Schumann
(1810-1856) was a famous German composer and music critic. He was born in a bookseller's family in Zwickau, Germany, and loved music and literature since childhood.
Due to family prejudice, he studied law at university when he was young and could only study music in his spare time. When he was able to specialize in music after a tortuous struggle, he was eager for success and used mechanical devices to practice piano fingering, which injured his fingers and lost the possibility of becoming a pianist. He then devoted himself to music creation and music criticism.
Schumann was emotionally sensitive by nature and had democratic ideas. In 1834, he founded the "New Music Magazine", which played an important role in changing the outdated music atmosphere at that time and promoting the development of romantic art. He cared about and supported unknown musicians such as Chopin, Berlioz, Liszt, Brahms, Wagner, etc. In 1838, the reactionary authorities in Vienna discovered that he introduced Schubert's "Symphony in C Major" and forced him to be unable to work. He returned to Leipzig in 1839.
In 1840, he married Clara, a famous pianist at the time. He taught at the Leipzig Conservatoire in 1843 and died of mental illness in 1856.
Schumann's representative works include: piano music "Butterfly", "Carnival", "Symphonic Etude", "Fantasia", etc. These music promoted the development of romantic music style. In 1840, he wrote 138 songs, known as the "Song Literary Collection". He also wrote four symphonies, as well as "Piano Concerto in A Minor", "Manfred Overture", etc.
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Mozart
Austrian composer Mozart (1756-1791) is a rare wizard in the history of music. He was born into a musical family, his father was an experienced violinist. Mozart began learning piano when he was 3 years old. When he was 4 years old, he could memorize ordinary music after just playing it a few times. child prodigy".
He was born in a family of court musicians in Salzburg. He showed extremely high musical talent at a very young age. He was excellent in improvisation and composition and was known as a "child prodigy". From 1773, he served as court musician of the Archbishop of Salzburg. Yearning for a free life and dissatisfied with the bishop's strict control over him, he angrily resigned in 1781 and came to Vienna, embarking on the difficult path of a free musician. There were many innovative elements in his creations, but they were not welcomed by the conventional people at the time. Therefore, he was under great financial pressure and often relied on debt to survive. However, he was willing to live a poor and free life as a musician. He once said, "My tongue has tasted the taste of death, and my creations are still optimistic." In his short life, he created twenty-two operas, the most famous of which is "Figaro" "The Wedding", "Tang·Heng", "The Magic Flute"; forty-nine symphonies, among which the "Thirty-ninth", "Fortieth" and "Forty-first" symphonies are the most famous. He also composed many works such as solos, piano pieces, and chamber ensembles. Mozart's creations were deeply influenced by Bach, Haydn and others. His works have exquisite and well-proportioned structures, rich singing melodies, clear and optimistic styles, and his orchestration focuses on timbre effects, which had a great influence on the music creation of later generations---- The last two years of Mozart's life were his most difficult financially. When he died on December 5, 1791, his wife was seriously ill and the family didn't even have a change. He was buried in a poor man's cemetery with no relatives to bury him - Mozart was a member of the Vienna Classical Music School. His creations are a glorious summary of the achievements in all aspects of European musical culture in the eighteenth century. He laid the foundation for German national opera and created a new genre of realistic musicals; he expanded and innovated the content of instrumental works, making the form of symphonies and chamber music particularly rigorous.
With his tireless efforts and exploration in creation, Mozart brought the musical art of the 18th century to a new height and prepared conditions for the further development of later music - this is Mozart's contribution in the history of music.
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Haydn
Joseph Haydn was born in the Austrian village of Rolau on April 1, 1732, and died in Vienna on May 1, 1809. Haydn is an important composer with great influence in the history of world music. He was the first representative of the Viennese classical music school and a composer with a creative spirit. ?
