Chapter 7 Beethoven-4

This tragic melancholy was expressed in some of the works at that time, such as the "Pathetic Sonata" (1799) of the work No. 13, especially the third part of the work No. 1 (1798). Largo (Cantonese) in the Sonata.The strange thing is that not all works are melancholic, and many pieces, such as the cheerful "Septet" (1800) and the clear "First Symphony" (1800), reflect With a youthful innocence.No doubt it takes time to accustom the mind to sorrow.It is so in need of joy that it creates itself when it does not have it.When the "now" is too cruel, it lives in the "past". The beautiful days of the past cannot be wiped out at once; At that time, Beethoven hid in the memory of his hometown; his thoughts at that time were imprinted with such traces. The theme of Andante (Andante) appearing in Variations in the "Septet" is a Rhine The "First Symphony" is also a work in praise of Rhine, a poem of young people smiling at dreams. It is happy and lazy; it has the desire and hope to please others. But in a certain In these passages, in the Introduction, in the chiaroscuro of the bass instruments, in the divine Scherzo, how we are moved to see in the face of youth the gaze of the future genius. That is Botticelli. A is based on the eyes of the infant painted by the famous Italian painter in the early Renaissance in "Holy Family", in which his future tragedy can be glimpsed. A According to the so-called infant here refers to the childhood Jesus, therefore has the metaphor of the future tragedy.

On top of these physical pains there is another pain.Wegler said he had never seen Beethoven without a surge of enthusiasm.These loves always seem to be very pure.Enthusiasm and joy have nothing to do with each other.Modern people confuse the two, because they really don't know what enthusiasm is, and they don't know how rare it is.There was something puritanical in Beethoven's soul; rough speech and thought abhorred him: he had undisputed notions of the sanctity of love.It is said that he could not forgive Mozart, because he did not hesitate to humiliate his own genius to write "Don Juan". AAccording to Don Juan is a famous apprentice in Western legends, Mozart once used it as the subject matter of operas.His close friend Schindler affirmed that "he kept his virginity all his life and never had any wrongdoing to repent."Such a man is born to be deceived by love, to be its victim.He did.He goes on in love, goes on intoxicated, goes on dreaming of happiness, only to be disillusioned, followed by a torment of misery.Beethoven's fullest inspiration is to search for the root in this cycle of sometimes loving and sometimes proudly resisting; it was not until a certain age that his passionate character calmed down in pathetic forbearance.

In 1801, the object of his enthusiasm was Giulietta Guicciardini, who presented him with the famous work No. 27 No. 2 "Moonlight Sonata" (1802), and world famous. A According to popular music books, the story of "Moonlight Sonata" is groundless.He wrote to Wegler: "Now my life is sweeter and I have more contact with people... This change is brought about by the charm of a dear girl; she loves me and I love her. It is two This is the first lucky day I've had in years." Above, see Letter of November 16, 1801.But he paid a high price for it.First, this love made him feel all the more his disability, the difficulty of his situation, which prevented him from marrying the one he loved.Secondly, Guicciardini was coquettish, childish, and selfish, which distressed Beethoven; in November 1803, she married Count Gallenberg.Then she also took advantage of Beethoven's previous love and asked him to help her husband.Beethoven immediately agreed.When he met Schindler in 1821, he wrote in the conversation manual: "He is my enemy, so I will do my best to help him." But he despised her all the more because of it. "She came to me in Vienna, weeping, but I despised her"—such enthusiasm is destructive to the soul; The danger of destroying it completely.Just once in his life, he seems to have reached a breaking point; he is going through a period of hopeless distress, just read the will he wrote at that time to his brothers Carl and John, which states "When I die dismantle".It was October 6th, 1802.See the book "Beethoven's Testament".This is a cry of extreme pain, and it is also a cry of resistance.We could not help but be filled with pity that he was almost at the end of his life.Only relying on his strong moral sentiments can he stop him. There is a paragraph in his will that says: "Teach your children virtue; it is virtue, not money, that makes people happy. This is my experience It is morality that supports me in adversity, and what keeps me from committing suicide, besides art, is also morality." On May 2, 1810, he wrote to Wegler: "If I don't know that a person can accomplish If I should not have ended my life during an act of kindness, I am long gone, and by my own execution." His last hope of recovery from his illness was gone. "Even the great courage that has always supported me is gone. O God! Give me a day of real joy, even a day! How long has it been since I heard the deep voice of joy! When, oh! my God , when shall I meet it again?... Never?—No?—No, this is too cruel!"

This is a dying cry; but Beethoven lived twenty-five years.His strong nature does not give in to tribulation. "My physical and mental powers are advancing by leaps and bounds... My youth, yes, I feel that my youth is only beginning. I glimpse a goal I cannot be sure of, and I draw closer to it every day. . . . Oh! If I get rid of this Sickness, I will embrace the world!...No, I cannot bear it. I will take fate by the throat. It will never make me utterly subdue...Oh! How beautiful it is to live a thousand times!" Wegler Books, Letters XVIII.