I first came across Mikhail Glinka’s song Doubt in a novella written by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Dostoevsky is one of my favorite authors and this particular novella was the primary story in a book that contained a collection of his short stories.
The story is entitled The Eternal Husband, and it follows the main character’s strange experience with a widower. The widower was the husband of a woman the main character had a years long lover affair with. The widower’s wife, now dead, had a secret trove of hidden letters all of which came from numerous other lovers that she had taken over the years of her marriage. The widower had set out to meet all of them, and that is where Dostoevsky’s story begins.
Roughly in the middle of the novella, we learn that the widower had agreed to an arranged marriage with a beautiful young girl. The widower invites the main character to come with him to meet this family and his soon-to-be new bride. He wishes for the main character’s help in attracting his soon-to-be new bride.
Hilarity ensues when the young girl is disgusted by the widower and takes every chance she can to grow close to the main character. The scene culminates when the main character sits down at the piano to accompany himself singing Mikhail Glinka’s Doubt. Ever the eternal husband, the widower becomes aware of what is occurring and with “frantic rage” insists that both he and the main character must leave the house even as all of the women in the house are pining for the main character to stay, play the piano, and sing more.
When I looked up the song, I saw it was written for cello with a piano accompaniment. The primary cello melody is also not too terribly difficult to play and that was enough for me to decide to write out an arrangement for the small cello quartet that I play in.
The arrangement works quite well for four cellos and is suitable for any intermediate to advanced players. Weaker players can stay on the bass line which can all be played in first and half-position and is not difficult rhythmically.
Arrangement and MIDI of it is below: