Chopin:

Chopin showed special musical talents since he was a child. He could not only play the piano but also compose music. At the age of seven, he published his first piece - Polonaise in G minor. At the age of eight, he gave his first public performance. From then on, Chopin became a "prodigy" in piano playing, and was often invited to perform by the nobles of Warsaw, and for a time he became the darling of the noble salons. In 1825, Russian Tsar Alexander I, who came to Warsaw to attend the Polish Parliament, also attended one of Chopin's concerts and gave Chopin a diamond ring. These experiences of Chopin's childhood and youth formed a strong contrast with his subsequent experiences.

When Chopin was a boy, he was also exposed to folk music in urban and rural Poland and the progressive ideas of many Polish patriots. From 1826, Chopin officially became a student of the Conservatory of Music and interacted with many teachers and students with progressive ideas. Over the years, Xiao Zheng often went to the countryside for vacation. He appreciated the natural scenery of his motherland, listened to farmers singing and playing music, and participated in rural dances and weddings. The culture of the motherland and the music of the nation and folk are like seeds, sown in Chopin's heart.

Poland from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century was a country plagued by disasters, but it was also a nation full of praises and lamentations. In 1772, 1793, and 1795, the three powerful powers of Russia, Prussia, and Austria divided the weak Poland three times. They carved up the territory of Poland, enslaved the Polish people, and also wanted to stifle the national consciousness of the Polish people so that they could rule for a long time. However, as a Polish patriotic song goes: "Poland will not perish!" The Polish people have always persisted in their unyielding patriotic struggle. The progressive and national romantic literature and art of Poland in the first half of the nineteenth century played a great role in promoting this struggle. At that time, a group of patriotic thinkers and writers and artists emerged in Poland. They advocate that literature and art must have distinctive national characteristics, have ideological content that loves the people and freedom, and must be rich in emotional color. These ideas had a profound influence on Chopin. Chopin's friend and Polish poet Witwicki wrote in a letter to Chopin: "You just need to always remember that nationality, nationality, and finally nationality...just like Poland has the nature of its motherland. Similarly, there is also the melody of the motherland. The mountains, forests, rivers, and grasslands all have their own inner sound of the motherland, although not every heart can hear its voice. "He repeatedly asked Chopin to "for the people," he said. Through the people!" Chopin's teacher Elsner also said to Chopin: "You are a genius, write for the people, and write in a popular and national way." All this brought great influence to Chopin's future ideological development. profound impact.

In 1830, the July Revolution broke out in France. It not only attacked the feudal rule of the reactionary "Holy Alliance" in Europe, but also promoted revolutions in various European countries. At this time, Poland's patriotic power was re-energized, and secret patriotic organizations became active. They ignored the arrests and suppression by the reactionary authorities and brewed a new uprising. It was in such a turbulent situation that Chopin's relatives, teachers and friends urged Chopin to go abroad to further his studies and to gain honor for his motherland through his music creation and performance. For this reason, Chopin was in a fierce ideological struggle. Patriotism made him want to stay; careerism made him want to leave. He wrote: "I am still here, and I cannot decide the day of departure. I feel that if I leave Warsaw, I will never return to my hometown. I am convinced that I want to say goodbye to my hometown forever. Oh, I want to die in a place where I was not born. What a sad thing! " The pain of parting and the premonition of eternal farewell tortured him, but the encouragement, instructions and expectations of his relatives and friends inspired him, making him realize that he had the responsibility to go abroad to sing the praises of his motherland and himself through art. Nation, for which he felt excited again. He wrote: "I am willing to sing all the sounds inspired by angry and unrestrained emotions, so that my works (at least part of them) can be as John (referring to the seventeenth-century Polish king John III Sobieski). He defeated the Turkish invaders, regained the territory of his motherland, and expelled the Turks from Vienna and Hungary. The war song sung by his troops was famous in Europe.

