Один проснулся. Востроносый, восковолицый человек,
жёгший в камине шереметевского дома рукопись. Вторую часть “Мёртвых
Душ”.
Не ввести в соблазн. Пуще чем средневековое —
собственноручное предание творения огню. Тот само-суд, о котором говорю, что он
— единственный суд.
(Позор и провал Инквизиции в том, что она сама жгла, а
не доводила до сожжения — жгла рукопись, когда нужно было прожечь душу.)
("Art in the Light of Conscience")
The characters of Ada include Philip Rack, Lucette's teacher of
music whose name seems to hint at the Spanish Inquisition. Philip II of
Spain is mentioned by Poprishchin (the hero of Gogol's story
"Notes of a Madman," 1835, who imagines that he is the King of Spain
Ferdinand VIII). Marina Tsvetaev is the author of Mat' i muzyka
("Mother and Music," 1934), an autobiographical story. She quotes in it a line
from Fet's poem Siyala noch' ("A Radiant Night..." 1877):
И, наконец, последний рояль — тот, в который
заглядываешь: рояль нутра, нутро рояля, струнное его нутро, как всякое нутро —
тайное, рояль Пандориного: «А что там внутри?» — тот, о котором Фет, во внятной
только поэту и музыканту, потрясающей своей зрительностью строке:
Рояль был весь раскрыт, и струны в нём
дрожали…
(The grand piano was wide open, and the strings throbbed in
it...)
In 'Ursus' (the best Franco-Estotian restaurant in Manhattan Major) Van,
Ada and Lucette listen to a romance on this poem:
Here Van stood up again, as Ada, black fan in elegant
motion, came back followed by a thousand eyes, while the opening bars of a
romance (on Fet's glorious Siyala noch') started to run over the keys
(and the bass coughed à la russe into his fist before
starting).
A radiant night, a moon-filled garden.
Beams
Lay at our feet. The drawing room, unlit;
Wide open, the grand piano; and our hearts
Throbbed to your song, as throbbed the strings in it...
(2.8)
Philip Rack is German. In Mat' i muzyka Marina Tsvetaev (who
disappointed her mother, a gifted musician) speaks of
the glimmering Elfenbein
(Germ., ivory) of piano keys:
За прохладное «ivoire», мерцающее «Elfenbein»,
баснословное «слоновая кость» (как слона и эльфа — совместить?).
How can one combine elephant and elf?
Elephant is mentioned by Demon as he quotes for comic
relief Coppée:
'...And now I'll show what a diviner I am: your dream
is to be a concert pianist!'
'It is not,' said Van indignantly. 'What perfect
nonsense. She can't play a note!'
'Well, no matter,' said Demon. 'Observation is not
always the mother of deduction. However, there is nothing improper about a hanky
dumped on a Bechstein. You don't have, my love, to blush so warmly. Let me quote
for comic relief
'Lorsque son fi-ancé fut parti pour la
guerre
Irène de Grandfief, la pauvre et noble
enfant
Ferma son pi-ano... vendit son
éléphant'
'The gobble enfant is genuine, but the elephant is
mine.' 'You don't say so,' laughed Ada. (1.38)
Marina Tsvetaev compares the grand piano to
zuboskal ("scoffer," literally: a person who shows his teeth). Marina
Tsvetaev's mother called her stepson's tutor (who used to laugh loudly)
zuboskal:
(И — детское открытие: ведь если неожиданно забыть, что
это — рояль, это просто — зубы, огромные зубы в огромном холодном рту — до ушей.
И это рояль — зубоскал, а вовсе не Андрюшин репетитор Александр Павлович Гуляев,
которого так зовёт мать за вечное хохотание. И зубоскал совсем не весёлая, а
страшная вещь.) According to Marina Tsvetaev, "zuboskal is a
terrible, not funny thing."
One of Ada's lovers, Philip Rack (who is poisoned by his jealous wife,
1.42) has delectable gums:
'I think,' said Van, 'we've got hold of the wrong
lover. I was asking about Herr Rack, who has such delectable gums and also
adores you to the point of insanity.' (1.41)
Another lover of Ada, Percy de Prey, goes to the war and perishes
there:
'Well, I'll tell you,' drawled dreamy Van. 'I'll tell
you why. From a humble but reliable sauce, I mean source, excuse my accent, I
have just learned qu'on vous culbute behind every hedge. Where can I
find your tumbler?'
'Nowhere,' she answered quite calmly, ignoring or not
even perceiving his rudeness, for she had always known that disaster would come
today or tomorrow, a question of time or rather timing on the part of
fate.
'But he exists, he exists,' muttered Van, looking down
at a rainbow web on the turf.
'I suppose so,' said the haughty child, 'however, he
left yesterday for some Greek or Turkish port. Moreover, he was going to do
everything to get killed, if that information helps. (ibid.)
zuboskal = Skalozub (a character in Griboedov's
Woe from the Wit, a play alluded to in Ada, 1.37).
Sheremetev's death [in
his duel with Zavadovski] delayed the Yakubovich-Griboedov meeting; it
took place a year later (Oct. 23, 1818) in Tiflis; the great marksman, knowing
how much the great writer liked to play the piano, neatly wounded him in the
palm of the left hand, crippling the fifth digit; it did not prevent
Griboedov from going on with his musical improvising, but some ten years
later this contracted finger provided the sole means of identifying his body,
horribly mutilated by a Persian mob in an anti-Russian riot at Teheran, where he
was envoy. (EO Commentary, II, p. 89)
Van's adversary in a pistol duel, Captain Tapper, is a member of the
Do-Re-La Country Club (1.42). Tapper is a homosexual. In her memoir essay
Nezdeshniy vecher ("The Unreal Evening," 1936) Marina Tsvetaev
describes her meeting with the gay poet and composer Mikhail
Kuzmin (1875-1936).
'Mon page, mon beau page,
- Mironton-mironton-mirontaine -
Mon page, mon beau page...' (1.40)
In her drafts (Svodnye tetradi) Marina Tsvetaev quotes this song
about Malbrook:
Мальбрук в поход собрался
— Mironton — mironton —
mirontaine —
Мальбрук в поход собрался —
Зарыт.
Alexey Sklyarenko