She went up to the piano and struck a few chords; a string snapped and with a clang died away in a long discordant note… ‘Do you hear, Netochka, do you hear?’ she said, pointing to the piano as if it had suddenly inspired her. ‘That string was strained to breaking-point, it could bear it no more and has perished. Do you hear how plaintively the sound dies away?’ She spoke with difficulty. Mute spiritual anguish was reflected in her face, and her eyes were filled with tears.
the string literally dying gives a whole other layer to the meaning of music in this novel. music seems to be alive and works in the cores of all the characters.
