Old-time musicians

However, Fanning believes that Benchois's work "The Great Terror" is not an opera in the current sense.

According to the prevailing view in "History of Music in the Western Continent", the first opera was born in 345 AD, belonging to the ancient music period, and has now been lost. The earliest opera that is well preserved today is "The Evangelist Janingo" written by composer Gregory (430-488 AD).

Gregory's birth year 430 AD is the dividing line between the ancient music period and the medieval music period in academia. Benchois is a historical figure in the late 3rd Sturrangalia Dynasty, at least a thousand years ago.

According to Professor Anton's research view in the field of ancient music, the standard name for works such as "The Great Terror" should be called "miracle drama" or "miracle drama".

It is a transitional product of the gradual secularization of liturgical dramas with a strong church nature in the process of development. Around the intersection of the third history and the new calendar, the people replaced the priests, changed from Turangalian to local dialects (such as the ancient Hoffman language at that time), and moved to outside the church for performance.

Although the content of the miracle play still copied the story routine in the classic "Illuminati" of the Holy Sun Church, the plot gradually became tortuous and complicated. In the early stage, it emphasized more dramatic difficulties, allowing the audience to substitute the strong emotions of the characters. In the end, it often resolved the crisis in the way of "unfallen fire" descending miracles, making the ending move towards a secular reunion comedy atmosphere - such characteristics seem to eliminate the sacredness of religious music, but in fact, it has further promoted the widespread dissemination of the church.

Professor Anton believes that this art form that combines scripts, poems and music can be regarded as a precursor to opera.

The so-called "Banchova opera works" in Fanning's hands today are just some single melody fragments with no fixed high numerals and several extremely fragmented Turangalian lyrics.

In the lyrics of the miracle play "The Great Terror", Benchois repeatedly mentioned the importance of people passing through "doors" on their journey, believing that "there are various forms of doors, there are various forms of doors, and the true face of dreams exists in all of them, like water exists in the human body, like light exists in fire", and his description of the adventures of the characters in the play is more inclined to certain details, such as light and shadow, texture, smell, mood, and scenery, rather than the actual plot.

What attracted Fanning's attention even more was that no matter how the mood of the lyrics changed, Benchois always insisted on describing something called "key", and hinted in many places that "key" is the key to people passing through "doors".

Fanning's first inference is that the "door" here is related to the Huita in the migration, which involves the secret of the promotion of the knower to the knower.

But what he found strange and bizarre was that according to the previous secret document, it was during his journey to the Western Continent that Banshuwa attempted to "open a door with a price" and made the attempt that eventually drove him crazy - the "Turungaria Illusionary Secret Technique"!

The doubts in his mind popped up one after another:

"Could it be that the Special Patrol Office used several secret organizations to complete an evil ritual at the music graduation party, and finally took in the 'phantom' because it was related to the so-called 'key' of a door in the Hui Tower?"

"Key... Could my mysterious art gallery key be a key?"

"Is the 'phantom' created by the secret ritual a key...? Could it be that the key is not the common key, but a migrating creature?"

"If the key refers to the migrating creature, then the 'purple bean cake' is also a key? Could it be that the entanglement between the School of Harmony and Qiong's memory is also due to this reason?"

"No, no... This idea is not rigorous, and it makes the mistake of replacing the whole with a case. Judging from the lyrics of Banshuwa, the key seems to be something that is difficult to describe directly, and the form does not seem to be fixed..."

Fanning's eyes flickered, and he kept pushing his thinking chain on the notebook.

He only accidentally learned the full name of a famous historical figure from a book, and he made such an important guess along the way. This made him realize once again the extreme importance of those who know to maintain a learning mentality.

The pen tip jumped on the paper, gradually writing Fanning's preliminary inference:

"First, a key is needed to pass through the Huita Gate."

"Second, the key does not seem to be a key in a concrete sense, but a variety of existences, which may be specific substances or organisms, or abstract concepts or things, or a certain secret transmission, or a certain ritual, or even just an emotion, state or opportunity... For the time being, its form and concept are elusive."

"Third, the process of passing through the gate is extremely dangerous. Even if you have mastered the correct key, there is a very high mortality rate."