Haydn’s father was a carriage maker, his mother was a cook, and both parents were music lovers, which gave Haydn the opportunity to be influenced by music since he was a child. His family was poor. In order to study, he left his parents at the age of six and went to Vienna. Haydn had superhuman musical talent. At the age of eight, he was selected as a member of the children's choir of the Staifang Church at that time. Later, when he grew up, his voice changed and he was kicked out of the choir. From then on, he lived on the streets and experienced all the hardships in the world. Fortunately, he was discovered by a singer and saved by him, and he barely survived. This period can be said to be the most difficult period of his life. Although his life was difficult, his belief in loving music never wavered. He worked hard to study music, and finally received the help of the Hungarian nobleman Paul Esterházy and became the marquis's court musician. After that, Haydn lived a stable life until his later years. Most of his works were created during this period. Because of his cheerful personality, security in life, and respect for his personality, his works always sound peaceful and optimistic. , unlike Beethoven's music, which has a strong fighting nature. ?
Haydn's main contribution to classical music is the symphony and quartet. Because he made a huge contribution to the formation and perfection of the symphony genre, he is called the "Father of the Symphony". ?
Haydn has a kind character, sincerity and simplicity, and is a humanitarian. These characteristics of his are very clearly reflected in his music. He also enthusiastically cared for young musicians. Composers such as Mozart and Beethoven all sought advice from Haydn and respectfully called him "our father." ?
Haydn’s music style is passionate, elegant, and full of an atmosphere of joy, happiness, and peace. His music is like a beautiful pastoral poem. He always uses this style of writing to praise nature and life. In his works, you can often feel the distinct Austrian folk song style. Another characteristic of Haydn's works is his clever sense of humor, and his music is full of pleasant and unique taste. ?
Haydn was a prolific composer with a wide range of works, including operas, oratorios, oratorios, symphonies, instrumental concertos, string quartets and other chamber music. . His most representative works include "Astonishment Symphony", "Farewell Symphony", "Clock Symphony", oratorio "Genesis" and "Emperor Quartet". These works maintain close ties with Austrian folk music, profoundly reflect Haydn's simplicity, clarity, humor and optimism in his music style, and have a huge impact on the creation of future generations of musicians. Haydn visited London twice in his later years and achieved great success, and composed the "London Symphony". Haydn made great achievements in his life and occupied a very important position in the history of world music.
Schubert
----Austrian composer, born on January 31, 1797 in a middle-class citizen family in the suburbs of Vienna. In his childhood, he learned to play the organ, piano and violin from his family's musical life, and mastered basic composition methods and choral arts. He was impoverished and died young at the age of thirty-one and ten. According to his last wish, people buried him next to the tomb of Beethoven, whom he admired. Schubert lived during the transition period between classicism and romanticism.
His symphonic style inherited the tradition of classicism, but his art songs and piano works were completely romantic. Speaking of Schubert's songs, you can quote Schumann's comment on the "Symphony in C Major": "This kind of music leads us into a situation that makes us forget what we had before"
< p> BachBach was born on March 21, 1685 in the German city of Eisenach. His family is a musical family, and some famous musicians have appeared in the Bach family since about the 16th century. Among the more than 20 musicians born in this family, Bach had the highest achievement and the most famous name. Composed "Well-Tempered Piano Collection". In terms of piano playing skills, he perfected the use of fingering, which played a huge role in promoting the creation and performance of piano music and the development of piano music.
Bach created a large number of works throughout his life. In addition to the famous "Well-Tempered Piano Collection", there are also "Toccata and Fugue in D Minor", "Brandenberg Concerto" and " Peasant Cantata" etc.
Bach inherited and carried forward the creative techniques of his predecessors, brought polyphony to a new stage, and made a great contribution to the perfection of the violin concerto form. His "Brandenburg Concerto" played a great role in the emergence of symphonic music. His piano music is also very prominent, laying the foundation for the later emergence of Beethoven's piano music. Bach was not only a great composer, but also an outstanding performer and an excellent music educator. He was poor when he was alive, and no one cared about his works. It took decades after his death for people to pay attention to them. He became the greatest classical music master respected by people, and was known as the father of music in the history of world music.
Liszt
Hungarian composer, pianist, and music critic.