The war songs are gone, but their echoes will still ripple along the banks of the Danube. "

On November 2, 1830, the 20-year-old Chopin said goodbye to his relatives and left the capital Warsaw in a carriage. On the outskirts of the city, Chopin accepted a silver cup filled with soil from his motherland, which symbolized Chopin will always be with his motherland in a foreign country. What moved Chopin even more was that when his relatives and friends saw him off to Volya, Chopin's birthplace, on the outskirts of Warsaw, his teacher Elsner and some students from the Warsaw Conservatory of Music, He was already waiting there and sang a chorus specially written by Elsner to bid farewell to Chopin. Even if you are far away gt;gt;:

"Your talent comes from us Grow in our country, may it be fully carried forward everywhere... Show the glory of your motherland through the sound of your music and through our Mazubek and Krakowiak (Polish folk dance music). "

Such a farewell scene and such exciting words made Chopin have mixed feelings and he couldn't help crying when he boarded the journey.

A few weeks after Chopin left the country, Warsaw exploded The uprising was successful. It is said that when Chopin heard the news of the Warsaw uprising, he was extremely excited and planned to return to his country. It was his close friend Titus who made him reluctant to go back. He hired a stage coach to catch up with him and planned to return to China with him, but failed to catch up and returned to Vienna. At this time, Xiao Zheng wrote in a letter to his friend Matuszynski in Warsaw: "Why can't I believe it?" You guys are together, why can't I be a drummer! ! ! "

The Warsaw Uprising in November 1830 achieved a brilliant victory, driving away the Russian invading army and establishing Poland's own political power. This heroic performance of the Polish people shocked the entire Europe. It was a glorious page in the history of European revolutions. However, less than a year after the victory, the achievements of the uprising were ruined due to the betrayal of the Polish nobles. The Russian invading army captured Warsaw again, and the Warsaw Uprising was suppressed. On another cold and windy day, Chopin heard the news of the fall of Warsaw on his journey to Paris. At this time, he was filled with indignation and grief, and he wrote to Tittus. He expressed his immense resentment towards the invaders: "...Ah, God, you exist! Exist without giving them retribution! You don’t care about the crimes of the Muscovites, or you are a Muscovite yourself! My poor father! My noble father, maybe he is starving, and he has no money to buy bread for his mother! My sister may have suffered the violent ravages of the unbridled Moscow scum! Paskiewicz (Paskiewicz was the Russian commander who captured Warsaw.), this bitch of M?mblev, occupied the quarters of the top monarchies in Europe! ? Muscovites will become the unifiers of the world?...Ah! Why can’t I even kill a Muscovite! "Although Chopin's father repeatedly advised him not to abandon his Russian "nationality" (all residents of Poland under Russian rule at that time had "Russian nationality"), Chopin never extended his Russian passport in Vienna and was willing to give up his "Russian nationality" ", became a "stateless" Polish exile. At the same time, Chopin in Vienna did not use the letter of introduction written by Archduke Constantine, the reactionary leader of Russia's occupation of Warsaw, to the Russian ambassador in Vienna, and he completely distanced himself from the Russian rulers. The Polish national independence movement marked by the Warsaw Uprising was like a great school of patriotism, which produced countless Polish national fighters and nurtured a group of Polish nationalists. The ten-year-old Chopin was still quite naive, but after the Warsaw Uprising, the 21-year-old Chopin had been tempered by the disasters of his motherland. His love for his motherland and his hatred of his enemies had also become stronger.

When Chopin arrived in Paris in 1831, France was in the period of the "July Dynasty" of constitutional monarchy. The dynasty represented the interests of the financial bourgeoisie, and money ruled all French politics. Paris, the economic and cultural center, has a long tradition in culture and art and has become one of the cultural and art centers in Europe. However, as Chopin said when he was in Paris: "Here is the most glorious luxury."

