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Albert
Albert es un artista en el violín, un muy buen hombre, pero digno de lástima, sus miembros son delgados y débiles. Quienes lo conocen consideran que tiene un gran talento que se pierde en su desdichada figura. Afligido y consumido por el alcohol, logra transformarse cuando toca el violín, y al mismo tiempo anima a quien lo escucha a explorar en sus recuerdos y sentimientos con la contemplación de un apasionado instante feliz, de una ilimitada necesidad de poder y esplendor o de un sentimiento de sumisión, amor no correspondido o tristeza. El violín de Albert no se escucha con los oídos sino con el alma. Salvar la magia de la música que produce su violín es el reto que Tolstói presenta en este increíble cuento, traducido por Selma Ancira, a sus personajes, a Albert y al mismo lector.
Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1858
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About the author
Leo Tolstoy
7,981 books28.6k followersLev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (Russian: Лев Николаевич Толстой; most appropriately used Liev Tolstoy; commonly Leo Tolstoy in Anglophone countries) was a Russian writer who primarily wrote novels and short stories. Later in life, he also wrote plays and essays. His two most famous works, the novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina, are acknowledged as two of the greatest novels of all time and a pinnacle of realist fiction. Many consider Tolstoy to have been one of the world's greatest novelists. Tolstoy is equally known for his complicated and paradoxical persona and for his extreme moralistic and ascetic views, which he adopted after a moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, after which he also became noted as a moral thinker and social reformer.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
His literal interpretation of the ethical teachings of Jesus, centering on the Sermon on the Mount, caused him in later life to become a fervent Christian anarchist and anarcho-pacifist. His ideas on nonviolent resistance, expressed in such works as The Kingdom of God Is Within You, were to have a profound impact on such pivotal twentieth-century figures as Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 33 reviews
April 19, 2023
Petersburg at two in the morning, a party. A weary, washed-out party attendant, Delesov, suddenly revives when he is transported back to his days of youth while listening to the overwhelming, intoxicating violin sounds from Albert, a homeless, drunk violinist playing at the party. Captivated by the violinist’s talent, Delesov takes him home and offers him protection and help, wanting to change his life of drinking and dissipation. Delesov will have to find out one cannot keep artists under a bell jar, genius need independence to flourish, even if such means living in dire and precarious conditions, the holy burning fire shouldn’t be extinguished by disciplining art, even not with the best intentions. The muse and the artist are savage and unruly, art is untameable, art expresses itself through refined as well as through rougher intermediaries. If we are all in the gutter, it probably will be the artists among us who are looking at the stars.
Inspired by Georg Kizewetter, a talented and alcoholic violinist whom Tolstoy met in a brothel in 1857, the short story Albert was published in 1858. Interestingly it already echoes The Kreutzer Sonata (1887) with regard to Tolstoy’s conviction on the potentially overwhelming impact of music. Music as a powerful means of creating intensity and bonds between people also plays an important part in the novella Family Happiness (1859). Remarkable even more I thought how the musings on the nature of art and the position of the artist in Albert seem consistent with Tolstoy’s aesthetic vision which he will express forty years later in the polemical tract What is Art? (1898). As a basic tenet, Tolstoy states here that ‘Art is the human activity which consists in one man’s consciously conveying to others, by certain external signs, the feelings he has experienced, and in others being infected by those feelings and also experiencing them.’ And isn’t music an utterly mighty vehicle to infect one with feelings?
Coming to this after reading the serene Hadji Murad, the fierce, exuberant tone of Albert struck me, the tensions which the characters, their quivering with inner fire, how the story is propelled forward by the stark contrast between the lofty vocation of the artist and his downtrodden life of poverty and alcohol, nevertheless showing an intensity and tempestuousness in which one senses how Tolstoy sympathises and identifies with Albert (shortly before writing this, Tolstoy himself was leading a life of gambling, sorties to brothels, a lot of drinking (to overcome his shyness) and sleeping the day away). Also Tolstoy had his share of la vie de bohème.
