The Biography of Beethoven is romain rolland's masterpiece and has always been regarded as a classic in the field of literature. Since its first publication, its unique value has made "people seem to find a new support point", so it has been rated as one of the "30 best books in human history".
The Biography of Beethoven mainly tells the extraordinary life of the great musician Beethoven. The author described Beethoven's road to success with a high artistic summary and passionate words. ...
Beethoven is regarded as the greatest musician in the world. The reason why he has such a lofty honor lies in his works and their unique shocking power.
Beethoven was unlucky since he was a child. His father is a cruel alcoholic. He deprived young Beethoven of time to study, rest and entertain, but forced his young son to practice piano and violin endlessly, hoping that he would become his own cash cow in the future.
Beethoven spent a cold childhood.
From 65438 to 0878, Beethoven went to Vienna to visit his idol Mozart, his teacher. Mozart was very surprised after listening to his impromptu performance, and said to others on the spot: Please pay attention, this boy will shock the world. Unfortunately, his study time in Vienna was soon interrupted because his mother was seriously ill and died soon. Beethoven lost his only relative in his heart and was heartbroken. Excessive grief made him suffer from several serious illnesses, one of which was smallpox, which ruined his appearance forever.
After the French Revolution broke out, the revolutionary spirit spread all over Europe and occupied Beethoven's heart. Beethoven's personal experience and the growing process of Confucianism determine the formation of his world outlook. As we all know, Beethoven is not only short and ugly, but also has been seriously ill and later developed into deafness. But this self-respecting musician still believes that "no one can beat me, and I will hold my destiny by the throat."
In the tragic days, Beethoven was engaged in the cause of "Who sings happiness". Only music can make him overcome his pain and pull him back from the brink of death again and again. In Beethoven's creative career, overcoming bad fate and human mediocrity has always been his theme.
The Ninth Symphony is the most profound and magnificent of all Beethoven's works, and it also embodies the musician's life's hard work. /kloc-one day in 0/924, the ninth symphony was performed for the first time in Vienna, and Bedo conducted it himself. This is the last time he appeared in front of a large audience, and the performance was very successful. The scene was so intense that it was almost indescribable. At the end of the performance, Beethoven could not hear thunderous applause because of his deafness. Female singer Weng Ge ran up to hold his hand in tears and helped him turn around to face the audience. It is said that in Austria, even if the emperor appears, he can only enjoy three applause according to the usual practice, but this time, Beethoven was welcomed by five applause. This time, it was the happiest peak of Beethoven's life. Because he personally returned happiness to others and took a big step to overcome human mediocrity.
Beethoven lived in the same era as Haydn and Mozart, but the lofty realm of his music made people feel as if they were living in another completely different era. Of course, he also learned a lot of nutrition from his predecessors, and only after digestion, absorption and improvement did he succeed. He not only integrated the achievements of Vienna classical music, but also comprehensively inherited and developed the essence of music since the Baroque period, so he became Prometheus in music and a universally recognized figure in the history of European music. Beethoven's creative path lasted for 35 years, and in order to achieve perfection, he constantly struggled. When he entered the final stage of his career, he said, "I feel as if I have only written a few songs." A true artist must be modest.
Beethoven once wrote dance music for Goethe's famous play Egmont, but Beethoven didn't like Goethe's servile performance in front of nobles, even though he was still full of reverence for Goethe. However, the arrogant Goethe can never forgive Beethoven for always being cold and even heartless to Beethoven and Goethe when facing his criticism. Once, Beethoven happened to live in poverty in his later years, so he wrote to Goethe for help, hoping that he could get the Duke of Weimar to book the Solemn Mass he had worked so hard to write in exchange for the payment, but he could not get a reply from Goethe. ...
Beethoven was an unfortunate man, poor, disabled and lonely. The world didn't give him joy, but he created joy for the world! He used his sufferings to shape happiness, just as he swore:
"Happiness comes from pain."
Roland's biographies of Beethoven, Michelangelo and Tolstoy were incorporated into a huge plan of a whole set of biographies. This plan is published every two weeks. Roland also intends to write biographies for Mazzini, garibaldi, Schiller, French revolutionary general Osh, American revolutionary activist Thomas Paine,17th century famous French military engineer Waben, etc. He also planned to publish the French version of Miller published in Britain, but later he changed his mind because (according to some hints in his letter) he was not satisfied with the work. What caused Roland to give up writing a whole set of biographies he had promised? Roland answered this question in a letter to American literary theorist Luo Wilson in 1936. When studying the lives of great people, he gradually proved that they are not always seen or worthy of emulation in all aspects, and each of them has mistakes and weaknesses.