When Fanning wrote here, he was confused: As an archbishop, Benshuwa should first be a strong man at the level of the Proficient. Why would he risk his life to chase other gates that are obviously unrelated to the "Unfallen Fire"? Logically speaking, an organization like the Holy Sun Church, which has been passed down for thousands of years, should have mastered certain keys.

Then, he kept speculating on the deep motives of the Special Patrol Office.

It is hard to say whether there are any masters in the Uvlansel branch of the Special Patrol Office, but there is definitely more than one in the entire organization... Logically speaking, this group of high-level masters should have mastered the key to pass through the door. If they want to train more successors, why don’t they share the key directly with their colleagues, but use such a troublesome and extreme method?

Although Fan Ning's perception of the Special Inspection Office has become increasingly negative, he is a person who is good at thinking about issues from the other party's perspective. No matter what the real purpose of the Special Inspection Office is, he tacitly agrees that it is at least a cost-conscious, An organization that balances benefits and risks.

"If the Special Inspection Office is not satisfied with the keys currently possessed by the Insightful Ones, but continues to search and collect them, what might be the reason?"

Fan Ning thought of this and continued to add some inferences that might be questionable, ending with a question mark for easy revision later.

"Four. Maybe a specific door can only be passed through by a specific person, and other people who want to be promoted to the Deep One need to find another door?"

"Fifth, maybe the same door requires different keys for different people to cross?"

"6. Maybe the situation in Huita is as strange as Yiyong, and those doors are constantly changing?"

"Seven. Maybe the Ones of Understanding can continue to pass through more doors, and this is a way to make them stronger?"

When the thinking came to an end, Fan Ning closed the notebook.

"Compared with the widely circulated stories of pilgrimages, sermons, and spiritual practices, the things recorded in Ban Shuwa's "Illusion Man" secret literature should belong to the category of secret history..."

If you think of the horrifying ending where he drowned himself in a basin with his own blood after going crazy, this miracle drama "The Great Terror" really lives up to its name.

Moreover, in those vague lyrics of miracle plays, the level of hidden knowledge about doors and keys should be very high. Just thinking about it in general terms, Fan Ning felt that his spirit was more exhausted than expected.

After closing his eyes and rubbing his cheeks and eyebrows, he decided to put an end to his unexpected research on Archbishop "Banchuva Lenya" for the time being.

It is not too late to slowly study this field after you advance to a high level. Blind and excessive exploration may not be acceptable to your current sanity.

So Fanning returned to his work of searching for information about the blind organist "Vien".

…

As the days passed, it was getting closer and closer to Fanning's appointment as the permanent conductor of the Santa Lenia Symphony Orchestra.

But he devoted more time to the investigation of the art museum's secret door. Sometimes he checked files in various churches, sometimes he sat in the office of the Guidance School to sort out his ideas, sometimes he verified information about some relevant people, and sometimes he visited the field to explore some references in the materials. The location... Not only is the food very adequate, but the time for practicing piano and studying music theory is also allocated less and less than before.

Sometimes when Fan Ning falls asleep, he will see scenes related to doors, such as concrete church arches, concert hall doors, castle doors, abstract doors with specific smells, emotions, textures and colors, and sometimes the mezzanine of an art museum exhibition hall. The secret door in... However, he is extremely proficient in mastering the dream control method, and his inspiration is already between the fifth-level wise person and the sixth-level wise person. This does not cause him any trouble, nor does it prevent him from being in the star realm. Find the entrance to Yiyong.

But one thing has changed: before, Fan Ning could not understand why those royal nobles with a long heritage were always obsessed with the glorious past of their families, always obsessed with engraving and remembering family history, always eager to understand their ancestors, and always obsessed with the past. The place where those ancestors once lived has special feelings, and now he seems to have some slightly similar and empathetic experiences——

The past and present life at the address of the Turner Museum of Art, his father’s unknown past experiences and secrets, the artistic experiences of the musicians he studied under, archives, files, correspondence, manuscripts of works, relevant reports in history...those that may be related to The auspicious pieces related to the secret behind the secret door, sealed in the historical archives, are as fascinating as the smell of precious aged red wine hidden in the cellar.