Another angle to read this story from reflects on the relations between Tolstoy and Turgenev, as explored in this article. Apart from the biographical elements, Albert can be read as a rejection of what Tolstoy felt as a patronizing situation by Turgenev. Since reading Peter d’Hamecourt’s (uneven) In het spoor van de Russische ziel I knew of the tension and animosity between Dostoevsky and Turgenev (almost getting to a physical fight in Baden-Baden ), but I wasn’t aware Turgenev in general was considered a difficult man to get along with, having acrimonious quarrels with Fet, Nekrasov and Tolstoy as well, the latter nearly leading to a duel in 1861 (soothed by a letter of Turgenev taking all the blame and asking Tolstoy’s pardon – Turgenev thought Tolstoy boorish and labelled him a troglodyte). Reading on the context of this story, it turned out the young Tolstoy tried to wrestle free from the unwelcome patronship of Turgenev, and this story is a reflection of that uneasy mentor relationship: a homeless violinist fighting for (artistic) freedom trying to escape the unsolicited patronizing of a self-righteous and pompous Maecenas (a quite unflattering portrayal of Turgenev), which mostly wants to use the artist for his own ends and urges the artist to live a more conventional life.
Of the few (early) short stories I have been reading by Tolstoy so far, this one was among the more compelling ones and spurs me to further reading (What is Art?, A.N. Wilson's biography of on Tolstoy, stories by Turgenev). For music lovers there is the additional pleasure of checking out the many musical references the story presents (Mélancholie, a pastoral for violin and piano of the Belgian violinist and composer François Hubert Prume (associated with the once famous Belgian violin school), La sonnambula (opera by Vincenzo Bellini), The barber of Seville (opera by Pucchini), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Der Freischütz (Carl Maria Von Weber), Schubert (Des Mädschens Klage), Juristen-Ball-Tanzes (Johan Strauss)).
Inspired by Georg Kizewetter, a talented and alcoholic violinist whom Tolstoy met in a brothel in 1857, the short story Albert was published in 1858. Interestingly it already echoes The Kreutzer Sonata (1887) with regard to Tolstoy’s conviction on the potentially overwhelming impact of music. Music as a powerful means of creating intensity and bonds between people also plays an important part in the novella Family Happiness (1859). Remarkable even more I thought how the musings on the nature of art and the position of the artist in Albert seem consistent with Tolstoy’s aesthetic vision which he will express forty years later in the polemical tract What is Art? (1898). As a basic tenet, Tolstoy states here that ‘Art is the human activity which consists in one man’s consciously conveying to others, by certain external signs, the feelings he has experienced, and in others being infected by those feelings and also experiencing them.’ And isn’t music an utterly mighty vehicle to infect one with feelings?
"Delesov experienced an unaccustomed sensation. It was as if a cold circle, now expanding, now contracting, held his head in a vice. The roots of his hair became sensitive, cold shivers ran up his spine, something rising higher and higher in his throat pricked his nose and palate as if with fine needles, and tears involuntarily wetted his cheeks. He shook himself, tried to restrain them and wipe them unperceived, but others rose and ran down his cheeks. By some strange concatenation of impressions the first sounds of Albert's violin carried Delesov back to his early youth. Now no longer very young, tired of life and exhausted, he suddenly felt himself a self-satisfied, good-looking, blissfully foolish and unconsciously happy lad of seventeen.
He remembered his first love - for his cousin in a little pink dress; remembered his first declaration of love made in a linden avenue; remembered the warmth and incomprehensible delight of a spontaneous kiss, and the magic and undivined mystery of the Nature that then surrounded him. In the memories that returned to him she shone out amid a mist of vague hopes, uncomprehended desires, and questioning faith in the possibility of impossible happiness. All the unappreciated moments of that time arose before him one after another, not as insignificant moments of a fleeting present, but as arrested, growing, reproachful images of the past. He contemplated them with joy, and wept - wept not because the time was past that he might have spent better (if he had it again he would not have undertaken to employ it better), but merely because it was past and would never return.
