Happy the master gathering5 around him his little following! Happy indeed the genius, the solitary6 being, who finds among men an ideal friend; one to whom self-explanation, so hateful to Genius, is needless; one who knows instinctively7 the soul life of the other! To Genius that friend is a proof of its mission; a witness that it lives not a thing more useless than the most ordinary mortal; an assurance that it yet will come into the fullness of its own. Such a friend Chopin was now to find within that great Paris which like a gigantic lodestone was drawing him to herself.
Franz Liszt, the Hungarian composer, pianist and litterateur, was born in 1811, and in 1831, the date of Chopin's advent8 in the French capital, he was but twenty years of age, and so by two years the junior of the Pole. Soon the fame of the younger man would eclipse even that of Kalkbrenner, esteemed9 the first pianist of the day. Liszt was steadily10 nearing an eminence11 ever afterward12 his own against all comers, that of the world's unparalleled pianoforte virtuoso13.
The artist who, in days to come, would first divine and adequately measure the comprehensiveness of Wagner; the timely helper who would deem it a duty, a privilege, to aid and cheer the impecunious14 political refugee in the despondent15 years of his exile; the whole-hearted enthusiast16 whose determined17 arm would open for the composer of ?Lohengrin,? the close-shut door of the Temple of Fame, was the friend in whom Chopin now saw reflected his own peculiar18 genius. As the painter, stepping backward from his easel, scans his work as a whole, and in the most favorable light, so, from the view-point of Liszt's intuitive rendering19, Chopin better estimated his own productions than could otherwise have been possible.
That consummate20 interpretation21 of a work proves not one's ability to create its like is shown by the coming together of Chopin and Liszt. While Liszt was indubitably of advantage to Chopin, the latter in turn reacted upon the former. In the nature of the fiery22 Hungarian, and that of the dreamy Pole, were those resemblances and differences which make high friendship a possibility and also a means of mutual23 growth through reciprocity of ideas.
The fascinating and dominating Liszt was by nature a Bohemian. From first to last he dwelt in the realm of those laxities and unconventionalities which dismay the ordinary mortal, but whose glamour24 is over the life of many an artist. And yet, despite every shortcoming, Liszt had that which was much indeed, a virtue25 frequently the saving one of genius, to wit, the artistic26 conscience.
Beneath a demeanor27 disguising rather than revealing his inner self, Chopin was an ardent28 soul, a Polish patriot29 from whose heart overflowed30, to his every page, the sorrows of his native land. Those sorrows were a cloud shadowing the radiance of his ideal world, and at times dulling it almost to the sombre hues31 of this earth, begetter32 of many sorrows.
It is regrettable that Chopin sought to bind33 within the limits of conventional forms, already half outgrown34, his poetical35 ideas amenable36 only to the requirements of those freer forms for which Berlioz and Schumann were striving, and to which Wagner ultimately attained38.
In his Impromptus39, and a few other ventures beyond self-imposed barriers, Chopin made most praiseworthy use of freedom, but quickly he returns to contemplation of his beloved Mozart, that perfect master of classical form. Naturally the polished frequenter of the Parisian drawing-room and salon40, found no lasting41 pleasure in the wild freedom and amplitude42 of the forest of Romanticism. The change was too abrupt43 and novel. Those far-reaching vistas44 of unfrequented shade! How different from the metropolitan45 thoroughfare! Those mighty46 but fantastically-growing trees thick-planted by Nature's careless hand! those never-trimmed and irregular branches! those fallen and dismantled47 trunks! How unlike the well-kept parks of Paris and Versailles!
While composing, Chopin never quite divorced himself from the keyboard of his piano, and yet the writer who would attain37 to untrammeled expression, in both matter and form, should compose beneath a roof no narrower than the dome48 of heaven. Let the study be his reference room, his library, and, for convenience, his place of final elaboration. Like Beethoven and Wordsworth, let him receive at first hand the impartings of Nature that needed teacher of us all.
In the heart of Chopin the melodies of his beloved Poland, mingling49 with his own imaginings, became invested with a subtle, poetical charm and a delicate sweetness idealizing their own quaint50 loveliness.
