Courtney and the Violin of Despair

A kinder, gentler "Courtney bashing" story, from the author of Legacy

Prologue
There was once a Hungarian prince named Niklaus Esterhazy. As with most high-ranking nobles of his day, Esterhazy’s employees included a private orchestra and composer. Indeed, Prince Esterhazy is best known today as the longtime employer of the famous composer, Franz Joseph Haydn.

The Concertmaster (which is the first-chair violinist’s formal title) in Esterhazy’s orchestra was one Johann Baptiste Mitterer, a dignified, slightly balding man in his late 40s. The second-chair violinist was a worldly, slightly younger man named Ludwig Ernest Rittersohn.

Messrs Mitterer and Rittersohn got along well enough for several years, but Rittersohn eventually became discontented. He grew envious of Mitterer’s greater prestige and, frankly, of the Concertmaster’s larger salary. For a time, Rittersohn waited patiently for the older violinist to move on to either the afterlife or another employer, either of which could have happened on relatively short notice; for the good Prince was not the most generous of employers, and people generally did not live as long in those days as they typically do now.

Finally, no longer able to abide his better’s disinclination to either expire or seek employment elsewhere, Rittersohn took matters into his own hands. In the Year of Our Lord one thousand seven hundred seventy-three, Rittersohn poisoned the good Concertmaster; and Haydn and Esterhazy, suspecting nothing, straightaway appointed Rittersohn to his victim’s position.

The new Concertmaster had a violin of exceptional quality, but Mitterer’s instrument was even better, so Rittersohn took his predecessor’s violin as his own. This led to the schemer’s downfall, for the late Concertmaster’s instrument was now accursed and haunted by that worthy’s vengeful spirit. Rittersohn met with an accident soon after, and his own discarded violin likewise became haunted and accursed. These musical Hope Diamonds—Mitterer’s coming to be known as the Violin of Doom, and Rittersohn’s sometimes called the Violin of Despair—wrought more than their share of havoc over the next two centuries.

Chapter 1: The Gift
Gentle Jane was good as gold,

She always did as she was told;

She never spoke when her mouth was full,

Or caught bluebottles their legs to pull,

Or spilt plum jam on her nice new frock,

Or put white mice in the eight-day clock,

Or vivisected her last new doll,

Or fostered a passion for alcohol.

And when she grew up she was given in marriage

To a first-class earl who keeps his carriage!


 * -- W.S. Gilbert, Patience

In the Year of Our Lord one thousand nine hundred ninety-eight, a seven-year-old girl named Courtney learned how to play the violin. It quickly became apparent that she had a great deal of natural talent, and her friends and family soon came to view her as something of a child prodigy. Unbiased observers were less effusive, but readily acknowledged that Courtney had the talent to go places as a violinist if she applied herself.

As Courtney’s 11th birthday neared, her wealthy parents decided to encourage her musical studies with a grand gesture. Sparing no expense, they searched for and eventually located an antique violin of exceptional quality that its owner was willing to part with. Because Courtney was such a responsible little girl, and because there is no substitute for the right equipment, her parents scarcely blinked at the five-figure price tag. The overjoyed Courtney received this remarkable instrument—of a quality that most professional violinists would envy—on her birthday, and received a new bow as well.

The bow was simply a bow, albeit one of the very finest quality. The violin, however, was none other than the one inhabited by the restless spirit of the treacherous Ludwig Ernest Rittersohn—the fabled Violin of Despair. Courtney’s parents could not have known this, of course; and even if they had, they would surely have dismissed it as folklore.

Rittersohn’s spirit contemplated (as well as a disembodied spirit can) the fate of its soul object’s new custodian. The sort of sticky end that had befallen so many violinists who had the misfortune to cross paths with this embittered spirit seemed inappropriate—not because of any sense of mercy or pity on the spirit’s part, but because a little girl seemed unworthy of the effort.

No, Courtney would not die. Not physically, anyway; but a spiritual “death of a thousand cuts” was another matter.

The spirit was patient. It would wait for opportune moments to erode Courtney’s spirit via public humiliation.

Author's Notes

 * Prince Esterhazy and Franz Joseph Haydn are well-documented historical figures. All other characters in this story are fictional.
 * The Hope Diamond is the world's largest blue-white diamond, and is famous for supposedly being cursed.


 * The original title of this story was “Courtney and the Violin of Doom”.