There is the lowest despicableness, the greatest compassion, and the greatest sin; every action and word is related to flowers and willows; there are so many shouts, clamors, rumblings, and filth that it is unimaginable to make you in this paradise. Becoming confused and at a loss, that is to say, no one can ask how a person lives... "In order to gain a foothold in Paris, Chopin interacted with people from the upper class. The environment determined that he "had to live in this circle." "In early 1833, Chopin wrote in a letter to Do Zevanovsky: "I have entered the highest society, and interacted with ambassadors, dukes, ministers... because it is said that noble taste is Starting from here; if someone listens to you in the British or Austrian embassy, ??you will immediately have greater talent; if the Duchess of Vaudemont patronizes you, you will immediately play better. " It can be seen that although Chopin opened up the situation quickly and achieved success in Paris, he was not satisfied. The luxury and hypocrisy of the upper class could not comfort the painful soul of an exile full of hatred for the country's subjugation. 1832 At the end of the year, he wrote a letter to the Minister of Fine Arts in Paris: "A Pole who has been in Paris for nearly a year and can no longer endure the tragic fate of his motherland - this is all I can use to introduce myself to your Excellency. Title - I humbly request you to make the Hall of the Conservatoire available for his concert on January 20th...". This letter clearly shows Chopin's status in Paris and his mood. And the upper class Interacting with people increasingly made him feel that "the wig concealed a huge emptiness." "Only when he was with Polish overseas compatriots did he feel friendly. He enthusiastically and selflessly helped the exiled Polish compatriots, often talking and reminiscing with them, and playing tirelessly for them. In 1836, he was known as "Poland's When Lipinski, the violinist of "Paganini" (Paganini was the most outstanding violinist in Italy at the time and famous throughout Europe), came to Paris to perform, Chopin actively prepared for him. The only requirement was that he He gave a concert for the Polish diaspora. Lipinski initially agreed, but later refused because he was going to perform in Russia soon and it would cause resentment among the Russians if he performed for the Polish diaspora in Paris. This "reason" angered Chopin, and he angrily broke off his friendship with Lipinsky. In 1837, the Russian ambassador to France attracted Chopin in the name of the Tsarist Court and asked him to accept the position of "His Majesty's Chief Pianist". Chopin flatly refused the title and stated that this was because Chopin did not participate in the Warsaw Uprising of 1830, and replied righteously: "Although I did not participate in the revolution of 1830 because I was too young at the time, my My heart is with those revolutionaries. "This firm answer and proud contempt gave the northern tyrant a resounding slap in the face. From this series of performances, it can be seen that Chopin did not live up to the expectations and instructions of his relatives, friends and teachers. He always maintained a heart that was loyal to the motherland. Heart.

Chopin quickly became famous in Paris. He won high respect through his composition, performance and piano teaching. In Paris, "entertainment turned into debauchery. Here gold... Dirty and bloody are mixed together." Although Chopin was disgusted with the upper class society in Paris, most of his activities were limited to the upper class salons. In addition, he gradually lived a superior life, which had a great impact on his thinking. Consciousness will inevitably have a certain influence and structure, making him lack proper understanding and sympathy for the bourgeois democratic revolution and social reform. This is also related to his close relationship with many Polish nobles and their children in Warsaw in 1831. After the failure of the uprising, there were thousands of Poles in exile, two-thirds of whom were in France. Most of them were intellectuals from aristocratic backgrounds. Politically speaking, these people could be roughly divided into two groups, conservatives and democrats. The Polish democrats favored constitutional monarchy but were not enthusiastic about social reform; the democrats advocated the immediate liberation of the peasants and opposed the autocracy. Chopin did not know any of the Polish democrats in Paris from an ideological point of view. Therefore, Chopin was quite indifferent to the bourgeois democratic revolutions that broke out in France in 1830 and 1848. This cannot but be said to be a reflection of class limitations on Chopin.