The Mazurka! does it not bring the peasant gathering on the green; the evening or the holiday of swaying forms and agile51 feet and rustic52 beauty in the graceful53 round? The Polonaise! does it not bring the brilliant hall; the jewelled fair; the stately-moving, king-led company of lords and noble dames54? Yes, such were the scenes which, to the dances of his people, Chopin had conjured55 from the happy, bygone days. How appealing this music to those of the old Polish nobility then finding in Paris their most congenial abode56 in exile! Largely through the influence of these the Parisian success of Chopin was speedier, although more circumscribed57, than that of Meyerbeer, who, only by laborious58 and painstaking59 adaptation of his methods to the requirements of the French operatic stage, won the Parisian public and brought them to their knees before the shrine60 of ?Robert.?
In the homes of rank and wealth, Chopin now mingles61 with princes, ministers, ambassadors and literary notables. Titled ladies are his pupils and, because he would have it so, he deems his musical self best understood by the lionizing fashionables of French society who, in fact, looked not beneath the finished, but by no means robust62 virtuoso, and polished gentleman conforming to their every convention.
The fashionables of French society! Oh for a moment natural and true amidst the false and artificial hours! A candid63, soul-sprung greeting to shame the outward suavity64 where envy rankles65, or where hatred66 burns within! Oh for a laden67 word to prove the hollowness of empty tongues! A normal heart of innocence68 in that blasé assembly! Oh for an individuality unrepressed; a potent69 unit in that crowd of merest ciphers70!
It is almost incredible that in such environment Chopin composed many of his noblest works. His Rondo in C minor71 Op. 1, published in 1825, when he was but sixteen years of age, and therefore in the old Warsaw days, had announced the advent of a writer of the highest rank, one authoritatively72 proclaimed by Schumann on the appearance of the variations in B flat Op. 2. Arriving in Paris late in the year 1831, the man of two-and-twenty was already known to musicians like Franz Liszt and Ferdinand Hiller, as creator of such music as the Concerto73 in F minor, the Concerto in E minor, and the Funeral March in C minor. This last was afterward eclipsed by the great march in the B flat minor Sonata74. But the bulk of Chopin's pianoforte works was written during the next seventeen years, and despite adverse75 conditions other than those of environment.
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1 essentially | |
adv.本质上,实质上,基本上 | |
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2 rapport | |
n.和睦,意见一致 | |
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3 descend | |
vt./vi.传下来,下来,下降 | |
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4 embodies | |
v.表现( embody的第三人称单数 );象征;包括;包含 | |
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5 gathering | |
n.集会,聚会,聚集 | |
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6 solitary | |
adj.孤独的,独立的,荒凉的;n.隐士 | |
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7 instinctively | |
adv.本能地 | |
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8 advent | |
n.(重要事件等的)到来,来临 | |
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9 esteemed | |
adj.受人尊敬的v.尊敬( esteem的过去式和过去分词 );敬重;认为;以为 | |
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10 steadily | |
adv.稳定地;不变地;持续地 | |
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11 eminence | |
n.卓越,显赫;高地,高处;名家 | |
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12 afterward | |
adv.后来;以后 | |
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13 virtuoso | |
n.精于某种艺术或乐器的专家,行家里手 | |
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14 impecunious | |
adj.不名一文的,贫穷的 | |
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15 despondent | |
adj.失望的,沮丧的,泄气的 | |
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16 enthusiast | |
n.热心人,热衷者 | |
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17 determined | |
adj.坚定的;有决心的 | |
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18 peculiar | |
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的 | |
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19 rendering | |
n.表现,描写 | |
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20 consummate | |
adj.完美的;v.成婚;使完美 [反]baffle | |
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21 interpretation | |
n.解释,说明,描述;艺术处理 | |
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22 fiery | |
adj.燃烧着的,火红的;暴躁的;激烈的 | |
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23 mutual | |
adj.相互的,彼此的;共同的,共有的 | |
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24 glamour | |
n.魔力,魅力;vt.迷住 | |
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25 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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26 artistic | |
