"Tolstoy, Leo - Albert" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolstoy Leo)

some mild cigarettes such as Albert smoked, and the violin. But instead of
going to bed as his master told him to, he himself lit a cigar and sat down
in the adjoining room.

"Let us have a talk," said Delesov to the musician, who was about to take
up the violin.

Albert submissively sat down on the bed and again smiled joyfully.

"Oh yes!" said he, suddenly striking his forehead with his hand and
assuming an anxiously inquisitive expression. (A change of expression
always preceded anything he was about to say.) -- "Allow me to ask-- " he
made a slight pause -- "that gentleman who was there with you last night --
you called him N -- , isn't he the son of the celebrated N -- ?"

"His own son," Delesov answered, not at all understanding how that could
interest Albert.

"Exactly!" said Albert with a self-satisfied smile. "I noticed at once
something particularly aristocratic in his manner. I love aristocrats:
there is something particularly beautiful and elegant in an aristocrat. And
that officer who dances so well?" he asked. "I liked him very much too: he
is so merry and so fine. Isn't he Adjutant N.N.?"

"Which one?" asked Delesov.

"The one who bumped against me when we were dancing. He must be an
excellent fellow."

"No, he's a shallow fellow," Delesov replied.

"Oh, no!" Albert warmly defended him. "There is something very, very
pleasant about him. He is a capital musician," he added. "He played
something there out of an opera. It's a long time since I took such a
liking to anyone."

"Yes, he plays well, but I don't like his playing," said Delesov, wishing
to get his companion to talk about music. "He does not understand classical
music - Donizetti and Bellini, you know, are not music. You think so too,
no doubt?"

"Oh, no, no, excuse me!" began Albert with a gentle, pleading look. "The
old music is music, and the new music is music. There are extraordinary
beauties in the new music too. Sonnambula, and the finale of Lucia, and
Chopin, and Robert! [Footnote: Sonnambula, opera by Bellini, produced in
1831. Lucia di Lammermoor, opera by Donizetti, produced in 1835. Robert the
Devil, opera by Meyerbeer, produced in 1831; or possibly the allusion may
be to Roberto Devereux, by Donizetti.] I often think -- " he paused,
evidently collecting his thoughts -- "that if Beethoven were alive he would
weep with joy listening to Sonnambula for the first time when Viardot and