Chopin has settled in Paris since then, only occasionally traveling to other places. In 1835, he went to Carlsbad, Germany to briefly meet his parents. In the same year, he met Maria, the daughter of the Polish nobleman Wodezinski, in Dresden, and fell in love with her. The following year, Chopin proposed to her, but because Chopin was not a nobleman, but just "a musician" and was not a good match, Maria's father rejected him. At the end of 1836, Chopin met the French female writer George Sand. About a year later, they lived together, and they did not break up until 1847. Chopin often interacted with famous writers and artists from various countries gathered in Paris, such as Polish poet Mickiewicz, French writers Hugo and Balzac, German poet Heine, French painter Delacroix, Hungarian composer and piano player Liszt, Italian composer Bellini, French composer Berlioz, etc. Although these writers and artists often have different styles and personalities, their interactions with each other inspired each other in their thoughts and creations, which was a comfort to Chopin's spiritual life. However, the rest of Chopin's life spent in Paris was still filled with an insurmountable sense of loneliness. The feeling of being a guest in a foreign country and having no relatives always made him depressed. From the mid-1930s, Chopin suffered from frequent illnesses and became quite weak. Although public concerts brought money and honors, Chopin did not like it. His greatest joy was being with fellow Polish people. He said: "Just like I cannot refuse to give medicine to a patient, I never refuse to play the piano to Mickiewicz and Noelweid. No matter which one of them comes, I will sit down and play the piano, sometimes without even saying a word. "My music has caused them to cry more than once. Aren't these tears the highest cross (meaning reward) for a national artist?" In 1841, Chopin wrote in a letter to his friends: "Will we still return to our motherland?" ! Or completely crazy? ! I don't worry about Mickiewivan and Sobonski - these are strong heads who will not lose their sanity and strength after a few exiles. "From these words we can see Chopin's suffering as a "voluntary political exile" in a foreign country. However, he would rather suffer this pain than return to Poland to be a "submissive citizen" under foreign rule.

In 1848, he was invited to visit and perform in England and Scotland. Although he was warmly welcomed, he was very disgusted that "the British evaluate everything in pounds, and they only like art because it is a luxury product." He When I was in England, I wrote this: "In my heart, I don't want to do anything anymore... I feel sad in my heart, but I anesthetize myself... I feel a kind of dull pain. ,...I have never experienced true happiness. I feel nothing at all. I just live like a plant, patiently waiting for my own end." "Chopin's last few years. This completed the end of his personal tragedy. However, Chopin never forgot his motherland and its future rejuvenation. The Krakow Uprising broke out in Poland in 1846. After its failure, a peasant uprising broke out in Galicia. These events aroused Chopin's enthusiasm, and he cheered in his letter: "Things are going wonderfully in Krakow"; "The peasants of Galicia have set an example for the peasants of Volen and Podol; terrible things cannot be done" Avoided, but in the end, Poland will be a strong and beautiful Poland. In short, Poland. "In March 1848, the Principality of Poznan revolted and was suppressed by Prussia in April. Chopin also expressed great regret for this: "I... know all the terrible news about the Principality of Poznań. Except for misfortune, it is misfortune. I have lost all hope." Deeply concerned about the fate of the motherland, The passionate longing for the future of the motherland reflects Chopin's unswerving love for the motherland. It was this love that made Chopin express his last wish: "I know that Paskiewicz will never allow my body to be transported back to Warsaw, so at least my heart should be transported back." Chopin died in 1849 Later, according to his instructions, his body was buried in the Pierre Rashez Cemetery in Paris, next to the tomb of his most beloved composer, Gianlini. The soil of the motherland in a silver cup brought from Warsaw was scattered on his grave.

Chopin's heart was transported back to the motherland he yearned for, and was buried in the land of the motherland that nurtured him.

Beethoven:

[Edit this paragraph] Relevant information

About Beethoven (Feng Zikai)

1. The heroic Beethoven

Beethoven's greatness lies not only in being a musician. He has a beautiful soul that is deeply troubled and refined in life. He is a hero of the heart. His music is the expression of this heroic heart.

