“Sonatas: Notes of the Marquis de Bradominus” Valle-Inklana in brief
The cycle consists of four stories: “Spring Sonata”, “Summer Sonata”, “Autumn Sonata” and “Winter Sonata”. They are presupposed by the “Warning” of the author: “This book is part of the” Pleasant notes “, which the Marquis de Bradomin was already quite gray-haired, was an amazing don Juan. Perhaps the most amazing of all! A Catholic, ugly and sentimental.”
“Spring Sonata”
The middle of the XIX century. Young Marquis Xavier? de Bradomin comes to Liguria with the instruction of his Holiness to bring a cardinal cap to Monsignor Stefano Gaetani. He finds the venerable prelate at the death of his sister’s house, Princess Gaetani. The room where the dying man lies is immersed in a mysterious twilight. The prelate lies on an old bed under a silk canopy. His proud profile of the Roman patrician loomed in the gloom, motionless, deadly pale, as if sculpted from marble. In the back
The princess’s daughters – Maria del Carmen, Maria del Pilar, Maria de la Soledad, Maria de las Nieves – are like her. Only the older, twenty-year-old Maria del Rosario, has black eyes, especially noticeable on her pale face. The Marquis immediately falls in love with Maria Rosario, who is about to leave for the monastery. “Looking at her, I felt that love was burning in my heart, fervid and tremulous, like a mystical flame, All my passions seemed to be purified in this sacred fire, now they exuded a fragrance like Arabian incense…” Monsignor Gaetano dies. He is buried in the monastery of the Franciscans. The bells ring. Returning to the palace of the princess, the Marquis finds Maria Rosario at the door of the chapel, where she gives alms to a crowd of beggars. The girl’s face glows with meekness and affection, like the face of a Madonna. She is full of simple-hearted faith, she lives in her palace, as in a holy abode, peace comes from her. The
“Maria Rosario,” remembers the aged and almost blind Marquis de Bradomin, “was my only love in life.”
“Summer Sonata”
Trying to forget his unhappy love, the Marquis de Bradomin decides to make a romantic trip around the world. He is attracted by Mexico – its old, its ancient dynasties and cruel gods. There he meets an amazing woman-Creole, who struck him with “his bronze exotic beauty.” Their paths intersect. First she finds herself on a sailboat on which the marquis is traveling. In one of the episodes on the ship, her cruelty is revealed, frightening and attracting Bradomina. Giant Negro, one of the sailors of a sailboat, hunts sharks with a knife. Nina Chole wants to see how he will kill the shark. But the negro refuses, because sharks are a whole flock. Ninja Cholet offers him four gold pieces, and the greed of the sailor overcomes prudence. He jumps overboard, kills one of the sharks, drags her along, but does not have time to board the ship – sharks tear it to pieces. Ninja Cholet throws gold coins into the water: “Now he will have something to pay to Charon.” In Veracruz, it turns out that Ninje Chole and the Marquis need to go in one direction, and they unite their people. Once in the monastery of San Juan de Tegusco, the marquis represents Chole as his wife and spends with her a night of love in one of the cells for the travelers. Ninja Chole anticipates how terrible will be the revenge of General Bermudez – her husband. She is tormented by another sin committed by her in ignorance – “the magnificent sin of antiquity,” as Bredomin sees it. Nina Chollet married her father, who returned from exile, unaware of this. In a skirmish with the robbers, Bradomin shows the wonders of courage, and Ninja redeems the life of the persecuted, with great contempt throwing at the feet of the bandits all their rings. Once on the way, Ninja Cholet and the Marquis greet the rider, at the sight of which the Creole turns pale and hides the face under the veil. A few more people are waiting in the distance. As soon as the rider is nearby, Ninja Chole jumps off the saddle and runs to him with a cry: “At last my eyes see you again! Here I am, kill me! My lord, my king!” Diego Bermudez strikes with a whip on the face of Ninya Cholet, grabbing him to the saddle with a rough movement and galloping away, cursing the air. The Marquis de Bradomin does not pursue the kidnapper – after all, he has dual rights to Nina Chol, she and his wife and daughter to him. The Marquise can only be comforted by the fact that he never fought in life for a woman. But the image of Ninya Cholet continues to haunt him. At night the Marquis hears gunshots, and in the morning learns that “they killed the bravest Mexican”. It was Diego Bermudez. The Marquis again meets Niño Cholet. This woman remained in the history of his life “in a way sweet, cruel and fanned by glory.”
