2020 coincides with the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, and the Bonn-born music master still reverberates around the world, and music fans around the world have set off a wave of commemoration. "In China, as early as a hundred years ago, the music magazine founded by Li Shutong introduced Beethoven from Europe to the general public for the first time." A few days ago, following the "Jiangnan Cultural Season" series, the Shanghai Xingzhi Reading Club opened the "Classical Music Appreciation Season", and Wang Yong, dean of the School of Music of Shanghai University, started from The heavyweight of classical music, Beethoven, took readers to experience the greatness of "Le Sheng" and get close to the charm of classical music.
Beethoven spent his childhood in Bonn, and his father's harsh education did not make him a "prodigy" like Mozart. As a young man, he went to Vienna to complete his studies and further studies, making a living by teaching piano, and soon benefited from his outstanding musical talents and social skills, and Beethoven was admired by high society and recognized by the industry.
Stills from the biographical film Copy beethoven
There are many stories about Beethoven, and while musicologists "burn the scenery", they also bring a lot of fun. For example, is the well-known "Moonlight Sonata" really composed by Beethoven for the blind girl of the shoemaker's family by chance?
Wang Yong said that in fact, Beethoven is not a master of improvisation, so the possibility is not very high. Perhaps he was just what one musician saw after listening to the first movement, while another musician thought that the dark tide in it had the meaning of a murder by the lake.
Similarly, is "To Alice" on Christmas Eve real? Was it really Beethoven playing for the sake of the girl Alice for her dying neighbor on her sickbed? According to research, "To Alice" was not originally included in Beethoven's works, and many years later, someone found this score when sorting out the relics of Beethoven's students, and was verified by German musicologists at that time as Beethoven's work, and the name "To Alice" was added when editing and publishing.
Not only the works, but also many true and false distinctions worth examining in Beethoven. His tall image is not because of his remarkable height, but because of his love, literature, and even deafness. In Wang Yong's narration, although Beethoven is still a hero who "chokes the throat of fate", he also has the image of being good at managing his own business. And after "it (fate) must not make me completely subjugated", Beethoven will still sigh "How beautiful it is to live my life a thousand times!" ”
Perhaps, only by understanding Beethoven's desire for life can we better understand the lakes and mountains in his music and better understand his vivid image. Wang Yong quotes Nietzsche as saying that a life without classical music is a mistake. For philosophers, if classical music does not exist in life, it is a great regret in life. Music has the power of resonance, Beethoven said that "music is a higher revelation than all wisdom and all philosophy, and whoever can penetrate the meaning of my music can transcend the suffering of ordinary people who cannot extricate themselves", which has the meaning of transcending time and space.