He saw this very clearly when he was engaged in the creation of Michelangelo's biography. This is even clearer when studying Schiller's life. ("I don't like the real Schiller at all. He is full of ideals, thus concealing his true character. In my opinion, compared with Goethe's character, his character lacks sincerity, frankness and courage ... ") Roland felt the same disappointment when he was engaged in other biographies he had considered. In addition, there are other difficulties: the heirs of Osh, Waben and Mazzini refused to read clan documents, while Roland tried to be correct and reliable, relying on real documents. "If they allow me to read while writing Beethoven's biography, then I can write biographies of these three activists with enthusiasm. However, it is too late. I am strict with myself, just like a historian. Therefore, after the book "Beethoven Biography" was completed, the story of Christophe and Angel de Liville became my real heroic biography. "
Roland's biography has its extraordinary originality in writing skills. What is this?-An academic work or an artistic work? Actually, both. In every work, Roland uses a lot of real materials that are new to readers in many ways. Almost every page has footnotes, quotations and other detailed information. While eagerly expecting his works to serve real life, Roland still follows the historical truth meticulously. In order to fight against the author of the so-called "Romanized Biography", Roland avoided fiction and even allowed a little fiction. In biographical novels, with the help of the intuitive appearance of fictional plots, Roland is completely obtained by other means, that is, making full use of his protagonist's original poems, contemporary proofs and documents of the times. He needs such a document, not because he can mechanically copy dogma and stick to details, but only to make the portrait of every great man appear in front of readers with his whole unique true face.
Roland made a separate interpretation of Michelangelo's works, and published a series of well-known books "The Master of Art" in the form of a small monograph. As for Beethoven's music, he later wrote a voluminous academic work, which spent the last twenty years of his life. The two books before us, Miller and Tolstoy, are mostly close-ups. But in any case, Roland puts the content of heroism and the morality of great men in the first place everywhere. Does this mean that Roland tried to restore the classical concept of ideal heroes in the twentieth century? Or did he avoid the characters of those great men and the complexity of their real environment, and describe the brilliance of their romantic special status? In any case! In the creation of Who's Who, Roland overcame those literary traditions that once led to rigid and straightforward narration and excited hallucinations, especially the practice of carefully adjusting the contradiction between life and life. He also overcame some literary traditions that required outstanding figures to oppose other ordinary people. Roland is critical of the heritage of classical writers, mainly because he can't tolerate the imitators of "Gao Naiyi style" in his time. At the same time, Roland never wanted to restore romanticism in his biography, that is, to idealize some outstanding figures and blameless figures.
Roland thinks that great artists are the expression of "collective strength" and the great passion of the masses, nations and human beings, because he thinks that "collective strength" is a spontaneous and completely incomprehensible thing. The greatness of talented artists includes the greatness of all geniuses. According to Roland's point of view, it is by no means that he has some superhuman and extraordinary power. On the contrary, an outstanding person; Genius, in particular, should be more closely integrated with real life than ordinary people. He understood the essence of life more deeply than others, and he foresaw that the great changes in history were approaching earlier than others.
As early as the beginning of this century, Roland came close to understanding the role of outstanding figures in this way, and this understanding is reflected in his biographical characteristics. With the deepening of his research on Beethoven and Michelangelo's life, especially with the increasing collection of other biographies that have not yet been written, he became more and more aware of the complexity of the inner world of these great men. He originally intended to describe these great men as models of determination and strong character. This prevented him from continuing the planned series of books, but it did not shake his aesthetic position in dealing with the selected topics. Great men all have shortcomings, and they have wavered and made mistakes along the way. However, their greatness lies in that they are sometimes good at overcoming weaknesses and vacillations at the expense of painful internal struggles.
