Featured by Frederick Floyd

Chapter 4 [-]
In August 1956, Fu Cong returned to China for vacation and held a personal concert. He got together with his parents, traveled to Hangzhou together, and spent a short time together. In October, Fu Cong returned to Poland to continue his studies.

1956.2.29/3.1
Dear children:
I sorted out your letter yesterday, and I have some thoughts.

Many people seem to understand what Mozart said, such as his innocence, cuteness, and freshness;This principle, I think, is the difference between "rational understanding" and "deep feeling".Perceptual knowledge is, of course, an initial impression, a general understanding; rational knowledge is a step deeper, to understand the essence.But the understanding of art cannot be limited to this.You have to go deeper and experience with your heart what you know rationally, so that the original author's joys and sorrows can be transformed into your own sorrows, joys and anger, and every nerve tremor of the original author can cause echoes in your nerves. .Otherwise, even if a lot of truths are said, there is still a gap.Generally, artists tend to be intellectual [reasonable] and cold [cold], because they stay at the stage of rational understanding.

For example, you yourself, in the past, you may not have known the characteristics of Mozart, but you did not really empathize with him; The more tasteless it is, the less interested you are.If the cycle goes on like this, of course you can't go deep into a writer.

This time is not the case, you really resonate with Mozart, your pulse is in line with his pulse, your heartbeat is in the same rhythm as his; you live in him, and he lives in you; yourself You have found out and grasped the common ground with him, so you appreciate and understand him in this way.

From this, we can draw a conclusion: not only can art not be limited to perceptual knowledge, but it can also not be limited to rational knowledge, and the third step of emotional depth must be carried out.In other words, what artists need most, besides reason, is the word "love"!The so-called innocence not only refers to innocence and freshness, but also refers to love!There is a saying in French called "great heart", which means "love".The words "great heart" are really meaningful.And this love is by no means a vulgar, mother-in-law relationship, but a warm, sincere, pure, noble, raging, selfless love.

Starting from this theory, the reasons why many people can't play things well can be understood.Of course, music cannot be expressed with rationality without emotion; with general emotion instead of the fiery, noble and refined emotion, it will still be vulgar; the so-called sentimental [sentimental], I think, refers to this A vulgar feeling.

All great artists (whether they are composers, writers, painters...) must have both unique personality and universal humanity.As long as we can discover the humanity in our hearts, we will find a bridge to communicate with artists.And if you can carefully ponder it and feel its unique personality, then you can understand a work of art as a whole.Of course, it is impossible to have exactly the same understanding and feelings as the original author. There are still big differences in the amount, depth, and breadth of understanding; and our own personality also plays a big role in the middle.

Most people who are engaged in art lack sincerity.Because of lack of sincerity, everything is said casually in the mouth, as a cover for bluffing, pretending to be one's own facade, but in fact it is just picking up people's teeth, not really feeling something.Therefore, they must not have a deep understanding of the writer, first of all, they have not analyzed themselves in depth.This meaning, Christophe (in the second book) seems to have said.

Sincerity is the key to the first art.What you know is what you know, what you don't know is what you don't know.A sincere "understand" is more comfortable than an insincere "understand".The most disgusting thing is self-righteousness and self-righteousness.Only with sincerity can one have an open mind, and with an open mind, one is willing to abandon oneself to understand others, and one can let go of false self-esteem to understand oneself.Love based on understanding yourself and others is not blind love.

Sincerity needs to be cultivated from an early age over a long period of time.In society and in the family, too many lessons prevent us from being sincere, and sincerity requires a lot of courage to back it up.So to be an artist, you must first learn to be a human being.Artists must be more sincere, more sensitive, more open-minded, braver, and more persevering than others, in a word, less imperfect than anyone else!

It seems that there is a generally accepted phenomenon in the world: a musician (referring to a performer) is mostly limited to playing the works of certain composers.In fact, such a person can only be called a performer rather than an artist.Because their minds are not broad enough, they cannot tolerate the vast art world, and cannot accept the infinitely changing shapes and colors.If one can always cultivate the field of one's heart, one should have no problem understanding any work of art.

There's a little thing I want to talk to you about.Why are you always so untidy when writing envelopes?Doing daily chores neatly is the same as being clean when playing the piano.I always believe that the style of life should be consistent, otherwise it is disharmony; and those who are engaged in art should hate disharmony most.I am enclosing a small square of paper this time, which is smaller than the envelope you used, but it can still write generously.Can you pay attention to it?By analogy, all the little things to develop this neat habit will benefit your art invisibly.Because no matter how small and insignificant things are, they all reflect a person's consciousness and temperament.Modifying small habits is equivalent to modifying one's own consciousness and temperament.The so-called learning is not necessarily limited to books or some kind of technology; otherwise, how do you say "study anytime, anywhere"?I think every time you receive a letter from me, or even send a large package of books, you should have the impression that my handwriting is neat and clear!

Goodbye, child, be careful on the road, take care of everything!Pay special attention to diet, keep warm, and take care of your health when you go out to play!

Papa on the night of February 29th

If you come back from the south, you probably just received several batches of scores and books in the mail.Tomorrow, the February issue of "Traveler" will be mailed out.Have you received the dress shirt and stiff collar entrusted to Mr. Huang Wenyou?Be sure to write to let us know!
The day you went to Yugoslavia was your 22nd birthday.You can use the time on the road to think carefully about the regularization of learning, planning, and scientific living that I mentioned in every letter. You might as well reflect on it and see if it is being implemented?What shortcomings need to be corrected?What past achievements need to be further consolidated?All in all, you should make a small summary.