Life: Liszt was born in the village of Leiding in Sopron, western Hungary, on October 22, 1811. He chose Weimar, Germany to settle down, engaged in creation, and served as Weimar court music director and theater conductor. At this time, revolutions broke out one after another across Europe. He sympathized with and supported this revolution and created "Hungarian Cantata" and "Workers Cantata". After the failure of the Hungarian Revolution in 1849, he sadly wrote the piano piece "Funeral Procession" and in 1854 he wrote the symphonic poem "The Funeral of a Hero" to commemorate the revolutionary martyrs. He conducts and performs a new opera every season, holds concerts frequently, and strongly recommends classical works and works by young composers. While gradually mastering orchestral writing skills, he created the first single-movement title symphony poem, and wrote 12 works of this genre in a row (he only wrote the final 13th in his later years). Liszt also composed other important works during this period, such as two symphonies with chorus ("Dante Symphony" and "Puest Symphony"), Piano Concertos No. 1 and 2, and "Hungarian Rhapsody" No. 13. , "Sonata in B Minor" and many other piano pieces and lyric songs. In addition, as a music critic, Liszt wrote a series of music criticism articles, such as "Berlioz and His Harold Symphony", "Robert Schumann", etc. He also organized the All-German Musicians Association and made Weimar the center of activities of the New German School of Music (also known as the Weimar School of Music). This was a golden period in his career, especially in his creation. However, due to his prejudices, he was criticized when he conducted the opera "The Barber of Baghdad" by his student P. Cornelius in 1858. In 1860, he and R. Wagner were attacked in newspapers, coupled with a series of setbacks such as the death of his youngest son and his failure to formally marry Caroline, his piano works were consistent with his playing style ( Except for some works in his later years). His "Advanced Technique Etude" is famous for its difficult techniques and vivid images. Among his piano music, those that are famous for their passion and poetry include "Dante Sonata", "Petrarch's Sonnets", "Dream of Love", etc., and those that are famous for their tragic and heroic revolutionary sentiments include "Lyon" and "The Funeral". "Procession" and so on; the vigorous one is "Piano Concerto No. 1"; the thoughtful and dramatic one is "Piano Sonata in B minor"; the one with the most national and folk characteristics is "Hungarian Rhapsody", the second one of which uses folk music. The recruitment dance is the most typical. His later works reflect his exploration of new techniques.
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Tchaikovsky
p>Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893) was a great Russian composer and music educator in the 19th century. He was known as the great Russian music master. He was born on May 7, 1840 in the Ural city of Vodginsk. His father was the director and engineer of a metallurgical factory. His mother loved music and was good at singing and playing the piano. Therefore, their family was full of musical atmosphere. He has shown extraordinary musical talent since he was a child, but his family never thought that he would become a professional musician in the future.
Tchaikovsky entered Petersburg Law School when he was ten years old, but he still used his spare time to continue learning piano and often went to the opera. After graduating in 1859, he served in the Ministry of Justice. During this period, he has been studying music and participating in social piano playing and creative activities. In 1862, Tchaikovsky entered the Petersburg Conservatory of Music to study, and he finally embarked on the decisive path to receive real professional music education. After graduation (1866), at the invitation of Nikolai Rubinstein, Tchaikovsky became a professor at the Moscow Conservatory, which lasted eleven years. But he was often troubled by the boring lecture work that hindered his creative activities. Even so, he still created a variety of excellent works, including the first three symphonies and the symphonic poem "Franchi". "Sca da Limini", the fantasy overture "Romeo and Juliet", the dance drama "Swan Lake" and "Piano Concerto No. 1
", etc. This was the first period of Tchaikovsky's creation.
In 1877, Tchaikovsky's life took a major turning point. He got married that year and divorced quickly. This was the most painful year in his life. He suffered from severe neurasthenia. For this reason, he resigned from the conservatory and ended his heavy teaching work forever. Thereafter, before 1885, he mainly lived in the countryside or abroad, mostly in Switzerland or Italy. During this period, through Rubinstein's introduction, he received the appreciation and support (1877-1890) of a wealthy widow who loved music and was very generous - Mrs. Meck, which made it possible for him to concentrate on music creation. At the same time, starting from 1877, it was the heyday of Tchaikovsky's creation. He began to compose two works of genius - the opera "Eugene Onegin" and his famous work "Fourth Symphony".