Memories rose up of themselves, and Albert's violin repeated again and again: "For you that time of vigour, love, and happiness has passed for ever, and will not return. Weep for it, shed all your tears, die weeping for that time - that is the best happiness left for you."
Coming to this after reading the serene Hadji Murad, the fierce, exuberant tone of Albert struck me, the tensions which the characters, their quivering with inner fire, how the story is propelled forward by the stark contrast between the lofty vocation of the artist and his downtrodden life of poverty and alcohol, nevertheless showing an intensity and tempestuousness in which one senses how Tolstoy sympathises and identifies with Albert (shortly before writing this, Tolstoy himself was leading a life of gambling, sorties to brothels, a lot of drinking (to overcome his shyness) and sleeping the day away). Also Tolstoy had his share of la vie de bohème.
Another angle to read this story from reflects on the relations between Tolstoy and Turgenev, as explored in this article. Apart from the biographical elements, Albert can be read as a rejection of what Tolstoy felt as a patronizing situation by Turgenev. Since reading Peter d’Hamecourt’s (uneven) In het spoor van de Russische ziel I knew of the tension and animosity between Dostoevsky and Turgenev (almost getting to a physical fight in Baden-Baden ), but I wasn’t aware Turgenev in general was considered a difficult man to get along with, having acrimonious quarrels with Fet, Nekrasov and Tolstoy as well, the latter nearly leading to a duel in 1861 (soothed by a letter of Turgenev taking all the blame and asking Tolstoy’s pardon – Turgenev thought Tolstoy boorish and labelled him a troglodyte). Reading on the context of this story, it turned out the young Tolstoy tried to wrestle free from the unwelcome patronship of Turgenev, and this story is a reflection of that uneasy mentor relationship: a homeless violinist fighting for (artistic) freedom trying to escape the unsolicited patronizing of a self-righteous and pompous Maecenas (a quite unflattering portrayal of Turgenev), which mostly wants to use the artist for his own ends and urges the artist to live a more conventional life.
Of the few (early) short stories I have been reading by Tolstoy so far, this one was among the more compelling ones and spurs me to further reading (What is Art?, A.N. Wilson's biography of on Tolstoy, stories by Turgenev). For music lovers there is the additional pleasure of checking out the many musical references the story presents (Mélancholie, a pastoral for violin and piano of the Belgian violinist and composer François Hubert Prume (associated with the once famous Belgian violin school), La sonnambula (opera by Vincenzo Bellini), The barber of Seville (opera by Pucchini), Don Giovanni (Mozart), Der Freischütz (Carl Maria Von Weber), Schubert (Des Mädschens Klage), Juristen-Ball-Tanzes (Johan Strauss)).
April 9, 2017
Um extraordinário e brilhante violinista se encontra afundado no mundo da bebida por causa de um amor impossível com uma dama da alta sociedade Russa. Moribundo, andando como um mendigo, recebe a ajuda de um homem de bom coração, com o passar de alguns dias começa a adoecer. ..
June 14, 2024
Prosta do granic niemożliwości. Ponownie, przepełniona echem tego, co dla Tołstoja wiercące się i ważne. Z muzyką, charakterem i wachlarzem możliwości ścieżek nieobranych, niedodeptanych przez człowieka do końca. Podoba mi się jednak to, jak on kończy: otwarcie, łagodnie, ostrożnie następując na skrzeczącą gałąź puenty.
December 29, 2021
RTC (I am just updating so as the challenge gets completed. Will write the reviews asap, though).
July 10, 2019
Мне не понравилось слишком уж восторженное отношение Leo Tolstoy к людям искусства. Он почему-то считает их лучше тех, кто не обладает никаким талантом, якобы в них горит какой-то там священный огонь, который позволят им любить и жить по-настоящему, а все остальные просто существуют в их тени!!!
Как по мне, так именно люди искусства (и, в частности, герой этого рассказа, который по непонятным мне причинам считается повестью) в большинстве своем самые страшные эгоисты на свете, и любить они могут исключительно свою "выдающуюся" персону, а других людей замечают лишь когда последние поют им дифирамбы!!!
