Gauche the Cellist(Part 1)
Japanese
Gauche was a cellist in the town orchestra. As he was the poorest player of all in the orchestra, he was always being scolded by the conductor. They were practicing 'The Sixth Symphony' by Beethoven that afternoon for the next concert in town.
Every player was rehearsing the symphony diligently. Gauche was also playing the cello earnestly, firmly closing his lips, and staring at his score.
Suddenly the conductor clapped his hands to stop the music, and shouted,
"Cello, you are slow. Play again once more from C, everybody. Here we go!"
They replayed from C. Gauche, whose face had turned red, his forehead sweaty, replayed and went through the tune that he had been scolded for. He was relieved and kept playing. Then the conductor clapped his hands again and the music stopped.
"Cello, your strings don't harmonize with each other. You are a real problem for us. But I don't have time to teach you from the beginning, you know."
Feeling sorry for him, the rest of the players were either looking at their own notes or touching their own instruments for a while. He hurriedly adjusted the strings. In addition to his poor performance, his cello was too old.
"Start from D. Here we go!"
They all played together under his direction. Gauche played hard with his mouth closed tightly. They could go forward quite far this time. The conductor clapped his hands again. The cellist thought he would be the one being scolded again. But luckily this time it was not his cello. He, staring at his note, pretended to think of something.
"Then from F. Here we go!"
Soon the conductor stamped on the floor hard and shouted,
"No, it absolutely makes no sense. This is the most important part of this music. But your performance is insensitive. We have only ten days for the concert. Hey, Gauche. You should be more sensitive. You don't express any emotion in your play such as anger and joy. Besides,you aren't blending well with the other instruments. It sounds as if you always walk behind others with loose shoelaces. You are a real headache to me. Perk up! If our orchestra gets a notorious reputation only due to your performance, I'll feel sorry for the other players...Well, that's all for today."
All the players except Gauche made a bow to the conductor and left there. Gauche shed big drops of tears, holding the old cello, and sat on the chair facing the wall. But soon he calmed down and began to practice his part from the beginning.
He came home late at night with the big black cello-case. He lived alone in a broken watermill by the river on the outskirt of town. He turned on the light, took out his cello from the case, put it softly on the floor, and drank a glass of water. He shook his head, sat on the chair, and then started playing the cello with crashing force from the beginning of the piece he had rehearsed in the afternoon. Turning over the score, he played, sometimes stopping it to think about his performance. He did it again and again from the beginning.
It was already past midnight. As he was beside himself with playing the cello so hard that his face was flushed, and his eyes were bloodshot. It looked as if he would collapse any minute.
Then someone knocked on the door.
"Who is it?" he answered with a sleepy voice. It was a big tortoise-shell cat that he had seen several times.
The cat, putting down a big half-ripened tomato before him, said,
"I'm tired. It was so heavy."
"What?"
"This is my gift for you. Please eat it," said the cat.
He shouted at the cat,
"Who in the world told you to bring a tomato to me? First, I wouldn't eat anything you brought. Besides, that tomato belongs to my field. You picked it up before it ripened enough. Is it you that bit the stalks or messed the field? Get away! Cat."
The cat hunched its shoulders, puckered its brows, then with a smirk on its face, said,
"Don't get so angry, or it'll be harmful to your health. Why not play 'Traumerei' by Schumann? I'll listen to it."
"None of your lip! You're only a cat!"
The cellist thought a while about what to do for this annoying cat.
"Please play it. I can't sleep without listening to your tune."
"None of your sauce!"
He turned scarlet and stamped on the floor as the conductor had done during the day, but he suddenly changed his mind, and said,
"All right, I'll play."
He locked the door and the windows and turned off the light, so the nearly full moonlight poured into the room through the windows.
"By the way, what do you want?"
"Traumerei by Robert Schumann." The cat wiped its lips and said with a straight face.
"I see. Traumerei... Is it this music?"
The cellist, taking precaution, tore his handkerchief and plugged it into his ear holes
He suddenly began to play, 'The tiger-hunting in India' with crushing forth.
The cat was inclining its head and listening to it for a while, but suddenly blinked its eyes and jumped toward the door. It bumped itself against the door but it wouldn't open. Gauche got greatly amused to see it and played it much more violently.
"That's enough, sir! Stop it, stop it for God's sake! I'll never instruct you what to play."
"Shut up! Soon I'll reach the scene where the tiger is caught."
The cat, so suffered, whirled around him like a windmill, which made him feel dizzy.
"Now, I'll forgive you this time," saying so, he stopped playing at last.
"Your performance has sounded different tonight." The cat said as if nothing had happened.
He, though getting angry again, kept his temper and said with a cigarette in his mouth,
"Are you all right? Show me your tongue."
The cat stuck out its long tongue as if it made a fool of him.
"It looks a little rough." saying so, he struck a match on its tongue and lit the cigarette.
The cat, so surprised, swinging its tongue like a pinwheel, struck its head against the door again and again with an unsteady gait.
He, looking at the cat for a while, said,
"I'll let you out. Never come here again. You, idiot!"
He opened the door and smiled a little to see the cat running away like the wind. Then he went to bed and fell into a deep sleep as if he felt relieved. (2011.9.1 With Itaya) Original By Kenji Miyazawa. Images by Jun Hatanaka
To be continued.
Gauche the Cellist(Part 2)
Gauche the Cellist(Part 3)
