Old-time musicians

After directing the masons and porters to finish the work, Fanning paid them the balance of their wages.

He walked in and out, taking a look at the "composition cottage": white walls, blue and red inverted V-shaped roof, windows on three sides, and the main door facing the lake.

The one-meter-high steps lead up to the door, which is divided into two parts by a simple wooden curtain, and equipped with necessary tables, chairs, pianos, fireplaces, hammocks and other items, making the 18-square-meter space still spacious.

Although the display is simple, the quality brought by the high budget of 200 pounds makes it look exquisite and peaceful.

The piano is a small grand piano of the "Pesenlov" brand, with a shipping price of 400 pounds. It is an entry-level grand piano. It is different from the cheerful and crisp "Keticibio" and the balanced, passionate and violent aesthetic "Boethius". Its material and craftsmanship are pure and stable, the tone is more solid and deep, and it has a more unique feature: very high sensitivity.

The wonderful performances made on it will go straight to the point and be more shocking, but unfortunately, if there are flaws in the performance or the fingers are not well trained, it will be magnified more than ten times. From the perspective of performance, it may not be friendly to Fanning, but it is definitely suitable for composing.

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Fanning originally had no money to do this, and the remaining funds, including Lu's reward, were put on "Golden Sparks". Fortunately, he immediately received another 1,800 pounds - the manuscript of the string quartet "Death and the Maiden" has now become a collection of the Adair family.

After the cottage was built, Fanning spent three days writing the first movement of the "First Symphony" in one breath based on a lot of previous accumulation and ideas. In the twilight of the moment, he drew the free extension symbol and the ending symbol at the end for it.

Looking out the window, the town is just a few minutes away, and the warm light scatters, illuminating every inch of the light brown twilight above it.

In the distance are lakes, mountains and the horizon. The outline of the woods draws a long arc in the dimness. The deep blue sky is high above, with a sense of mysterious magnificence.

"What are you doing here again?" Fanning walked out of the room and asked with a smile when the piano stopped.

"Mr. Composer, we want to learn some new tunes or accompaniment styles."

Three rural musicians standing by the scarecrow's feet hurriedly with notebooks and pens in their hands. Another person, holding a lit cigar on his back, was leaning into the window to look. At this time, he turned around and scratched his head, smiling awkwardly.

"A composer from a big city has come to the village to write his symphony here." This news had been spread several days ago, and many people had come to take a look, either with awe of serious music, or wanting to learn some skills, or simply out of curiosity.

Although Fanning's door was opened and closed from time to time, the residents who came to watch did not knock on the door or enter without permission. They would make a gesture to the children to keep quiet to prevent disturbing the composer's musical thoughts. Fanning also found that someone had sent a fruit basket on the threshold of the door.

These rural musicians were the most frequent onlookers. They had some vocal and organ basics, and some also knew guitar, piano, orchestral music or various percussion instruments - most of them inherited their father's business or the master-apprentice system. The previous generation passed on some instrument playing techniques, master music fragments, folk song and dance tunes and improvisation accompaniment routines to their successors through word of mouth.

Just as artists are respected in cities, rural musicians or painters also have a high status in rural society. In fact, because the village circle is smaller and the social relations are flatter, they can enjoy some "practical" respect: such as church worship, school classes, tavern performances, weddings and funerals, and social activities of gentry. In fact, their income is also considerable.

"Sir, are you going to town? Tonight, Mr. William will hold a dance at his manor. He has repeatedly expressed the hope that you can take time out of your busy schedule to come. If you go, he will be very happy." A country musician asked.

"That's what I mean."

In fact, Fanning has become familiar with many people in the past few days. After hearing about it, Mr. William came to the inn to visit very early, and he had a lot of exchanges with the country musicians in his spare time.

This world is "inspiration-oriented, theory-light". When he arrived in a small place, Fanning found that the music theory of these country musicians was even more messed up. They lacked basic music theory, read the score with bumps or were only used to using simple scores. Most of the music skills were passed down from the previous generation point by point - the master played a sentence and the apprentice learned a sentence.

But this does not mean that they have no music nutrients worth absorbing: music life experiences worth listening to, rich melody materials, improvisational artistic wisdom, some folk songs or dance genres with long connotations... Fanning learned a lot from them that he could not learn in academic life.

In return, Fanning also explained some basic music theory to them, popularized the sources of many music selections they were familiar with, and shared more popular tunes in serious music - simplified and adapted for them to record, so as to facilitate playing and singing.

In the twilight of the town streets, the air was filled with the sweet smell of dinner, the shops on both sides pulled up gas lamps, the girl leaned against the second-floor door curtain, the sound of harmonica floated out melodiously, the children sang and chased and played, the livestock mooed lazily, and were lined up by the farmers to go to the farm.

"Children, what are you singing?" Fanning leaned over and asked with a smile.

The little boy holding the bell sniffed and shook his head blankly at Fan Ning.

"I know! It's called 'Jacques Brothers'!" The older little girl jumped up to Fan Ning ostentatiously, grinned and answered, and then led the children to climb up the haystack, leaving behind a noisy and cheerful scene. The song: "Are you still sleeping, are you still sleeping? Good brother, good brother. The morning bell has rung, the morning bell has rung, jingle bell, jingle bell..."

