Old-time musicians

So in the year 851 of the new calendar, when Vien was 25 years old, he took up the position of full-time organist at the Royal Academy of Music, the most influential institution in Theolaine, at the height of his youth.

If at this point, apart from some regrets, the main theme of his life was still "victory", his second half of life was full of tragedy.

Judging from the tone of his letters and diaries during that period, the experience brought to him by this position was not satisfactory. The complex interpersonal relationships, the malice of his previous competitors, the psychological gap of a blind person under the spotlight, and the various involuntary performances, rehearsals, and creative tasks made the musician feel a little overwhelmed, and even depressed on the other side of his work.

In his autobiography, 855 in the new calendar was a "year of disaster". Before his 30th birthday, he fell into a deep pit while walking because of his blindness. His right leg had multiple comminuted fractures and tendon ruptures. With the medical level at that time, there were only two options: amputation or death. However, he firmly refused amputation because a person with only one leg could only say goodbye to the organ. He said in his diary that this was "no different from death" and he could "leave his fate to the Lord".

After conservative treatment, Vien was miraculously not infected. He could only start playing again after a full year and a half of recovery, but soon caught a cold and almost died; his wife died of tuberculosis in 858; in 863, Master Gilles died, and the era of classical music ended. He was then involved in the dispute between "title music" and "pure music". An unsophisticated blind organist, he finally became a victim of the academic struggle - for various reasons that Fanning can hardly analyze clearly now, he no longer served as the organist of the Royal Concert Hall, and several core figures of power at the time rejected the proposal to appoint him as the professor of organ at the academy for five consecutive years.

The loneliness of the blind is something that normal people cannot understand. Vien had suffered from severe depression at that time, and some of his medication records can be found in his letters. Under the exclusion of the academic school, he resigned in anger in 867.

Perhaps because Master Tarakani was an alumnus of St. Lenya University, or perhaps because Vien had some connections in the church, he was introduced to Uvransel and got a job as an organist in the small church in Mecklen.

In the following period, Fanning found that there was little information left, which may indicate that the years when Vien first arrived in Uvransel were a relatively peaceful and happy time in his life - he had saved money from his previous work, worked as a clergyman in the village church, sought comfort in faith and worship, and played his own organ freely

According to Fanning's inference, Vien spent money to build a mansion on the original site of the Turner Art Museum and settled there, which should also be during this period, perhaps around 870 in the new calendar.

In 871, when Vien was 45 years old, he first showed symptoms of glaucoma, which deteriorated rapidly in the following period, causing his already poor vision to be completely lost at any time.

He heard from somewhere that an ophthalmologist in the United Principality of Feydon had invented a new treatment that was "expensive but effective". For a ray of hope, he traveled across the ocean to the distant southern continent for five years of treatment.

During this period, his daughter and brother passed away. When he returned to Uvransel in 876, he found that the chapel had been moved twice and worn out for nearly ten years. The church had limited funds, and the cathedral might receive more donations and funding, but most of the grassroots chapels were poor.

Vien, who was already penniless for treatment, wanted to raise funds to repair the organ, so he performed in various cities in Theolaine.

It was for this reason that Professor Anton was able to hear his organ performance in his youth.

Fanning speculated from the correspondence that the two met around 882 in the new calendar, when Teacher Anton was only 15 years old and Vien was already 56 years old.

Since the information was either scattered or mixed with too many daily events, Fanning could not know in detail what musical knowledge the old organist taught Anton Konar, but it is certain that the foggy tape technique created by Professor Anton - which Fanning also borrowed at the beginning of the "First Symphony" - was influenced by the "simulated organ sound" thinking. In addition, Professor Anton's chant-style melody writing, the creation of a sublime sense of repeated variations and texture superposition, and his enthusiasm for studying ancient music... Fanning found the source.

However, Vien, who was running around for performances, had to take a lot of drugs due to physical weakness, fatigue, stress, loneliness and depression, which caused serious damage to his body. He saved money while paying for medication and saving money. It took nearly ten years to complete the restoration of the organ.

In the winter of 885, his body was already overwhelmed. When he held his 1450th organ concert, people had to carry him to the stage to prevent him from heart failure when climbing the stairs behind the church. He had frequent heart attacks in those years and suffered from serious diseases in his blood and bones.

