“Oh! very well. Lenotchka, go up-stairs
with Mr. Lemm.”
The old man was about to follow the little girl, but
Panshin stopped him.
“Don’t go after the lesson, Christopher
Fedoritch,” he said. “Lisa Mihalovna
and I are going to play a duet of Beethoven’s
sonata.”
The old man muttered some reply, and Panshin continued
in German, mispronouncing the words—
“Lisaveta Mihalovna showed me the religious
cantata you dedicated to her—a beautiful
thing! Pray, do not suppose that I cannot appreciate
serious music—quite the contrary: it
is tedious sometimes, but then it is very elevating.”
The old man crimsoned to his ears, and with a sidelong
look at Lisa, he hurriedly went out of the room.
Marya Dmitrievna asked Panshin to sing his song again;
but he protested that he did not wish to torture the
ears of the musical German, and suggested to Lisa
that they should attack Beethoven’s sonata.
Then Marya Dmitrievna heaved a sigh, and in her turn
suggested to Gedeonovsky a walk in the garden.
“I should like,” she said, “to have
a little more talk, and to consult you about our poor
Fedya.” Gedeonovsky bowed with a smirk,
and with two fingers picked up his hat, on the brim
of which his gloves had been tidily laid, and went
away with Marya Dmitrievna. Panshin and Lisa
remained alone in the room; she fetched the sonata,
and opened it; both seated themselves at the piano
in silence. Overhead were heard the faint sounds
of scales, played by the uncertain fingers of Lenotchka.
Christopher Theodor Gottlieb Lemm was born in 1786
in the town of Chemnitz in Saxony. His parents
were poor musicians. His father played the French
horn, his mother the harp; he himself was practising
on three different instruments by the time he was
five. At eight years old he was left an orphan,
and from his tenth year he began to earn his bread
by his art. He led a wandering life for many
years, and performed everywhere in restaurants, at
fairs, at peasants’ weddings, and at balls.
At last he got into an orchestra and constantly rising
in it, he obtained the position of director.
He was rather a poor performer; but he understood
music thoroughly. At twenty-eight he migrated
into Russia, on the invitation of a great nobleman,
who did not care for music himself, but kept an orchestra
for show. Lemm lived with him seven years in
the capacity of orchestra conductor, and left him empty-handed.
The nobleman was ruined, he intended to give him a
promissory note, but in the sequel refused him even
that—in short, did not pay him a farthing.
He was advised to go away; but he was unwilling to
return home in poverty from Russia, that great Russia
which is a mine of gold for artists; he decided to
remain and try his luck. For twenty years the
poor German had been trying his luck; he had lived
in various gentlemen’s houses, had suffered
