Christopher Theodor Gottlieb Lemm was born in 1786 in the town of Chemnitz in Saxony. His parents were poor musicians. His father played the French horn, his mother the harp1; he himself was practising on three different instruments by the time he was five. At eight years old he was left an orphan2, and from his tenth year he began to earn his bread by his art. He led a wandering life for many years, and performed everywhere in restaurants, at fairs, at peasants’ weddings, and at balls. At last he got into an orchestra and constantly rising in it, he obtained the position of director. He was rather a poor performer; but he understood music thoroughly3. At twenty-eight he migrated into Russia, on the invitation of a great nobleman, who did not care for music himself, but kept an orchestra for show. Lemm lived with him seven years in the capacity of orchestra conductor, and left him empty-handed. The nobleman was ruined, he intended to give him a promissory note, but in the sequel refused him even that — in short, did not pay him a farthing. He was advised to go away; but he was unwilling4 to return home in poverty from Russia, that great Russia which is a mine of gold for artists; he decided5 to remain and try his luck. For twenty years the poor German had been trying his luck; he had lived in various gentlemen’s houses, had suffered and put up with much, had faced privation, had struggled like a fish on the ice; but the idea of returning to his own country never left him among all the hardships he endured; it was this dream alone that sustained him. But fate did not see fit to grant him this last and first happiness: at fifty, broken-down in health and prematurely6 aged7, he drifted to the town of O——, and remained there for good, having now lost once for all every hope of leaving Russia, which he detested8. He gained his poor livelihood9 somehow by lessons. Lemm’s exterior10 was not prepossessing. He was short and bent11, with crooked12 shoulders, and contracted chest, with large flat feet, and bluish white nails on the gnarled bony fingers of his sinewy13 red hands. He had a wrinkled face, sunken cheeks, and compressed lips, which he was for ever twitching14 and biting; and this, together with his habitual15 taciturnity, produced an impression almost sinister16. His grey hair hung in tufts on his low brow; like smouldering embers, his little set eyes glowed with dull fire. He moved painfully, at every step swinging his ungainly body forward. Some of his movements recalled the clumsy actions of an owl17 in a cage when it feels that it is being looked at, but itself can hardly see out of its great yellow eyes timorously18 and drowsily19 blinking. Pitiless, prolonged sorrow had laid its indelible stamp on the poor musician; it had disfigured and deformed20 his person, by no means attractive to begin with. But any one who was able to get over the first impression would have discerned something good, and honest, and out of the common in this half-shattered creature. A devoted21 admirer of Bach and Handel, a master of his art, gifted with a lively imagination and that boldness of conception which is only vouchsafed22 to the German race, Lemm might, in time — who knows?— have taken rank with the great composers of his fatherland, had his life been different; but he was born under an unlucky star! He had written much in his life, and it had not been granted to him to see one of his compositions produced; he did not know how to set about things in the right way, to gain favour in the right place, and to make a push at the right moment. A long, long time ago, his one friend and admirer, also a German and also poor, had published two of Lemm’s sonatas23 at his own expense — the whole edition remained on the shelves of the music-shops; they disappeared without a trace, as though they had been thrown into a river by night. At last Lemm had renounced24 everything; the years too did their work; his mind had grown hard and stiff, as his fingers had stiffened25. He lived alone in a little cottage not far from the Kalitin’s house, with an old cook he had taken out of the poorhouse (he had never married). He took long walks, and read the Bible and the Protestant version of the Psalms26, and Shakespeare in Schlegel’s translation. He had composed nothing for a long time; but apparently27, Lisa, his best pupil, had been able to inspire him; he had written for her the cantata28 to which Panshin had! made allusion29. The words of this cantata he had borrowed from his collection of hymns30. He had added a few verses of his own. It was sung by two choruses — a chorus of the happy and a chorus of the unhappy. The two were brought into harmony at the end, and sang together, “Merciful God, have pity on us sinners, and deliver us from all evil thoughts and earthly hopes.” On the title-page was the inscription31, most carefully written and even illuminated32, “Only the righteous are justified33. A religious cantata. Composed and dedicated34 to Miss Elisaveta Kalitin, his dear pupil, by her teacher, C. T. G. Lemm.” The words, “Only the righteous are justified” and “Elisaveta Kalitin,” were encircled by rays. Below was written: “For you alone, fur Sie allein.” This was why Lemm had grown red, and looked reproachfully at Lisa; he was deeply wounded when Panshin spoke35 of his cantata before him.
1 harp | |
n.竖琴;天琴座 | |
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2 orphan | |
n.孤儿;adj.无父母的 | |
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3 thoroughly | |
adv.完全地,彻底地,十足地 | |
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4 unwilling | |
adj.不情愿的 | |
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5 decided | |
adj.决定了的,坚决的;明显的,明确的 | |
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6 prematurely | |
adv.过早地,贸然地 | |
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7 aged | |
adj.年老的,陈年的 | |
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8 detested | |
v.憎恶,嫌恶,痛恨( detest的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9 livelihood | |
n.生计,谋生之道 | |
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10 exterior | |
adj.外部的,外在的;表面的 | |
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11 bent | |
n.爱好,癖好;adj.弯的;决心的,一心的 | |
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12 crooked | |
adj.弯曲的;不诚实的,狡猾的,不正当的 | |
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13 sinewy | |
adj.多腱的,强壮有力的 | |
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14 twitching | |
n.颤搐 | |
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15 habitual | |
adj.习惯性的;通常的,惯常的 | |
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16 sinister | |
adj.不吉利的,凶恶的,左边的 | |
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17 owl | |
n.猫头鹰,枭 | |
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18 timorously | |
adv.胆怯地,羞怯地 | |
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19 drowsily | |
adv.睡地,懒洋洋地,昏昏欲睡地 | |
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20 deformed | |
adj.畸形的;变形的;丑的,破相了的 | |
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21 devoted | |
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的 | |
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22 vouchsafed | |
v.给予,赐予( vouchsafe的过去式和过去分词 );允诺 | |
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23 sonatas | |
n.奏鸣曲( sonata的名词复数 ) | |
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24 renounced | |
v.声明放弃( renounce的过去式和过去分词 );宣布放弃;宣布与…决裂;宣布摒弃 | |
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25 stiffened | |
加强的 | |
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26 psalms | |
n.赞美诗( psalm的名词复数 );圣诗;圣歌;(中的) | |
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27 apparently | |
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎 | |
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28 cantata | |
n.清唱剧,大合唱 | |
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29 allusion | |
n.暗示,间接提示 | |
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30 hymns | |
n.赞美诗,圣歌,颂歌( hymn的名词复数 ) | |
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31 inscription | |
n.(尤指石块上的)刻印文字,铭文,碑文 | |
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32 illuminated | |
adj.被照明的;受启迪的 | |
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33 justified | |
a.正当的,有理的 | |
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34 dedicated | |
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的 | |
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35 spoke | |
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说 | |
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