In the era before Beethoven, the great sage in the European music scene was Mozart. However, the value of Mozart's music, after all, is limited to a kind of "sound architecture", that is, it only has the meaning of existence because of the "beauty" of the music. As for Beethoven, it is even more brilliant. His music is a symbol of his great soul. Mozart's music is the art of feeling, and Beethoven's music is the sound of the soul.

The greatest work in his career, the Ninth Symphony, was composed after he became completely deaf. It is a wonderful idea that a deaf man can compose music; what is more, what he has done is the greatest masterpiece in the world! It can be seen that these are all the products of the transcendent spirit, and only heroes with a spiritual spirit who can transcend the great depression of life can obtain it. It can also be seen that fate can only control cowards and cowards for human beings, but has no control over heroes with great spirit. Beethoven's ear disease began when he was 28 years old (1798). From then until his death at the age of 57 (1827), the more than 20 years during which he was suffering from deafness and disease. However, most of the works were produced during this period. Until he entered the stage of complete deafness and could not hear the applause of the audience while standing on the band stage, he continued to compose music, and finally composed the greatest "Ninth Symphony" and stopped writing. When he was dying, he still exclaimed:

"Alas! I only wrote a few notes!"

In this sentence, we can see the greatness of his ambition.

Beethoven's "Fifth Symphony" is titled "Symphony of Destiny". Beethoven himself once said of the first theme of the first movement of this piece: "The sound of fate knocking on the door is exactly like this."

2. The Beethoven of the Madman

Beethoven was very negligent of worldliness and humanity, and was often arbitrary and contemptuous of the world. On the surface, he looks like a madman. Therefore, Beethoven had no close friends except those who could fully understand him and forgive him. And there are often conflicts with the owner of the inn where he lives, which is so fierce that he must move several times a year. Critics described his violent character as follows:

"Beethoven was a man who lived alone on an uninhabited desert island and was suddenly brought to the civilized society of Europe."

These words explain Beethoven’s side very thoroughly. Artists often have romantic and informal behaviors, and Beethoven is an extreme example. Czerny, a famous European pianist at that time, went to visit him one day and saw him crouching indoors with heavy gauze wrapped around his ears. Czerny came out and said to people:

"This man is not like the greatest musician in Europe, but rather like Robinson Crusoe drifting on a desert island."

He often Dip cotton in yellow liquid, put it in your ear, and wrap it with gauze. The beard on his forehead often grew to more than half an inch. The hair never seems to have touched the comb. It stands like a sheaf of wheat above its head. He once got so angry over a pot of soup that he didn't cook well that he picked up the pot and threw it at the host of the inn. He often pulled out the cores of candles and used them as toothpicks. Another morning, when the street was busy, I put on my pajamas and shaved my beard at the window facing the street, regardless of people's attention and surprise. One time, just to get angry, he picked up an open ink bottle and threw it on the piano keyboard. When he played the piano, his fingers would get hot after a long period of time, so he would often put a basin of cold water next to the piano. When his fingers got hot while playing, he would dip his hands in the cold water and continue playing. However, his movements were very violent. Every time he played the piano, he would sprinkle a lot of cold water on the floor. The cold water flowed down from the cracks in the floor and dripped into the beds of the residents below. The owner downstairs questioned the owner of the hotel. The owner said a few words to Beethoven, and Beethoven became angry and immediately moved out of the hotel.

Beethoven's posture is extremely ugly. The head is big, the body is short, there is no smile on the face, and the movements are extremely clumsy.

Once he wanted to learn to dance, but he couldn't move in time. According to biographers, the expression of his appearance was often cold and depressed. He is five feet four inches long, with extremely broad shoulders. He has many acne scars on his face, his skin is reddish brown and rough, and his nose is hard and straight. The fingers are short and roughly equal in length, and the backs of the hands have very long hair. His hair is long and dark, and he never combs it or wears a hat. He often goes out for walks with his hair disheveled. On windy days, his hair was blown like flames. When people meet him in the wilderness, they almost suspect him to be a demon from hell.