Roland wrote in the preface of the biography of Michelangelo: "I didn't build a monument for those unattainable heroes." I hate idealism because it timidly avoids the pain and spiritual weakness in life. However, those who are too easily deceived by some rhetoric should remember that all lies about heroism are born of timidity! Heroism is to see the world as it is and love it. "This idea is repeated at the end of the book:" Should I just describe the heroism of heroes like many others and throw them into the abyss of pain with a piece of cloth, but I can't! "Truth is above everything else! I can't promise happiness to my friends with lies! I must do it at all costs. I can only promise to give them the truth, and even promise to give them the truth at the expense of happiness, give them brave truth, and carve immortal hearts with the knife of truth. " This portrait was painted by Roland in Beethoven's biography at the beginning of this century. In addition, he revised and re-examined his early work and made criticism. 1936, when he was writing his third book, Song of Resurrection, he wrote: "We have been studying Beethoven for 30 years. During this period, we not only have a clearer understanding of Beethoven's life, but also a person's life ... Now, for a piece of bread, we can no longer regard Beethoven as an imaginary hero, but as a stubborn figure made of stainless steel. He-like everyone, even heroes, has experienced a boring life and is a battlefield between people with different identities and people with different positions. " Living conditions and the pressure of harsh environment make people unable to get rid of their inner struggles. "This makes his heroism more valuable, because as we all know, he has made great efforts." Even Beethoven could not completely get rid of his inner contradictions. Although he is independent and unruly, he sometimes flatters the strong. Although he is an unselfish man, he is extremely stubborn and resolute in some negotiations with publishers and theater managers about money. Although he is passionate about harmony, he is still very proud of his aristocratic status. How do you explain all this? Roland himself answered. "Let the great artist strive to be Daedalus, put wings on himself and fly to ... but the weight tied to his feet left him on the earth-this weight is economic slavery, so he fell into the trap of people again and again. There, he fought tenaciously with others for a piece of bread and hateful poverty. "
Many of Beethoven's personal weaknesses are caused by this to some extent. For him, having money means relatively less dependence, so he can stubbornly bargain for a copper coin. For him, aristocratic status is a tool to avoid being despised by others, at least to some extent, because people who don't respect Beethoven as a composer respect Beethoven's aristocratic status, so when someone questions the authenticity of his aristocratic status, he will be furious. The imperial police knew his revolutionary beliefs like the back of his hand. This kept him in constant fear of persecution. Therefore, in order to avoid persecution, he sometimes restrained his dislike of flattery and said many compliments in front of his untalented student and patron, Archduke Rudolf. When describing all this, Roland repeatedly said: "These mistakes and failures of genius should not cover our eyes, so that we can't see his greatness. This is only an inevitable concession to the times. Indeed, Roland's new viewpoint on Beethoven's personality here is not contradictory to his original idea of "who is who", but only a more explicit revision of this idea. We can see the depth of the artist's pain more clearly, and at the same time we can see the greatness of the artist's morality, because artists are good at protecting their inner humanity at all costs, thus protecting their creative genius from harmful influences.
We can't help but admire Michelangelo: he created many works-despite many obstacles. In these works, "strong vitality as fierce as a hurricane" is embodied. The appeal of Roland's heroic biography is not to affirm the pain, but to overcome the pain and overcome the pain. It is not easy for Roland himself to win this victory. Later, he wrote in the introduction of Companion: "... in the preface of my biography of Michelangelo, I used pain to protest against Christian pessimism." I am well aware of this pessimism of myself and others ... because it leads to the denial of human progress, and the reactionary forces are allied with it. Whoever opposes the reactionary forces will oppose pessimism; I am also struggling with it in my heart, so it is by no means an extremely easy thing! The trace of this struggle is obvious in Who's Who. The contradiction in Roland's thought is not so much that he puts the protagonist's suffering in the first place, but rather that he has demonstrated this kind of suffering abstractly and historically in many places (especially in Michelangelo's biography) and explained it as the influence of irrational enthusiasm that human beings have and are independent of human will. But in Who's Who, it is more convincing and powerful to look at people realistically and historically. Every hero in Roland's biography is finally described as the product of his own nation and his own time. The painful experience of each of them, to a great extent, is not caused by the influence of accidental events and the inherent temperament of human nature, but by the cruel laws of society. In such a society, an artist, like most people, is in a subordinate position and in a enslaved crowd. A great artist, as the victim of injustice and the object of social oppression, has experienced many artistic processes of Roland, which is also reflected in his heroic biography.
