Music: The Harp of David

The old Russian pianist lay on his deathbed in Jerusalem, and with his last breath he spoke to his young grandson. He told of an antique piano, with a tone so beautiful that it had been called the Harp of King David. Its richly carved case—so people said—was hewn of wood from Solomon's temple in Jerusalem. That part was legend, but the piano itself was fact. It stood, the old man told young Avner Carmi, in King Victor Emanuel's palace in Rome, and Avner's mission was to call on the King one day, in...