The speed of our society has caught up with the age of atomic energy.Everyone feels that the task is heavy and urgent, and time and work can't always be matched.So the main key is to buy time.It is this question that worries me most about you.You have been procrastinating and wasting a lot of time on trivial matters in life.I hope you will make great efforts to improve and make the greatest determination to reverse it.Dad's heart is always with you, happy for your success, worried about your troubles, and worried about your shortcomings!I have high hopes for you especially on your 22nd birthday!Be brave, boy!Be braver, overcome big and small shortcomings, and work hard to move forward!
On the morning of March [-]st, Dad and another word
1956.10.3
Dear children:
You came back and left again; many new jobs, new busyness, and new changes are waiting for you, and you will not feel lonely; but we calm down and slowly return to our monotonous life, and the past is over In contrast to the joyful meeting and the busyness, there is an emptiness—the whole day yesterday seemed to be lost.My child, you are improving and developing day by day: In the past two years, your understanding of life and art has taken another big step.I love you more and more, not only because you are the flesh and blood of us, but also because you have such radiant talents: precisely because I love all talents and all works of art , so I also regard you as a general talent (leaving the relationship of flesh and blood), and love you as a precious work of art.You have to love yourself and the artwork we hold dear!When anything is going wrong, you have to think about our - and your own - love for art!It’s not that you should always think of yourself as great, but that you should value yourself from an objective point of view: your future is so important to the future of Chinese music, and every step you take will imperceptibly affect the development of the entire national art. Development has an impact, so you should be more cautious and cautious about things!Be ready to sacrifice your current feelings anytime, anywhere for a greater one—the feelings for art and the motherland.The intellect you use to understand music is expected to apply generally to everything, especially to personal feelings.I have done more than half of my gardening work, and you will have to do more than half of it yourself.Dad has entered the autumn of his life, and he will gradually fall behind you young people in many places, and there will be less and less help you can do; everything depends on your own efforts, your own vigilance, and your own spurs.You said that skills should be combined with theory and practice, I hope you can apply this sentence in the practice of life; then your flower will surely bloom more beautifully, fuller, stronger and longer!
After talking for more than a month, it seems that I only talked with you about one opening remark.I can never finish talking with you, just as a person can never finish his monologue to himself.Are not the thoughts and feelings of you and me my own thoughts and feelings?Clearly, what I discuss and argue with you is often what I discuss and argue with myself.It is also a great happiness in life to have this kind of realm between father and son.Aside from outside reasons that didn't make your vacation feel like a vacation, even I gave you some little upsets that ruined your family expectations before you went home.I'm always sorry for you.I hope that the education you gave me this time (that is to say, the reflection of my shortcomings from getting along with you) can have an effect on me in the future and continue to transform myself.Although life is so ruthless, we should try our best to improve ourselves, give people less pain and more happiness.After all, I still hold the wish of "Ning the people in the world to blame me, and I don't want to blame the people in the world".I believe you are too.

You and Mr. Ma must have had a very exciting talk these days.It is also rare luck to have someone who is a mentor and friend with whom you can confide in your heart.Child, don't you have to admit that fate loves us after all?
On behalf of Mr. Ma and Aunt Ma.

How much I love you, father and mother, the morning of October [-]

I feel very sorry for not being able to appreciate ancient poetry and prose with you this time. Do you want "The Collection of Flowers"?
1956.10.10
Dear children:
I haven't received a letter until today, so I don't know what day you left; the most worrying thing is that you didn't bring your cold clothes, what will you do along the way?Especially when you pass Moscow, don't you freeze up?Although you said on the phone that your cough has healed, I suspect that you are trying to comfort me; I hope you don't bring back to Warsaw the minor illness you got when you returned home.

In the past two days, I have resumed my work; while reading the documents, I have read Comrade Liu Shaoqi's report at the "Eighth National Congress". Inspire the masses.I hope you will calm down and think about the process of coming back this time, and you can draw many useful conclusions.My quick temper, in particular, should serve as a mirror to keep you on your toes.Emotional problems must be grasped by yourself, be firm, look at the big picture from a long distance, take into account the overall situation, don't simply show off temporary feelings, be extremely calm, and take care of the happiness of several people, short-sighted soft hearts often Inflicting unnecessary suffering on others and oneself for a long time!Children, remember these words.This is what parents are most worried about.

In terms of learning, I will repeat again: key plans are essential.Live a more regular life on weekdays, and don't go to bed too late at night.After you are gone, there are still many people who are concerned about your health.Sleeping too late has the greatest impact on health.You have to control yourself deeply!

October [-] late at night
Please tell us what to record in Beijing!
I also bought a copy of the seventh volume "Song People's Picture Album", "Maijishan Grottoes", and "Ancient Chinese Sculpture Collection" edited by Liu Kaiqu on your behalf; did you also buy them in Beijing?Please write quickly, so as not to send you double copies of such a heavy book.

It's been a long time coming back home, hope you have a good rest!

The many gifts you bring with you, I hope you don't send them indiscriminately, and save some slowly as New Year and Christmas gifts.It’s so easy that you can take it with you, and don’t be too casual, it’s hard to get.Life must be regular and food must be good. I don't want to save on this.

mom p.s.
(End of this chapter)