"Sir, are you also interested in these children's songs?" A country musician asked curiously when he saw Fan Ning being amused.

"It's very malleable, isn't it?" Fanning's answer left the musicians scratching their heads.

…Don’t mention it, it sounds a bit like “Two Tigers”, which is a children’s song. The melody is simple and repetitive, and many of them are similar.

Before Fan Ning was completely close to Squire William's courtyard, he saw clouds of smoke swirling above the branches of the courtyard. The smoke from burning locust and jujube trees mixed with the aroma of roasted beef and mutton. Drill into the nose.

The living room is old, spacious and neat, with cream curtains, dark red walls, smooth floors, and walnut gall wood furniture, all reflecting the light of gas lamps.

The charcoal fires in the two long steel troughs were burning brightly. The servants turned the forks for roasting the lamb, and the fragrant fat dripped into the troughs, making an attractive sizzling sound.

The dresses of the gentlemen and ladies here are not as fashionable as those of Ufranser, and their behavior is relatively less restrained. The guests chat and laugh or play cards in groups.

Someone looked over at Fanning, and then more guests looked out from the lounge.

"Mr. Pianist! You are here!!" Two little girls, about eleven or twelve years old, with long flowing hair and pomegranate red skirts, excitedly ran to Fan Ning. A golden retriever puppy jumped out of one of the skirts. The edges came out, leaving claw marks on Fan Ning's trouser legs.

"Sorry... Mr. Pianist." A little girl knelt down and patted the puppy on the head. "It's too young and doesn't understand etiquette... It's actually an intelligent and pure-blooded traveling hound. My father spent I bought it from a friend for 40 pounds..."

Seeing this scene, Mr. William, who was wearing a leather vest, stroked his beard and said with a smile: "Dear Mr. Composer, you finally have free time tonight... My two precious little girls have been with you for fifteen minutes since last time. After class, you kept clamoring for me to invite you over again.”

"I'm here to watch and learn from the performances and dances you are waiting for." Fan Ning responded politely.

The squire family first let Fanning have tea, then served cheese cut into cubes, candies and pastries, and finally cut a few strips of steaming meat from the hot lamb leg for him to taste as a first course.

Originally, according to convention, the guests would first enjoy the performance of the young heroine or the musicians, but now the country musicians did not dare to come forward, and more ladies looked at Fan Ning with respect and expectation.

"It is an honor to invite you, a noble composer, to kick off today's ball." William Gentleman's wife said so.

Fan Ning did not refuse. He took off his white gloves, sat in front of the upright piano, stretched out his right index finger, and together with his middle finger, played a bright and cheerful vibrato on the A-flat key in the high range.

This vibrato turned into a cheerful repeated sound pattern, and then the three beats of the left hand were added. A cheerful, gorgeous, repeatedly turning melody was played by Fan Ning, climbing to a high point at a dizzying speed, and then sliding down with a playful sound.

He played Chopin's famous "Waltz in D flat major" (64 1), also known as "Puppy Waltz".

The little girl's golden retriever puppy was spinning happily beside the pedal. The squire family and the guests held their breaths and listened with their ears pricked up. The country musicians stared unblinkingly at Fan Ning's fingers on the keyboard for fear of missing them. A little detail.

Such exquisite and passionate melodies, such elegant and brilliant harmonies, and such high-level creation and performance can probably only appear in those aristocratic music salons in big cities!

The speed in the middle section is slightly slower, the melody is delicate and sweet, and then the first fast phrase is repeated. After the fast sound flow passes from high to low, Fan Ning's fingers are lifted lightly from the keyboard, and all the sounds are collected in an instant. He had to be clean, then turned his head and looked at the cute little girl with a smile next to him.

After playing for less than two minutes, he took his seat and left the stage amidst applause that was about to break the roof. Then the musicians played some fragments of Meyer symphonies with wind instruments, and then sang a few Kashunich for the crowd. Early cantata.

The dance style here is also somewhat different from that in big cities. It is fresher, livelier, more enthusiastic and unrestrained, and has a richer local flavor. Fan Ning always carefully admires it from his seat and politely clinks glasses and sips wine with the gentlemen and ladies who come up to say hello.

Towards the end, several country musicians gathered around again. A musician who knew relatively well about staff handed over the sheet of music he had recorded and asked Fan Ning to proofread and complete it.

He is the piano tutor for William Gentleman's two little daughters. Last time Fanning demonstrated melody playing and phrasing breathing to the two little girls, he was also listening as a student.

"The tonality was found quite accurately, but almost only the right hand was written, but the many abbreviated symbols are quite down-to-earth." This comment flashed through Fan Ning's mind. He took the pen and spent more than ten minutes proofreading it. The melody of the right hand is added, and then the accompaniment chords of the left hand are completed.

The musician thanked him after taking it. He didn't know Fan Ning's name, but he carefully wrote on the upper right side of the score: "Mr. Composer from the Lake House, March 16, 913 in the New Calendar."