At this time, the real life in Russia entered a reactionary period, and the revolutionary forces moved underground. All progressive and democratic expressions of Russian social thought and Russian art were brutally suppressed. Some of his important works during this period reflect the social mood of the dark reactionary period under the rule of Alexander III - the Russian people, especially the Russian intellectuals, felt confused and overwhelmed, and pondered the fate of their motherland. and the meaning of life. But he was not passive and inactive. Tchaikovsky once said in his diary: "From completely obeying fate, to doubting fate, and finally determined to overcome the tragic fate through struggle", thus showing his attitude towards life. Be positive.
Tchaikovsky's later years were the peak period of his creation. From 1888 to 18**, he visited Germany, the Czech Republic, France and the United Kingdom, and formed friendships with Brahms, Grieg, Dvo?ák, Cournot, Massenet, etc. In 1891, he went on a performance trip to the United States and achieved great success. In June 1893, the University of Cambridge awarded him an honorary doctorate.
During this period, in addition to composing "Eugene Onegin" and "The Fourth Symphony", he also composed the "Fifth Symphony", "Manfried Symphony", the opera "The Queen of Spades", "Iolanta", the dance drama "Sleeping Beauty", "The Nutcracker"; and "The Tempest", "Italian Caprice", "1812 Overture", "Violin Concerto in D Major", cello "Rococo" "Variations on a Theme" as well as various instrumental ensembles, piano solos, vocal romances, etc. Jiping has dabbled in all genres. In particular, the "Sixth (Pathétique) Symphony" he wrote in the summer of 1893 was his final work. The author personally conducted the first performance of this work in Petersburg on October 16 of the same year. Unexpectedly, he was accidentally infected with cholera on October 21, and unfortunately passed away on October 25.
Tchaikovsky is a great Russian on a world scale who summed up the entire era of musical development in Europe. He established his own grand symphonic music system, which was different from Beethoven's system, but summarized many developments of symphonic music after Beethoven in a Russian style, making him one of the pinnacle figures in symphonic music. His music is one of the highest achievements of Russian culture in the field of art. Tchaikovsky is also one of the Western European composers familiar and loved by our people. Tchaikovsky wrote seven symphonies in his lifetime, among which "Symphony No. 1 in G minor" was his debut in the symphony genre. It is a real Russian symphony, characterized by its focus on psychological description, Full of patriotic lyricism. This symphony is also the stepping stone and "doorway" for people to understand his symphonic works.
Tchaikovsky once said: "I wholeheartedly long for my music to spread, and I long for more people to like it and get comfort and support from this." There have been many musicians in history. For their talents, professional music workers have given more modest evaluations than ordinary listeners. But what Tchaikovsky always pursued was that his music moved more people. , loved by most people, this wish was fulfilled during his lifetime. Tchaikovsky's close friends are not only professional musicians, but also a large number of unknown listeners. His music strives to use the most direct way of expressing personal feelings to express things of the most universal significance. He organizes a layer of poetry in life and charming elements of human emotions in a musical language that everyone can understand. Therefore, Can touch people's hearts.
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Karl Czerny
p>In 1791, the famous Austrian pianist, educator and composer Czerny was born into a musical family in Vienna. He could play the piano when he was 3 years old, and record his musical thoughts when he was 7 years old. At the age of 10, he was able to play all the piano works of Mozart and Clementi clearly and fluently, and he had extraordinary musical memory. In 1800, 9-year-old Czerny had his first performance as a pianist in Vienna. In 1801, Czerny, who was only 10 years old, went to see Beethoven. Beethoven was moved by Czerny's wonderful performance and gladly accepted the student. Later, Czerny played Beethoven's "C major" successively. "Concerto" and "Emperor Concerto", which made him famous.