Также мне не понравилось, что рассказ получился очень короткий (всевозможных примечаний и послесловий по объему оказалось намного больше), и нормальной, полноценной истории не вышло.
Единственное, что подсластило горькую пилюлю - это талант Leo Tolstoy как писателя и знатока человеческой психологии!!!!
Как по мне, так именно люди искусства (и, в частности, герой этого рассказа, который по непонятным мне причинам считается повестью) в большинстве своем самые страшные эгоисты на свете, и любить они могут исключительно свою "выдающуюся" персону, а других людей замечают лишь когда последние поют им дифирамбы!!!
Также мне не понравилось, что рассказ получился очень короткий (всевозможных примечаний и послесловий по объему оказалось намного больше), и нормальной, полноценной истории не вышло.
Единственное, что подсластило горькую пилюлю - это талант Leo Tolstoy как писателя и знатока человеческой психологии!!!!
June 22, 2018
Es notable el ansia rectora de Tolstoi, segundo cuento que leo y quiere educarnos a como de lugar!
El artista/poeta es un milagro de la vida, viven y abrazan la luz y la sombra (me entra el recuerdo del poema "el profeta" de Pushkin)."Un artista no debe ser viejo...el arte requiere de muchas cualidades, pero la principal es el fuego", nos dice Albert.
Una de las cantantes lo hace sin pasión y Petrov es demasiado feliz.
"Era la realidad y el recuerdo." Esta frase de hacia el fin es total! ...su llama se consumió.
El artista/poeta es un milagro de la vida, viven y abrazan la luz y la sombra (me entra el recuerdo del poema "el profeta" de Pushkin)."Un artista no debe ser viejo...el arte requiere de muchas cualidades, pero la principal es el fuego", nos dice Albert.
Una de las cantantes lo hace sin pasión y Petrov es demasiado feliz.
"Era la realidad y el recuerdo." Esta frase de hacia el fin es total! ...su llama se consumió.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 28, 2019
Más que un libro es un cuento. Me gusta la forma en la que se describe la música y ese mundo interno y melancólico del arte, esa vida interna de Alberto.
January 15, 2025
Relatable
April 16, 2021
This is one of my "cheat books" because I listened to it as an audiobook.
Tolstoy is dear to me. I discovered his books when I was about 16 or 17 years old and ten years later I still find myself in the mood for the old and heavy and so utterly other from time to time.
Not too sure if I love Albert or not. It's probably not love when I have to think about it like that, but Tolstoy has never been an emotionally easy read for me. Albert is weird because it is one of those books that are everything but timeless. At least huge portions of it. The weird benefactor system, the class injustice, the drunken musician Albert who you do have a hard time sympathising with sometimes weren't really my cup of tea. And I def couldn't sympathise the philanthropist bachelor. I am also anything but a classical or music in general connoisseur and I feel it would have been easier for me if I was into that. The glimpse into Russian society long lost and a world long gone is always a pleasure though and it is so nice to look at the things, also the illnesses, that the author examines with a 21st century eye.
If you are looking for a happy read though Tolstoy is not for you. Ever.
Tolstoy is dear to me. I discovered his books when I was about 16 or 17 years old and ten years later I still find myself in the mood for the old and heavy and so utterly other from time to time.
Not too sure if I love Albert or not. It's probably not love when I have to think about it like that, but Tolstoy has never been an emotionally easy read for me. Albert is weird because it is one of those books that are everything but timeless. At least huge portions of it. The weird benefactor system, the class injustice, the drunken musician Albert who you do have a hard time sympathising with sometimes weren't really my cup of tea. And I def couldn't sympathise the philanthropist bachelor. I am also anything but a classical or music in general connoisseur and I feel it would have been easier for me if I was into that. The glimpse into Russian society long lost and a world long gone is always a pleasure though and it is so nice to look at the things, also the illnesses, that the author examines with a 21st century eye.
If you are looking for a happy read though Tolstoy is not for you. Ever.
April 5, 2021
A tale of a drunken musical genius with a pinch of an illusory discourse on artistic greatness, justifications and beliefs. Tolstoy uses a magical language to bring the reader's eyes and ears to the violinist's music he plays with words.