adj.艺术(家)的,美术(家)的;善于艺术创作的 | |
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27 demeanor | |
n.行为;风度 | |
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28 ardent | |
adj.热情的,热烈的,强烈的,烈性的 | |
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29 patriot | |
n.爱国者,爱国主义者 | |
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30 overflowed | |
溢出的 | |
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31 hues | |
色彩( hue的名词复数 ); 色调; 信仰; 观点 | |
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32 begetter | |
n.生产者,父 | |
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33 bind | |
vt.捆,包扎;装订;约束;使凝固;vi.变硬 | |
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34 outgrown | |
长[发展] 得超过(某物)的范围( outgrow的过去分词 ); 长[发展]得不能再要(某物); 长得比…快; 生长速度超过 | |
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35 poetical | |
adj.似诗人的;诗一般的;韵文的;富有诗意的 | |
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36 amenable | |
adj.经得起检验的;顺从的;对负有义务的 | |
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37 attain | |
vt.达到,获得,完成 | |
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38 attained | |
(通常经过努力)实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 ); 达到; 获得; 达到(某年龄、水平、状况) | |
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39 impromptus | |
n.即兴曲( impromptu的名词复数 ) | |
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40 salon | |
n.[法]沙龙;客厅;营业性的高级服务室 | |
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41 lasting | |
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持 | |
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42 amplitude | |
n.广大;充足;振幅 | |
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43 abrupt | |
adj.突然的,意外的;唐突的,鲁莽的 | |
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44 vistas | |
长条形景色( vista的名词复数 ); 回顾; 展望; (未来可能发生的)一系列情景 | |
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45 metropolitan | |
adj.大城市的,大都会的 | |
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46 mighty | |
adj.强有力的;巨大的 | |
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47 dismantled | |
拆开( dismantle的过去式和过去分词 ); 拆卸; 废除; 取消 | |
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48 dome | |
n.圆屋顶,拱顶 | |
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49 mingling | |
adj.混合的 | |
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50 quaint | |
adj.古雅的,离奇有趣的,奇怪的 | |
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51 agile | |
adj.敏捷的,灵活的 | |
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52 rustic | |
adj.乡村的,有乡村特色的;n.乡下人,乡巴佬 | |
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53 graceful | |
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的 | |
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54 dames | |
n.(在英国)夫人(一种封号),夫人(爵士妻子的称号)( dame的名词复数 );女人 | |
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55 conjured | |
用魔术变出( conjure的过去式和过去分词 ); 祈求,恳求; 变戏法; (变魔术般地) 使…出现 | |
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56 abode | |
n.住处,住所 | |
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57 circumscribed | |
adj.[医]局限的:受限制或限于有限空间的v.在…周围划线( circumscribe的过去式和过去分词 );划定…范围;限制;限定 | |
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58 laborious | |
adj.吃力的,努力的,不流畅 | |
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59 painstaking | |
adj.苦干的;艰苦的,费力的,刻苦的 | |
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60 shrine | |
n.圣地,神龛,庙;v.将...置于神龛内,把...奉为神圣 | |
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61 mingles | |
混合,混入( mingle的第三人称单数 ); 混进,与…交往[联系] | |
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62 robust | |
adj.强壮的,强健的,粗野的,需要体力的,浓的 | |
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63 candid | |
adj.公正的,正直的;坦率的 | |
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64 suavity | |
n.温和;殷勤 | |
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65 rankles | |
v.(使)痛苦不已,(使)怨恨不已( rankle的第三人称单数 ) | |
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66 hatred | |
n.憎恶,憎恨,仇恨 | |
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67 laden | |
adj.装满了的;充满了的;负了重担的;苦恼的 | |
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68 innocence | |
n.无罪;天真;无害 | |
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69 potent | |
adj.强有力的,有权势的;有效力的 | |
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70 ciphers | |
n.密码( cipher的名词复数 );零;不重要的人;无价值的东西 | |
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71 minor | |
adj.较小(少)的,较次要的;n.辅修学科;vi.辅修 | |
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72 authoritatively | |
命令式地,有权威地,可信地 | |
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73 concerto | |
n.协奏曲 | |
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74 sonata | |
n.奏鸣曲 | |
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75 adverse | |
adj.不利的;有害的;敌对的,不友好的 | |
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