Czerny's performance attracted great attention from critics, who considered him to be the most important pianist in Vienna after Hummel. However, due to Czerny's frail body, shyness and introversion, he was more suitable for teaching than playing. Therefore, from the age of 15, Czerny began his teaching career to which he devoted his life. As an outstanding piano teacher, he trained a large number of talented students, including Dole, Clark, Iyer, Selberg, etc., and the most famous one is the generation of piano master Liszt.
When Liszt was 9 years old, he had the honor to visit Czerny.
According to Czerny's autobiography: Liszt's playing at that time was very irregular, rough and chaotic. His improvisations did not have a solid harmonic foundation and relied entirely on inspiration. However, there is a kind of innate talent hidden in his playing. It is this rare temperament that makes Czerny think this person is a talent. After Czerny's careful training and Liszt's hard work and intelligence, after several months of practice, when Liszt played the works of Hummel, Beethoven, and Bach, Czerny did not need to pay attention to his performance. Techniques, and focused on letting him understand the writing styles of various composers, Czerny constantly browsed new works for him, giving Liszt an astonishing ability to read music. A year later, Liszt held a public performance that caused a sensation throughout Vienna. However, Czerny did not limit Liszt to rigid and mechanical technical exercises, but fully allowed him to display his talents, making him a famous piano master in history.
As an outstanding piano educator, Czerny’s achievement is not only to cultivate a group of famous pianists, but more importantly, he has established a complete set of pianists in his long-term teaching practice. teaching system. Czerny wrote a large number of piano etudes and papers, which guided the healthy development of the art of piano performance at that time. These etudes integrate the classical Athenian style and Clementi's dynamic style. They are carefully arranged and strictly classified, from shallow to deep, to adapt to the practice of piano students at different levels.
As Beethoven’s student and Liszt’s teacher, Czerny occupies a unique position in the history of piano performance in the 19th century. If Clementi's dynamic playing style and Liszt's playing techniques are two milestones in the history of piano performance, then Czerny was the one who paved the way and bridged these two milestones. Today, it has been 136 years since Czerny left us. Over this century, great changes have taken place in the creation and performance of piano music, but Czerny’s piano etudes still have great practical significance today. Especially for the training of basic finger skills and the performance of Viennese classical works, it is indispensable nourishment. His outstanding contributions to the art of piano performance are worthy of eternal commemoration and admiration by future generations.
His piano etudes play a certain role in training fingers and playing skills, and are widely used as piano teaching materials in many countries. Among them, "Preliminary Piano Tutorial" (Operation No. 599), "Piano Smooth Etude" (Operation No. 849), "Quick Piano Etudes" (Operation No. 299), "Technical Exercises for Finger Dexterity" (Operation No. 740, also (No. 699) and "Advanced Technical Etude" (No. 365) are often selected as the main piano teaching materials in our country. Other etudes occasionally used include works 139, 821, 636, 221, 721, 337, 261, 553, 300, 335, 355, 399, 400, 500, and 718, which is specially designed to train left-hand skills.
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Beethoven
< p>Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) is the world's most famous German musician since the late eighteenth century. Beethoven was born in Bonn on the Rhine River in Germany on December 26, 1770. His grandfather was originally from the Netherlands. After immigrating to Germany, he served as the local court music director. His father was a tenor singer, and his mother was the daughter of a palace cook. Beethoven grew up during the period when Joseph II implemented "enlightened autocracy", and the rulers of Bonn also implemented some reform measures. Bonn became one of the centers of the German Enlightenment at that time. Beethoven grew up in such an environment during his childhood.However, Beethoven had an unhappy childhood. His alcoholic father ruined the family business. He tried to turn the four-year-old Beethoven into a cash cow. He wanted his son to become a Mozart-like child prodigy, so he not only forced his child to He practiced piano, and often came home drunk in the middle of the night, dragging his children out of their sleep to play the piano. Beethoven, who was under eight years old, was forced to perform and perform in front of Cohen's audience. Beethoven, who was eleven years old, began to perform in the theater working in a band. This harsh childhood life enabled Beethoven to embark on the independent path of making a living through music very early, and at the same time developed his perseverance and stubborn character. The period from 1815 to 1819 was a four-year period of crisis that Beethoven experienced. At that time, Europe fell into a period of reactionary feudal restoration, the revolutionary power of the bourgeoisie was strangled, and darkness enveloped the European continent. Beethoven's thoughts during this period were relatively complex, and his confidence and determination were disturbed by disappointment and wavering; his creative heroic style changed to a lyrical style; he produced very few works, and spent most of his time collecting, exploring and adapting folk songs from various European countries. superior. This fully shows that the pacifists in the period of rising bourgeoisie have their historical limitations. However, Beethoven finally struggled out of silence and passed his crisis period. From 1819 onwards, Beethoven once again focused his attention on the anti-feudal struggle. The five piano sonatas, five string quartets, and even the greatest of his creations, the Ninth Symphony (Choral Symphony), all have profound significance.