"I serve the Pope, but I have to," Michelangelo said. "One pope died and another pope succeeded to the throne." Michelangelo, a free Michelangelo, can only change one yoke to another and another master in his life. Julius II, Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici, Clemente VII, Paolo III and Paolo IV-they all dominated Michelangelo's talent successively ... The most sacred and noble master played tricks on Michelangelo with all kinds of strange ideas, gave him some work that did not meet his wishes, and forced him to draw all the large-scale new works that had not been completed before; Defame him, conspire around him, and try to alienate him from Leonardo and Raphael at the same level; Torture him with all kinds of picky and threats and set obstacles for him everywhere. He had to admit more than once: "He spent a lot of energy, talent and happy inspiration, and all in vain!" This is the main source of the spiritual tragedy that tortured him, not the human nature since ancient times! Roland also revealed the other side of this tragedy. In the book about Michelangelo, the author's highly spontaneous historical determinism is shown. He saw what had been recorded in human history books during the Renaissance-liberated and inspiring things; But he also saw the inner contradiction of Zeus during the Renaissance. Roland and thomas mann echo each other to some extent, and Roland reproduces the Italian atmosphere in that historical period. He emphasized the kindness of the characters, described Michelangelo's charitable activities, and reported Beethoven's touching concern for his dissolute nephew (orphan)-all of which are naive and sentimental today. However, Roland believes that kindness is an indispensable quality of great artists-not only in lofty aspirations and feelings, but also in their usual behavior. In an era when many European intellectuals think that being good at surpassing ordinary people and standing on the other side of good and evil is an artist's noble virtue, Roland quoted Beethoven's words: "I don't know any higher criterion except kindness." Roland chose these great men as his heroes, that is, Roland can oppose the great men of vulgar art around him by praising their powerful, thoughtful, anxious and enthusiastic creations. In Beethoven's and Michelangelo's tragic views, to some extent, Roland wants to make a sharp contrast between these geniuses in adversity and those prosperous businessmen, complacent craftsmen and cunning people in European bourgeois literary and art circles. In this respect, the close relationship between Who's Who and John Christophe is particularly easy to understand. This contradiction, especially the social and historical basis of these contradictions can not be understood.
Tolstoy's biography is also a serious work. This work is based on a detailed study of Tolstoy's artistic creation, his letters and the memories of his contemporaries. In this book, just like in other biographies of Roland, a lot of labor is put into it, not only the work of an artist, but also the work of a researcher. Romain rolland's insight should be highly valued. In this short book, Roland chose the real essence and presented all the most important aspects of Tolstoy's creative personality to French readers. It is well-founded to accuse Roland of describing Tolstoy's religious views objectively and uncritically here, which not only reproduces his call for self-improvement and "fraternity", but also replicates his attack on socialism. During this period, Roland could not criticize Tolstoy's philosophy. He made a correct evaluation of Tolstoy's advantages and disadvantages, which was a long time later, after the October Revolution. However, in his biography, Roland understood it with the artist's sense of smell. And try to point out how sharp and painful the inner struggle in Tolstoy's ideological system is; He also tried (including in his analysis and comments on Resurrection) to point out how harmful the theory of not resisting evil is to the creative skills of talented writers: "The religious ending cannot draw essential conclusions from the whole book. Therefore, I firmly believe that no matter how Tolstoy confessed, he still could not compromise two opposing factors in his heart: the truth of artists and the truth of religious believers. " The artist's truth, that is, the question of realism, occupies a central position in Roland's analysis. As early as 190 1 year, Roland compared Tolstoy's "moral perfection" with Europe's "morbid as an old man" hypocrisy, and repeatedly affirmed that Russian writers' works "have the greatest and most rare advantage-authenticity." This nature of Tolstoy's works is "ruthless realistic observation", which has been thoroughly studied in Roland's book. In this book, there are some interesting notes that can help people understand. For Roland, why is Tolstoy a more realistic mentor than19th century French novelists? Naturally, whether Zola, Mo Bosang or Flaubert, they are all good at being heartless in their own actual observation, and Roland knows this very well. However, Tolstoy's ruthlessness is another type. His opposition to social evils is combined with the artist's great trust in human morality, spirit and creativity. Different from Flaubert, Flaubert "thinks that his strength lies in not loving his hero", while Tolstoy "manifests himself in anyone through the power of realism" precisely because of his love for people and "he goes deep into every corner of life". Roland doesn't want to say this anyway: it seems that Tolstoy looks at the characters he denies from the standpoint of forgiving everything. This point carries a lot of weight in the essays on Tolstoy the Exposer and Tolstoy's Struggle with Social Prejudice. But ... Roland firmly believes that the attraction of exposure and negation in Tolstoy's works-far superior to that of his contemporary French realists-is related to the exploration of the excellent qualities of positive characters. Tolstoy's exploration, no matter how naive and simple, is important. However, as an artist and even a political critic, he is not limited to "pure" negation. Tolstoy's criticism has always been of creative value. He tried to rebuild it. In Tolstoy's realism, Roland not only spoke highly of his social insight, but also spoke highly of his touching attitude towards human humanitarianism, which