January 23, 2025
"Albert" L. Tolstoj: 3
Bardo dal cuore spezzato e alcolizzato che la gente si ostina a voler salvare contro la sua volontà.
Pietroburgo 1850 circa
Albert è un povero, ma talentuosissimo violinista che riesce a stregare gli ascoltatori solo quando è alticcio. È caduto in depressione autodistruttiva da quando è finita la storia d'amore con la sua innamorata e, da allora, si scassa il fegato un sorso alla volta. Un riccone di nome Delesov che lo sente a casa di amici se ne innamora e decide di prenderlo sotto la propria ala per dargli la possibilità di rimettersi in sesto, riprendere la carriera di violinista e andare con le proprie gambe per la sua strada. Ma la strada di Albert porta al baretto. Dopo parecchie scenate per l'astinenza forzata da alcool, Albert lascia la casa di Delesov e va a sbronzarsi male. Lo trovano per strada privo di sensi, intossicato di alcol, mezzo congelato e lo riportano in casa per salvarlo.
Bardo dal cuore spezzato e alcolizzato che la gente si ostina a voler salvare contro la sua volontà.
Pietroburgo 1850 circa
Albert è un povero, ma talentuosissimo violinista che riesce a stregare gli ascoltatori solo quando è alticcio. È caduto in depressione autodistruttiva da quando è finita la storia d'amore con la sua innamorata e, da allora, si scassa il fegato un sorso alla volta. Un riccone di nome Delesov che lo sente a casa di amici se ne innamora e decide di prenderlo sotto la propria ala per dargli la possibilità di rimettersi in sesto, riprendere la carriera di violinista e andare con le proprie gambe per la sua strada. Ma la strada di Albert porta al baretto. Dopo parecchie scenate per l'astinenza forzata da alcool, Albert lascia la casa di Delesov e va a sbronzarsi male. Lo trovano per strada privo di sensi, intossicato di alcol, mezzo congelato e lo riportano in casa per salvarlo.
June 22, 2025
In Albert, Tolstoy once again launches a sharp critique of high society and its obsession with appearances over talent. Even in the presence of pure genius, society still prioritizes manners, cleanliness, and surface respectability over real talent and truth.
But Tolstoy doesn’t stop there. He also sheds light on another uncomfortable truth: suffering people often cling to their pain, even when a way out is offered. Sometimes, the misery becomes so deeply tied to their identity that accepting help feels like losing themselves.
As always, I love Tolstoy and I always will. His writing doesn’t just expose the world’s flaws; it forces us to confront our own.
But Tolstoy doesn’t stop there. He also sheds light on another uncomfortable truth: suffering people often cling to their pain, even when a way out is offered. Sometimes, the misery becomes so deeply tied to their identity that accepting help feels like losing themselves.
As always, I love Tolstoy and I always will. His writing doesn’t just expose the world’s flaws; it forces us to confront our own.
July 24, 2023
Когда в "Современнике" напечатали этот рассказ, он остался без внимания и почти незамеченным. Идея рассказа, как это часто бывает, возникла из эпизода реальной жизни. А мне этот рассказ понравился. А в общем, когда произведения не касаются непреодолимой темы для ума этого писателя, темы войны, империализма, захватничества, творимое его страной, то вот тогда у него выходит очень неплохо. А художественным литературным мастерством он в совершенстве владел вообще с самого начала.
July 7, 2019
A very significant short story on the life through the artist's lenses. Albert is a homeless violinist who spreads joy and happiness every time he plays ; he can't seem to express his feeling or view only through music. When Delesov tries to help him , things seem to not go the way it was planned .
January 10, 2022
A glance into the narrative and imaginative skills of Mr. Tolstoy, which is truly impressive considering the era he lived in. All in all, a fine reading experience, but no fruits to take home.
By the way, Albert reminded me of Amedeo Modigliani.
By the way, Albert reminded me of Amedeo Modigliani.
