Konrad and Alexandra (pdf) - Rolf Gross

A Concert in Kreuth
April 1989
I was visiting friends in Munich. To celebrate our reunion we had supper in a
neighborhood Biergarten. "Would you like to join us tomorrow for a concert at a music festival
near Tegernsee?" said my friend. "The Borodin Quartet and a Georgian pianist will play
Shostakovich and the Schubert Quintet. You are in love with Georgia, aren’t you?"
The idea of listening to music in one of the enchanted Bavarian places on a beautiful
spring night was beguiling. "Who is the pianist?"
"Eliso Abashidze." I had never heard that name.
In the soft light of a warm afternoon my friends drove me through the lovely Bavarian
countryside, rolling hills, villages flocking around the onion domes of Baroque churches, dark
woods, wide-roofed farm houses in green meadows, to Wildbad Kreuth, a nineteenth-century
spa—with a history. A bronze plaque commemorated the sojourns of Emperor Nicholas II of
Russia, his wife and children on vacation in the years before World War I.
The French doors of the small concert hall were all open yet the room was unbearably
hot. Tall, erect, self-possessed Eliso walked onto the tiny stage. Her black hair and strongly
sculpted features, the prominent nose….
I shivered.
I could not determine the color of her eyes.
Unsmiling, she bowed—the skeptical look of Modigliani’s painting—and with eloquent
elegance swept up the aging Russian string players.
I barely listened to the music. I mumbled under my breath. Who is this woman?
In the intermission I headed, like a sleepwalker, to the performers’ dressing room. Tired,
Eliso gave the intruder her most critical look. Another admirer, how boring.
"I am sorry to disturb you. My name is…"
...Alexandra’s Necklace…
Tongue-tied, I stared at the chain of golden Omegas around her neck.
She scrutinized me disconcerted—Yes, she did have Alexandra’s blue eyes! She
extended her hand. "What can I do for you?"
Barely audible, I stuttered. "My name is Konrad Rost. I am Otto Rost’s son."
Her eyes softened. Wordless, we fell into each other’s arms. She kissed me.
Next door the Borodin started Shostakovich’s tenth quartet. We just sat there and
looked at each other.
She gestured with her hands. "Otto? Grandmother Alexandra was certain that Otto had
died a long time ago. She had lost spiritual contact with him. And I looked all over Germany
and had given up all hope of ever finding any of you."
"Otto died six years ago. For thirty years I have been living in Los Angeles Is Sophia is
your mother?"
She nodded.
I smiled at her. "Your necklace…All this time I searched for the woman who wears
Konrad’s necklace!"
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