is the basis of his innovative psychological description. In Tolstoy's biography, Roland does not intend to find out some historical reasons, that is, Russian realism, especially Tolstoy's realism, has produced great power and gained world significance. The close relationship between Russian literature and the people and their liberation movement, and the special role of literary and artistic works in Russian social life in the19th century and the early 20th century-all these were unknown to Roland at that time. But there are some correct conjectures in his book: people's anger against oppressors is increasing day by day, which influenced Tolstoy and cultivated his critical attitude towards society, especially in the last period of his life. ..... With the beginning of the new century, revolutions are everywhere, and the wave that began to appear among intellectuals spread among the people, and at the same time aroused thousands of oppressed people. Tolstoy, the pioneer of this formidable poor army, could not have seen it from his own Jasnaya Boliana window; People's disasters are constant and their agitation is increasing day by day. Under the influence of this situation, Tolstoy violated his own theory and "shouted for revenge on the executioner". Roland pointed out the other side of Tolstoy's people with keen eyes: an artist attaches great importance to folk creation, rich folk language and the way of thinking of working peasants. "Master Tolstoy is not bound by any literary stylization, so he should be particularly keen on understanding the overall beauty of human thought and language. He is used to being far away from the city and living among farmers, and he has mastered the characteristics of human thinking to the point of perfection ... not only Tolstoy's language and description methods are attributed to the people; Many of his inspirations should also be attributed to the people. " Among many French writers who describe Tolstoy, probably no one can feel this extremely important aspect of his creative skills as clearly as Roland. Obviously, romain rolland evaluated and understood the true value of Tolstoy's character according to his own creative exploration. Engaging in the creation of John Christophe and exploring new forms of novels inspired him to try his best to understand the significance of Tolstoy's writing skills in historical novels. He not only clearly felt the innovation of the artistic structure of War and Peace, but also felt the connection between this innovation and Russian reality and Tolstoy's life experience. "The wise man's natural hobby attracted him, which changed him from a novel describing the personal fate of the characters to a novel in which the will of the masses and millions of people was at work. Tolstoy once saw various tragic events in Sevastopol, which helped him to understand the spirit of the Russian nation and its long-term experience. Roland said that in War and Peace, "I will feel the rhythmic and terrible pace of history, and there will be a whole in front of me. Everything here is closely related to each other ... In the original ending of the novel, the impression of" the continuation of life and the eternity of resurrection after death "... Future heroes, all kinds of conflicts between them are expected, and the voices and smiles of the deceased are expected. These distinctive features of Tolstoy's epic novels attracted Roland as early as his college days, encouraging him to compete if he didn't imitate them ... Tolstoy's Biography is also closely related to romain rolland's creative exploration. Roland expounded the aesthetic view of great Russian artists in Tolstoy's Biography.
Biography of Michelangelo
1475 On March 6th, Michelangelo was born in Caprice, Florence, Italy. His father was a grumpy county magistrate, and his mother died when he was six years old. Michelangelo was fostered in a stonemason's house when he was young, and the future sculptor was nurtured by the stonemason's wife's milk. Michelangelo was obsessed with painting since he was a child, and he always sketched at school. For this reason, he was often beaten by his family, because his father thought it was shameful to engage in art. He insisted on his choice and later entered sculpture school. At that time, Italy was the birthplace and center of the European Renaissance. In the atmosphere of advocating Greek classical culture, he devoted himself to learning and imitating ancient Greek art, which had a far-reaching impact on Michelangelo's artistic development.
Tolstoy's biography
Tolstoy is the great soul of Russia. He is not only a great artist, but also a sincere friend loved by many people. His works are closely related to his life, and he has been making intense explorations all his life.
Lev tolstoy 1828 was born in Jasnaya, a noble manor in Tula, Russia. Polaina. Tolstoy was less than two years old when his mother died. At the age of nine, his father died again. The death of his father made him "understand the sad reality for the first time, and his heart and soul were full of despair". Tolstoy's two aunts became his guardians. Aunties are very pious and caring. These humble hearts helped him realize love and the happiness it brought, which had a great influence on Tolstoy's life.
Beethoven biography
Ludwig? Where is it? Beethoven1770 65438+February 16 was born in Bonn, Germany. His father, a tenor, gave Beethoven almost harsh music training very early. So Beethoven's childhood was rarely warm, and his life seemed to be a tragic and cruel struggle from the beginning. 17 years old, his mother died of illness and his father drank heavily. Beethoven actually became the head of the family and took on the burden of life prematurely.
1789 The French Revolution broke out, and Beethoven was deeply inspired by the revolutionary spirit. 1792, Beethoven left his hometown for Vienna and began to compose music. 1796, he lost his hearing, and this pain accompanied Beethoven all his life. In addition to physical pain, Beethoven was constantly suffering from emotional torture. He was desperate, depressed and even wanted to end his life. Beethoven, with his strong will, noble moral pursuit, and eager for the sound of joy, grasped the throat of fate, overcame these pains, and sublimated his personal physical and mental pains into one music after another, such as the Heroic Symphony (1804).