losses; a wedding without music represents a loss; a rich man who inconsiderately dies and is buried out of town is another loss. Yakov keeps an account book of his losses, even calculating the interest he might have received on his lost opportunities. At night he arises from his sleepless bed and seeks relief by playing his violin.
One morning Martha feels ill but carries on with her chores while her husband plays his fiddle and gloomily calculates ever new and more distressing imaginary losses. That night the wife cries out that she is going to die. Her feverish face gives the impression that she looks forward to deliverance from her hard, loveless lot and Yakov's endless "losses." Horrified, the coffin maker takes her to a hospital, where the medical assistant shrugs her off as hopeless, refusing Yakov's pleas that he bleed her as he would a rich patient. Realizing the worst, Yakov takes his wife's measurements and begins work on a coffin, duly entering the loss in his account book—two rubles, forty kopecks. Before her death, the wife calls Yakov to her bedside and asks whether he remembers the baby with curly golden hair that God had given them fifty years before. The couple would take the child down to the river bank, sit under the willow, and sing. Yakov has no recollection of the dead child or the willow. That night, Martha dies, and Yakov arranges a miserly funeral, admiring the coffin as he takes final leave of his wife.
Yakov, feeling unwell as he walks home from the cemetery, reflects on his lifelong neglect of his wife in spite of her uncomplaining labor and help. At this point, a nervously bowing and scraping Rothschild approaches with a message from the Jewish orchestra leader, inviting Yakov to play for a wedding. The coffin maker once again abuses and threatens the cowering flute player, who flees pursued by a horde of small boys screaming "Jew, Jew!" Yakov now walks down by the river for the first time in many years, where he, too, is heckled by the village boys who address him by his nickname, "Old Man Bronze." Suddenly he comes on the willow and recalls the dead child. Yakov now falls into regretful reflection of his lost opportunities. Nothing waits ahead of him, and there are only losses behind. Now, however, Yakov's distress over his losses takes a new turn: "Why shouldn't men live so as to avoid all this waste and these losses?" He belatedly regrets his harsh treatment of his wife and the Jew: "If it were not for envy and anger [men] would get great profit from one another."
In the morning, seriously ill, Yakov returns to the "doctor." As the sick man walks home, he bitterly thinks that after his death he will "no longer have to eat and drink and pay taxes, neither would he offend people any more, and, as a man lies in his grave for hundreds of thousands of years, the sum of his profits would be immense." He concludes that life is a loss; death, a profit. Yakov is not sorry to die but regrets leaving behind his violin. At home he sits on the threshold and plays his violin with tears streaming down his face. Once again, a quivering Rothschild approaches Yakov on behalf of the orchestra director. This time, however, the Jew is greeted kindly. Yakov tells him that he is ill and continues to play. So plaintive is his song that Rothschild also begins to weep as he leaves. Later that day, when the village priest asks the dying man if there is any particular sin of which he wishes to repent, Yakov asks that his violin be given to Rothschild.
Time passes, and the townsfolk begin to wonder where Rothschild obtained the violin that he now plays instead of the flute. An even greater mystery is the source of the song he plays, which is so entrancingly sorrowful that wealthy merchants vie in having him come to their homes to play it over and over again.