According to Fan Ning's investigation, Professor Anton's young teacher, the blind organist Vienne, was born in the year 826 of the New Calendar. His hometown is Sinongagagre, a small town on the outskirts of the imperial capital of Saint Taranburg. This is a town with a population of nearly In the bustling shopping town of 20,000 people, the folk music he came into contact with here, such as street songs, dance tunes, and the trumpet sound of military music, may have had a subtle impact on his artistic personality.

Vienne's blindness was not an accident. Fan Ning compared several files from different sources, all of which recorded that he was blind when he was six months old. Fan Ning speculated that he may have suffered from congenital cataracts. Eye disease, or even blindness from birth - it's just that the medical system of that era did not carefully examine newborn babies.

Although blind, his squire family background and harmonious and friendly family atmosphere still allowed Vienne to receive music education from an early age, and soon showed his amazing talent. He entered the music industry at the age of 9 Studying at Theoline National Institute for Blind Youth illustrates this point.

When Vienne was 15 years old, that is, in the year 841 of the New Calendar, he won the first prize in both piano and violin in the academy competition, which attracted the attention of the orthodox music master Tarakani (792-843)—— This is because Tararkani's biography and letters were compiled more systematically by later generations. Fan Ning inferred from them that the music master gave Viennese some lessons intermittently, although he did not find a direct way to accept him as a disciple. expression, but at least objectively there is a relationship between teaching and being taught.

"I didn't expect that my music teacher is actually related to Tararkani..." This fact makes Fan Ning leisurely fascinated. Master Tararkani's status in music history is similar to Haydn or Mozart on the Blue Star in his previous life.

The semi-teacher-student relationship between Tarakani and Vien lasted for about two years. During this period, in addition to intermittent music teaching, there was another important thing:

Tarakani helped Vien introduce a famous ophthalmologist in Saint-Taranbourg to perform cataract surgery. According to several diaries that Fanning read, Vien said that "the effect of the surgery was better than expected" and that he could "see the outline of larger and deeper objects at a certain distance", which made him start to try "walking on the streets with simpler traffic without help".

When Vien was 17 years old, Tarakani introduced him to study at the Royal Conservatory of Theolien, where he taught. His music career had a higher starting point and his ability to take care of himself was slightly restored. These were all things worth celebrating. Unfortunately, before Vien's first semester was over, Master Tarakani passed away.

He spent his study time in the imperial capital in a relatively quiet state. After graduation, he worked as a piano and violin assistant for several years in obscurity. However, this was undoubtedly a period of rapid development of his musical skills. When he was 25 years old, the former organist of the Royal Academy of Music Concert Hall suffered from cancer and the position was vacant. He applied for this position. At that time, including him, a total of 212 people in the imperial capital music circle applied.

Many applicants have complicated backgrounds and relationships. The situation of the Royal Academy of Music is also special among the imperial public schools. The influence behind it is not only the Bologna School. The academy can't coordinate the interests of the disputes. Later, they simply held an exam and established an 11-member committee, including 3 famous musicians, 3 clergy and 5 college professors. The exam was anonymous. The curtain was drawn in front of the organ performance stage. The committee and the examinees could not see each other. The order was decided by drawing lots, and the performers did not announce their names.

Perhaps because the workload of 212 people was too heavy, the academy came up with a trick: the day before the exam, the committee actually announced the exam questions directly!

Fanning looked at the four questions on the letter and felt a little weak. Even if the organ here was equivalent to a piano, and even if he had musical memories from his previous life, he felt weak in the knees just thinking about it.

"Question 1 is to improvise a four-part hymn with free accompaniment."

"Question 2 is to improvise and play a fugue with three or more parts on a theme."

"Question 3 is to improvise and play a canon with two or more parts on a theme."

"Question 4 is from a huge list of organ repertoires (about 500 pieces). During the exam, the committee will choose one piece and the candidate will recite it on the spot."

Only five people came to take the exam the next day.

The result of the exam was that the 11-member committee gave Vien the highest score without exception. Once this result was confirmed, it was naturally indisputable. And when people found out that this was a staggering and almost blind candidate, the shock in their hearts could not be added!