Legacy of Amber by Alla Crone

Author:Alla Crone
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781504029704
Publisher: Open Road Distribution

Chapter Fifteen

For the first time since their marriage Svetlana defied Vladimir’s wishes. After all, she was not starting a professional career but had merely responded to an invitation to appear in a concert at the Zhelsob club. Sponsored by the railway company with a dinner party to follow, it could hardly be termed a professional appearance, so what was wrong with her accepting the invitation? Vladimir was becoming rigid and uncompromising, and she had to do something about it, or her marriage would become unbearable.

She chose two arias—the tender one from the first act of Verdi’s La Traviata, in which Violetta learns the meaning of true love, and the letter-writing scene from Tchaikovsky’s Eugene Onegin. Before her solo numbers, however, she was to sing a duet with Kyril Volin. After some discussion they settled on the one they had sung so well together in practice—the impassioned love duet from the first act of Madama Butterfly.

Although she knew the music well, she practiced hour after hour at home, perfecting her phrasing and nuances.

The concert was scheduled for the end of October, and as the time drew near, Svetlana decided to spend several additional hours at the music school at night; there she had the added help of her teacher, who would devote extra time to her after regular classes.

Convinced at last that Svetlana was determined to go through with the concert, Vladimir acquiesced with reluctance and showed his disapproval in moody silence. When she began to go out at night, he questioned the necessity for so much practice, but after she had explained why, he shrugged and said, “Suit yourself, but after this concert is over, I want to be sure you don’t accept any professional engagements.”

One night, as she was about to leave, Raissa came by for a visit. Svetlana looked at her pensively. Her little sister had certainly grown up. Having finished gymnasium this year, she had started at the Polytechnic Institute, studying physics and chemistry. When Svetlana had asked her why she’d chosen the sciences, Raissa shrugged and answered flippantly: “Oh, I don’t know! Maybe eventually I’ll become a pharmacist.” Then she had run her finger over the scar on her jaw and added a little too casually, “I have to do something more practical than singing, for I don’t have a pretty face to show off onstage.”

Svetlana flushed at the none-too-subtle reference to the accident on the skating rink. Somehow, Raissa always managed to remind her that the scar on her face was Svetlana’s fault.

At eighteen Raissa was conscious of changing styles, wore skirts that had risen to midcalf, and had cut her hair short in a bob.

“Why don’t you cut your hair, Svetlana?” she had asked her sister shortly after this style became popular. “You look so old fashioned with your long hair!”

But Svetlana didn’t want to change. Aware of her classical features, she knew that her long hair would survive the current fad and give her a distinct style of her own.

With the passing of

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