“Autumn Sonata”
“My darling, I’m dying and I just want to see you!” – such a letter is received by the Marquis de Bradomin from his former beloved Concha. The Marquis goes to Galicia, to the secluded ancient palace of Brandes. I finish he finds lying in the bed. She is pale, her beautiful eyes glittering feverishly. The Marquis understands that she is about to die. Still, Concha stands up to receive him in her palace. The Marquis helps her to dress reverently, with which the statues of saints are removed. Concha and the Marquis dine together and spend the night together. “I admit, I have never loved her so fiercely as I did that night,” recalls the Marquis de Bradomin. By evening Koncha feels a strong chill, but does not allow to send for a doctor. She does not let go of Bradomina, remembering the childhood that they spent together, remembering their former love. Don Juan Manuel, Uncle Bradomina, comes to the palace, full of life an old man, who has a fondness for fontaine wine. The next day, the arrival of the daughters of Concha, accompanied by his cousin Isabeli, is expected. For the sake of propriety Marquis must temporarily leave the palace. He leaves with Juan Manuel, but on the way the horse drops, and they have to immediately return to Konche. The girls and Isabel have already arrived. Concha is jealous of the marquis to Isabel. In the evening, coming to the marquis, Concha dies in his arms. The Marquis goes to Isabel’s room to inform her of the terrible news, but she otherwise understands the purpose of his arrival. The Marquis remains in Isabel’s bed. Returning to himself, he looks with horror at the yellowed, distorted face of Concha. Then, pressing to the chest, carries this terrible burden along the corridors to the room of Concha. In the morning, the daughters of Concha look at the marquis. Together they go out onto the balcony and see a kite. The Marquis de Bradomin shoots, and the kite falls. The girls run up to the dead bird and drag it along. They want to show it to her mother… A strange sadness, like dusk, envelops the soul of the marquis. Poor Concha has died! “I cried like an ancient god, who stopped making sacrifices!” – concludes this story Marquis de Bradomin.
“Winter Sonata”
The Marquis is getting old. He was tired of long wanderings around the world, all his illusions collapsed, he was disappointed in everything.
The Marquis de Bradomin is in Estela to the court of Don Carlos VII, whom he supports in his struggle for the throne. Queen Margarita – at the sight of her marquis feels like a knight, he is ready to die for a lady – accepts him as an old friend. She gives him a hand embroidered with her own hand. Among the ladies of the court, the Marquis meets Maria-Antonietta Wolffani, who was once his lover. Maria-Antonietta, who possessed the “soul of the righteous and the blood of the courtesan”, spends the night with Bradomin and, annoying the words of love with complaints and regrets, announces to him that this was their last meeting, – at the insistence of the queen, she has to make peace with her husband for the sake of the common cause.
Bradomin in a skirmish with opponents is wounded in the left shoulder. In one of the closest estates, where a nun took refuge from a burnt monastery, the marquise is undergoing an operation – he has to amputate his arm. Among those who cares for the Marquis, the monastic ward, a fifteen-year-old girl, is almost a child. Maximina is ugly, but she has dreamy “velvet eyes” and a voice “like a balm.” The Marquis fascinates her with her sadness. Maximin’s soul awakens love for him. Unable to cope with the outbreak of feelings, Maximina deprives herself of life. The nuns try to hide this from Bradomin, but he guesses what happened, and he becomes terrified of his sinfulness. It embraces “the sadness of the devastated soul, the soul of don Juan, who is ruining lives, then mourning his victims.” The Marquis returns to Estela. The king and the queen express to him their appreciation and admiration for his courage. Then the last meeting of the Marquis de Bradomine and Maria-Antonietta takes place, which returns to her husband and takes care of him, giving up her love for the Marquis. “Sadness falls on my soul like winter snow, and my soul is covered with a shroud, it is like a desert field,” concludes the notes of the Marquis Xavier de Bradomin.
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