About Beethoven (Feng Zikai)

1. Beethoven the Hero

Beethoven's greatness lies not only in his being a musician. He has a beautiful soul that is extremely depressed and tempered in life, and is a spiritual hero. His music expresses this heroic heart.

Before Beethoven, Mozart was the greatest saint in European music. But the value of Mozart's music, after all, stops at a kind of "sound architecture", that is, it has the meaning of existence just because of the "beauty" of 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 voice of the soul.

The greatest work of his life, the Ninth Symphony, was written after he was completely deaf. Deaf people can make music, which is a wonderful conversation; What Fengyun has done is the greatest masterpiece in the world! It can be seen that this is the product of transcendental spirit, and only heroes who can transcend the Great Depression can get it. Cowards and helpless heroes who know that fate can only manipulate this great spirit for mankind. Beethoven's ear disease began at the age of 28 (1798). From then on to his death at the age of 57 (1827), the sun and the moon for more than 20 years were all periods of deafness and illness. However, most of the works were produced in this period. Until he entered the period of complete deafness and stood on the stage and couldn't hear the applause of the audience, he continued to compose music and finally wrote the greatest ninth symphony. On his deathbed, he still cried with a sigh:

"alas! I only wrote a few notes! "

From this sentence, we can see that his ambition is great.

Beethoven's fifth symphony is entitled Symphony of Destiny. Beethoven himself once pointed to the first theme of the first movement of this song and said:

"That's the sound of fate knocking at the door."

2. Beethoven of fanatics

Beethoven ignored the worldly wisdom, often acting arbitrarily and despising life. On the surface, he is a fanatic. So Beethoven had no intimate friends, except those who could understand him very well and forgive him. For the owner of the hotel where he lives, there are often contradictions. As for the fierce, I must move several times a year. Critics describe his violent character like this:

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

This statement made Beethoven's side see it very thoroughly. Self-invited artists often have romantic and informal behaviors, and Beethoven is an extreme example. At that time, the famous European pianist Cherny visited him one day and found him curled up indoors with thick gauze wrapped around his ears. Cherny came out and said to people:

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

He often dipped cotton in yellow medicine, stuffed it in his ear and wrapped it in gauze. The beard on his chin usually grows to more than half an inch. Hair never seems to touch the guide bar. Ears of wheat usually stand on the head. He was once angry because a pot of soup was not cooked well, so he picked it up and threw it at the hotel owner. He often pulls out the candle heart and uses it as a toothpick. When the street is busy in the morning, I wear pajamas and shave at the window facing the street, regardless of people's attention and surprise. Once, in order to get angry, I picked up an open ink bottle and threw it on the keyboard of the piano. When he plays the piano, because his fingers are hot for a long time, he often puts a pot of cold water next to the piano. When his fingers were hot, he dipped his hand in cold water and continued playing. However, his movements are chaotic. Every time he plays the piano, he spills a lot of cold water on the floor. These cold water will flow down from the cracks in the floor and drip into the bed where the people below live. The host downstairs questioned the host of the hostel. The host said a few words to Beethoven, and Beethoven got angry and immediately moved out of the hostel.

Beethoven's posture is extremely ugly. His head is big, his body is short, it is difficult to smile on his face, and his movements are extremely clumsy. Once he wanted to learn to dance, but he couldn't keep up with the beat. It is reported that the reporter said that his facial expression is often cold and depressed. He is five feet four inches long, with broad shoulders, a pockmarked face, a rough brown face and a hard straight nose. The fingers are short, the five fingers are slightly equal in length, and the back of the hand has long hair. I have black hair. I never wear a comb or a hat. I often go out for a walk with my hair on. On windy days, his hair was blown like a flame. People met him in the middle of nowhere and suspected that he was a demon in hell.

……

All these stubborn and angry habits are due to his great depression. The root of his pain lies in his deafness.

3. Beethoven in distress

Beethoven recorded this in 1797' s winter diary:

"No matter how weak my body is, my heart must conquer him. I am 25 years old. I must try my best to realize all my wishes. "

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

Beethoven's artistic life changed greatly during the18th century and19th century. It used to be an era influenced by Haydn and Mozart, and later it was an era of independent musical style. During the years between18th century and19th century, Beethoven was so absorbed in composing that he hardly paid attention to his health. Because of this, ear diseases are getting worse. At 180 1, he had to sit in the first row of chairs in the theater to hear the singer sing.

In a letter to a close friend, he said this:

"Your dear Beethoven is an unfortunate man. He has clashed with nature and God! I often curse the gods. Because God regards his creation as the most subtle fact in nature? Everything I loved has left me. How happy it is to have no ear disease as before! If I can listen as well as before, I really want to come and tell you at once. However, I will never get this kind of happiness! My youth has passed away, and it is impossible for me to realize my youthful hope and complete my artistic memory. I had to give up my life in great sorrow. ……

The next year, 1802, his ear disease worsened and he often had tinnitus. He is a man who loves nature, and walking in the wild is his greatest comfort. At this time, he went to the wild, didn't recognize the farmer's flute, and immediately became pessimistic and wrote a "Last Words" for his friends. However, he finally became a strong man, fighting this deafness disease with an indomitable attitude. He once said to people:

"I must control my own destiny."

From then on, life is a painful struggle of deafness. 1809, Napoleon's army invaded Vienna, and the shells flew away in the air. Beethoven was afraid that the sound of the shells would aggravate his ear disease. He stuck his ears tightly with two fingers and lay in bed sadly.

Deafness is a great sorrow in Beethoven's life. His works are often a reflection of life. He can shine in the dark. Therefore, in Beethoven's view, music is a place to tell distress, and it is also a place to escape from distress.

(Selected from Stories of Ten Modern Western Musicians, Hunan Literature and Art Publishing House, 200 1 edition)

Fourth, romain rolland and Beethoven's Biography (Fu Lei)

Beethoven has been circulated for hundreds of times, and the most popular one is this thin book written by romain rolland, which left other schools and became his own. He won with the spirit of macro presentation, instead of indulging in numerous details. With the progress of science and technology and the richness of material, the living conditions of human beings are becoming more and more comfortable. Beethoven's spirit of "grasping the throat of fate" as his lifestyle has been slightly broadened. However, life will not always be smooth sailing, setbacks and troubles still need us to face up to life problems, so we can still feel something from Beethoven's example.

Zhu Dongrun, a literary historian, recommended romain rolland's Biography of Beethoven as one of the three great biographies in the world, which is a good book worth reading.

He hides in his inner world, isolated from the world, and can only find some comfort in nature. Trevor T. Brunswick said, "Nature is his only confidant." This became his refuge. Charlie Nader met him at 18 15. He said that he had never seen anyone who loved flowers, clouds and nature so much ... It seemed that he was born to live. Beethoven wrote, "No one in the world loves the fields as much as I do … I love a tree more than a person …" When he was in Vienna, he walked around the city wall every day. In the country, from morning till night, he walks outside alone, without a hat, facing the sun and the wind and rain. "Almighty God! I am happy in the forest, I am happy in the forest, and every tree conveys your voice. Oh, dear! How amazing! In these Woods, on these hills, there is peace, and peace is at your disposal. "

Beethoven was deaf for more than 20 years before his death, and he usually hoped that his ears would recover day and night. At the last moment of his life, he said intermittently, "You can hear it when you get to heaven." All the people waiting at the bedside were in tears.