----Polish composer, half French. His father immigrated to Warsaw and taught French to the aristocratic children. Chopin showed musical talent as a child and studied at the newly established Warsaw Conservatoire. While at school, he fell in love with the young singer Konstancia Gratkovska. When he was nineteen years old, he wrote the "Piano Concerto in F minor". It is said that this girl inspired Chopin's creative inspiration. In September 1831, Chopin came to Paris, and the rest of his life was connected with the artistic life of this city. Together. Chopin interacted with many outstanding artists in the salon, such as musicians Liszt and Berlioz, writers Hugo, Balzac, George Sand, Heine, and painter Delacroix. Through Liszt, Chopin got acquainted with Madame Aurore Dudewang, the world-famous novelist George Sand, who "had a pair of melancholy eyes". Chopin's first impression of her was not good, but he was soon conquered by her charm. His musical imagination reached a fever pitch, dominated by a passion such as he had never experienced before. For the next eight years, Chopin spent every summer at George Sand's villa in Nohant. These years were also the most prosperous period for Chopin's creation. But his health gradually deteriorated, and his relationship with George Sand also broke down. His last letters are full of lonely despair. He performed in England in 1848 and died a few months after returning to Paris at the age of thirty-nine. His funeral was performed to Mozart's Requiem and his own Funeral March. He was buried in Lachaise Cemetery, and a friend spread Polish soil on his grave. Chopin was one of the most original artists of the Romantic era, and his style was entirely his own. Never confuse his style with anyone else's. Among the first-class artists, Chopin was the only master who concentrated his creative life on the piano. From the beginning, his imagination was dedicated to the keyboard, and he created a world within this narrow structure. His genius transformed even the limitations of the piano into a source of beauty. The inability to play sustained notes of any length is of course a major limitation of the piano, but Chopin masterfully overcame these limitations. His contribution to the formation of modern piano style is no less than that of any other musician. Chopin used the pedal to continue the chords that were widely spaced in the bass, forming a sound group that lingered with a charming melody. “Every note must sing,” he told his students. In his music, delicate embellishments—tremolos, grace notes, light transitions—magically lengthened those single notes. All of this is always arranged smoothly, and the music almost seems to play itself - in Chopin, maternal blood is dominant, and he is the first to strongly highlight the Slavic national elements in his music. A great composer, from then on, Slavic national elements were included in the mainstream of European music. In Chopin's war-atmosphere Polonaise, the blood of the Polish nation boils particularly powerfully, and their vigorous, brave and arching melody is like a bent steel bar.
The knight-like mazurka sparkles with fiery and brilliant gestures; sweet tenderness and witty coquettishness run through the waltz. In addition to these spiritualized dance music forms, Chopin also wrote fantasies, scherzos, ballades, impromptu, preludes, and sonatas. His expressions of emotion are sometimes as mysterious as the devil, and sometimes as fascinating as the water monster, but they are always warm and kind. Spirituality, which became a universal language through his lyricism, celebrates its greatest triumphs in his brilliant etudes, while his nocturnes are his dreams in solitude, in which he confides to the still night one's most earnest wishes. eager. Although he appears to be a lucky darling, in fact, like many of his romantic contemporaries, he is also a man who has suffered a lot in life.