November 14, 2023
Historia simple, de un artista que "muere" cuando no se le acerca alcohol o fiesta. Si tiene un significado aparte de eso, no lo encontre. ¿Quizas el hecho de que la música (el arte) puede llenarnos de vida y una vida seria nos "mata" lentamente?
August 23, 2024
The combination of a homeless violinist with great talent and being an alcoholic at the same time was a brilliant idea of Leo Tolstoy. A short, banal story, showing the brutal beauty of artists, which I think is also really reflected in today's times.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 5, 2025
"Ha pasado para ti, ha pasado para siempre el tiempo de la fuerza, del amor y de la felicidad. Ha pasado y no volverá. Llora por él, derrama todas tus lágrimas, muere llorando por aquellos días. Es la única felicidad que te queda, y la mejor".
10/10.
10/10.
December 30, 2021
Umetnik ne sme biti star!
January 1, 2022
El autor cuenta la historia bastante bien pero el desenlace se queda corto y deja un final abierto a mi parecer.
April 8, 2023
"Čas síly, lásky a štěstí je pro tebe navždy ztracený. Oplakávej ho, vyplač všechny svoje slzy, zemři v pláči - to je to největší štěstí, které ti zbývá."
January 7, 2024
Il più felice di tutti
March 9, 2024
Given over to drunkenness. Heartbreaking, such talent wasted.
December 19, 2024
Entretenido. Cuento que nos habla del amor a la música, al arte y el complejo de salvador y superioridad. El final algo abrupto.
June 19, 2025
Historia muy corta de Tolstói.
Me ha gustado mucho, hubiera sido mejor si terminaba en muerte pero terminó en delirio. Igual, muy buena!
Me ha gustado mucho, hubiera sido mejor si terminaba en muerte pero terminó en delirio. Igual, muy buena!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 13, 2025
The ugliness of alcoholism in several short chapters.
December 30, 2025
Albert es el espejo en el cual no queremos vernos, conjuga lo mejor como intérprete del violín, a la par de las brumas en las que se mueve. Magistral novela corta.
February 3, 2024
“Albert” de Lev Tolstoi, publicado por Fondo de Cultura Económica en el 2023 en la colección Vientos del Pueblo. Este cuento narra la interacción entre un hombre apellidado Delésov y Albert, un músico a quien conoce por casualidad en una fiesta, y a quien después de escucharlo tocar Mélancolie, lo invita a vivir con él. Lo que no espera Delésov es que Albert no será un huésped fácil y dócil, sino un personaje con su propia voluntad y forma de vida que causará varios roces entre ello. Siempre es un lujo leer a Tolstoi por su inmensa capacidad de observar y retratar la vida mundana y profunda. Una joya de relato. #Albert #LevTolstoi #Realismo #Cuento #Ficción #FondodeCulturaEconómica #narrativa #relatocorto #VientosdelPueblo #Victorthereader
January 30, 2024
"En el arte, como en todo combate, hay héroes que entregan todo a su servicio y que pierden la vida sin haber logrado su objetivo."
Lo leí porque mi bff me regaló el relato, y fue entretenido pero al final me perdí, no sé si sí murió o no, por los delirios de grandeza de Albert. Un gran trabajo en mostrar la complejidad de los personajes en tan pocas páginas.
Parece que el punto de la historia es que Albert era más feliz y libre tirado en la nieve medio inconsciente que bajo el techo de un hombre que lo quería "salvar" controlando su vida. Así me gusta más la historia.
Lo leí porque mi bff me regaló el relato, y fue entretenido pero al final me perdí, no sé si sí murió o no, por los delirios de grandeza de Albert. Un gran trabajo en mostrar la complejidad de los personajes en tan pocas páginas.
Parece que el punto de la historia es que Albert era más feliz y libre tirado en la nieve medio inconsciente que bajo el techo de un hombre que lo quería "salvar" controlando su vida. Así me gusta más la historia.
January 2, 2014
Неплохое произведение, но хочется его списать на более раннее творчество автора. Оно далеко не то сравни тех, которые писал Лев Николаевич Толстой в более зрелом возрасте.
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