Gertrud

The narrator reflects on a life organized around an inner musical calling discovered in childhood, describing music as refuge, consolation, and the highest form of harmony that lends meaning to existence. He recounts learning the violin, resisting parental plans, finding a sympathetic teacher, and deciding to pursue music despite uncertainty. Early romantic longing and the impulse to set melodies down mark formative moments. Throughout, the narrative contrasts an inner, self-fashioned destiny of sound and harmony with an outward life full of chance, discord, and the regret of not having wholly transformed lived experience into song.