"I want to ask you a question." Fan Ning said.

"Don't you dare? Please tell me."

"What's the name of their dance music that alternates between fast and slow speeds? Is there more material?"

"Sir... this is called 'Leandre'. Are you also interested in this? To be honest, the noble musicians in the city generally look down on these country materials and are not willing to pay attention to us. But if you want it, I can give it to you. Write some common tunes."

Fan Ning said seriously: "The layout, development and logical techniques of music are divided into high and low levels, but there are no revelations and materials. They come either from the highest sky or from the earth under our feet."

The country musician seems to understand: "They have two kinds of rhythms, fast and slow. They have been popular in the countryside in the north of Eagles for more than two hundred years, but now they are less popular. Many younger generations feel that their starting speed is too unrestrained. They Rather follow the elegant waltz in the big city.”

"Really?" Fan Ning's eyes showed a thoughtful look, "I think the waltz popular in salons today seems to have evolved from the slow branch of 'Leanderer'. Of course, they increased the speed to a moderate pace. degree, more elegant and light..."

Well, this must have some kind of homology, they are all three beats, but 'Leanderer' often divides each beat into two eighth notes, and even splits the first beat into a triplet, which not only looks enthusiastic Unrestrained, and even according to the words of the previous life, there is also some emotion and magic...

He took the paper with the "Leanderer" genre material written on it, glanced at the several lines of simplified music on it, thanked him and put it away.

"Mr. Pianist, when will you come to give us lessons again?" When the meeting was over, a little girl ran to Fan Ning and called her father, "Dad, you should pay more to the piano." Mr. Home.”

"I am willing, but what is more important is your time." Gentleman William laughed, then personally sent Fan Ning out and invited him to come over for tea tomorrow morning.

Late at night, Fan Ning stepped into the door of the hotel, and his eyes fell on the woodcut "Hunter's Funeral" again.

"It looks heavy, but is actually lively and interesting. This ironic mood really fits my idea of ​​the funeral march in the third movement."

"How about making a bold attempt and using the theme of the children's song 'Brothers Jacques' that I just heard as the theme of the 'breathing motive' that the timpani is repeatedly struck, and make a minor version of the deformation, and then use imitation techniques to create sounds between the instruments. Superimpose them all, and use the timbre and character of each instrument to simulate the various small animals that bury hunters in the forest, so that they are piled up into a huge canon structure..."

"In this way, the combination of low-level children's songs and the high-level polyphonic technique of canon formed the first stage of my irony... In the subsequent inserts, I combined the vulgar minor tunes of Ufranser with symphonic orchestration Fusion to achieve the second ironic effect..."

Seeing Fan Ning staring blankly at the front desk, the male owner of the hotel, Schwint, asked in surprise: "Sir, it's very late. Do you want to go up and rest first? I want them to prepare hot water for you."

"No, thank you."

Fan Ning woke up from a dream, quickly opened his notebook, and began to record his inspiration. Then he rushed back to the "composer cabin" by the lake that night without taking any rest. It was another sleepless night.

Time passed day by day, and in this state of frantically absorbing nutrients and devoting himself to creation, Fan Ning finished writing the third movement, and then integrated various dance music materials into his own ideas to complete the second movement. Finally, he based on These creative elements fine-tune and supplement some of the development and transitional passages of Professor Anton’s final movement, making the overall logic more rigorous.

Thus, Fanning completed the "First Symphony" in his life in the "composer cabin" on the shores of Lake Metraun.

One early morning in early April, the breeze blew over the lake, the trees sprouted new buds, and the fields outside the village and town were filled with endless green waves.

As usual, several country musicians came to the lakeside with pens and paper, preparing to listen to Fan Ning's piano practice in the morning. However, they did not hear any sound when they approached the "composer cabin". When they got closer, they found that the doors and windows were closed and empty. one person.

"Mr. Composer has left? It has only been a month..." Several people stood by the lake in despair for a long time, and then reluctantly retreated. On the road, they saw several residents walking in the opposite direction, as if they wanted to go to the lake, and then looked at There were two little girls wearing white dresses carrying fruit baskets.

"Mr. Pianist left?"

"Go back, everyone." said the piano teacher of the squire's daughter. "The composer has completed his creation and has returned to the big city. His symphony must be performed there soon."

"The lessons he gave us several times were only one hour in total... Will he come back?"

"Can we hear it?"

The two little girls asked different questions.

"...I believe it will be." Another country musician looked at the short figure in the "Composer's Cabin" and didn't know which question he was answering. "We didn't have the chance to premiere, and we don't know the name of the composer yet, but it won't take long. , his symphony will probably be heard in concert halls in various cities, we always have a chance."

On the afternoon of April 6, the temperature was not cold, but there was still a steady drizzle in the leaden clouds in Ufranser.

"Ugh——!"

The whistle of the steam train arriving at the station sounded.

Fan Ning carried his travel bag and followed the dense flow of people out of the platform. From a distance, he saw a plastic sign with a woodpecker pattern floating above the crowd.

He walked closer and saw Sheeran and Joan waving at him vigorously.