......

All these stubborn and angry habits are due to the great depression he holds in his heart. The source of his depression lies entirely in his deafness.

3. The distressed Beethoven

Beethoven recorded this in his diary in the winter of 1797:

“No matter how weak my body is, my heart must conquer it. I am 25 this year. I must do my best to fulfill all my wishes.”

After writing this diary, he soon experienced great physical pain that deprived him of happiness for the rest of his life. His deafness occurred in the summer of 1798.

Beethoven’s artistic life underwent a major change in the transitional period of the 18th and 19th centuries. The past was an era of influence from Haydn and Mozart, and the future is an era of independent musical style. For several years at the turn of the 18th and 1990s, Beethoven was immersed in composing music and paid almost no attention to his health. For this reason, the ear disease is getting worse. By 1801, he had to sit in the first row of chairs in the theater to hear the singers.

He wrote this in a letter to a close friend:

“Your dear Beethoven is a completely unfortunate man. He is already in contact with nature and God. Conflict! I have often cursed God, because God is sacrificing his creation to the smallest accidents of nature, and my most precious ears can no longer hear it. Most of the sound is gone. What a sad life! Everything I love has left me now. How happy I am to be as hearing as before! I will rush to tell you immediately. However, I will never get this joy! My youth has passed away, and the realization of the hopes of my youth and the completion of my artistic memory are impossible for me. I have to give up in despair. My whole life...

The following year, in 1802, his ear disease became more serious and he often had tinnitus. He was a nature lover, and walking in the wild was his greatest comfort. When he went to the wild and couldn't hear the sound of the farmer's flute, he suddenly became pessimistic and wrote "last words" to send to his friends. However, he finally became a strong man and used an unyielding attitude to fight against this deafness. Say to people:

“I must control my fate. ”

From then on, his life was all a hard battle against deafness. In 1809, when Napoleon’s army invaded Vienna and the cannonballs flew into the air, Beethoven was afraid that the sound of the cannonballs would aggravate his ear disease, so he used two He plugged his ears tightly with his fingers and lay on the bed filled with sadness.

Deafness is a great tragedy in Beethoven's life. His works are often a reflection of his life in the dark. Therefore, in Beethoven, music is a place to complain about distress, and at the same time it is an escape from distress.

Romain Rolland and "The Biography of Beethoven" (Fu Lei)

There are hundreds of Beethoven biographies in existence, and the most widely circulated is this thin volume written by Romain Rolland. It stands out from other writers and is its own book, and does not indulge in complicated details. With the advancement of science and technology, the abundance of materials, and the increasingly comfortable living conditions of mankind, Beethoven's spirit of "holding the throat of fate" and resisting suffering as his way of survival has become more apparent nowadays. However, life will not always be smooth sailing. Frustration and sorrow are still life issues that we need to face head-on. Therefore, Beethoven’s example can still inspire us.

Literary historian Mr. Zhu Dongrun recommended Roman·· Roland's "Beethoven" is one of the three major biographies in the world, and it is a good book worth reading.

Secluded in his inner life, isolated from the rest of humanity, he could only find some comfort in nature. Therese de Braunschweig said: "Nature is his only confidant." It became his refuge. Charles Nader, who met him in 1815, said that he had never seen anyone who loved flowers, trees, clouds, and nature like him... He seemed to live by nature. Beethoven wrote: "No one in the world loves the fields as much as I do... I love a tree more than a person..." When in Vienna, he walked around the city wall in a circle every day. In the countryside, from dawn to night, he walked alone, without a hat, in the sun, wind and rain. "Almighty God! - I am happy in the forest, - I am happy in the forest, - every tree carries your voice. - My God! How wonderful! - In these woods , on these hills, - a piece of tranquility, - tranquility for you to use."

(Excerpted from "The Biography of Beethoven", Anhui Literature and Art Publishing House, 1999)