The organ had been repaired by then, and his performance frequency had decreased, but an artist always has the habit and mission of bringing works to the audience. On June 12, 886, it was his 1460th organ concert. 1 Conor acted as an assistant and carried the teacher to the stage with several priests.

The program that day was Viennese's own organ suite "Fourteen Poems of Bassani".

When the performance reached the last piece, Anton Konard noticed that the teacher Vienne's face was pale and his fingers were a little stiff when touching the keys, but he still insisted on playing the last chord and completed the bowing action after a moment of breath. .

At this time, Anton Konard signaled the teacher to cancel the encore plan that was too long, but Vienne still wanted to perform at least one, so he began to perform the cantata "Morning Star Shines" by the late medieval master Kashunich. "How Beautiful" to improvise on the theme.

More than a minute later, Vienne collapsed on the bandstand, and the audience heard only a continuous bass sound - the old organist's feet were still on the pedals.

Three days later was Vienne's funeral. According to his previous wishes, he was buried under his beloved organ. The organ was not played that day and was covered with a black curtain. The funeral music was a plain song, with no Accompanied single-melody chant.

…

It was night, Fan Ning was sitting alone at his desk, the doors and windows were open, and the summer breeze was blowing on his face.

He had just returned from a walk in the chapel, which had been moved several times, and admired Vienne's unpretentious copper floor tombstone under the organ.

He has read through the lives of several musicians, including teacher Anton, Dean Gould, and organist Vienne. This is the equally respectable life of other musicians except those at the top of the pyramid who are recognized as "music masters".

Life is too short. Although these musicians have great artistic personalities and noble spiritual palaces, Fan Ning is still a little confused about their deaths.

After the funeral of Teacher Anton, he comforted Sheeran and said, "The work is the life and will of the artist. He will feel the appreciation of people all over the world and resonate with people's souls." But Fan Ning still didn't understand What it feels like after death, or rather, no one in the world can understand it.

Will you roam among the waves? He had never heard of such a statement.

After another thirty or forty years, I will be close to this process. Even those who are lucky enough to be promoted to Suixiao will only have another twenty years.

Perhaps, that is absolute unconsciousness, absolute nothingness.

An impulse surged in his heart. It seemed to be a very simple desire for expression, but he didn't know what it meant specifically. "Commemorating the life of a musician"? Inaccurate... "Depicting a sublime spiritual world"? Inaccurate... "Express your feelings about your loss?" It also seems inaccurate...

But Fan Ning always wanted to write an orchestral work, maybe not a symphony, but a single movement, something similar to a symphonic poem. It was not only to mourn the dead giants in his "First Symphony", but also to satisfy this premise. That unknown desire for expression...

He jotted down some of his unsystematic thoughts in his notebook.

He felt that he wanted to write this "symphonic poem" in a form "similar to a funeral march", but not the sad, heavy, lonely tone of an ordinary funeral march. It should have an "overwhelming opening temperament" and form a strong impression on the audience. The "sense of intimidation, judgment, and epicness" seems to indicate that they will see "certain scenes that could not have happened". For example, from "a higher perspective", the whole life of the deceased seems to be observed from "a higher perspective". Reflected in a flawless mirror."

Fan Ning took a deep breath and wrote a complete sentence under these broken thoughts:

"If I could see the afterlife with my own eyes, I would like to see myself lying majestically under garlands and flowers."

After the artist's sentimentality, there are still substantive issues to consider.

Fanning discovered an intriguing suspicion in Viennese's life experience.

Has his eye disease been cured after he returned from seeking medical treatment in the Southern Continent?

Fan Ning feels very contradictory about this.

After Vienne returned to Ufransel in 876, he expressed many depressions in his letters and diaries, including the death of relatives, the current financial situation, the damage of his beloved organ, and the fatigue of performing...but he did not mention it again. through your own eyes.

Judging from this change, it should be that the treatment has improved greatly. Otherwise, according to human nature, he would at least regret and complain about the five years he went to the Southern Continent.

But looking at the other side, Fanning found in the letters and records from other people's perspectives that they had expressed sympathy or encouragement for Vienne many times. For example, during Vienne's overseas tour, many people suggested him in their letters. "Don't be discouraged." Fan Ning just saw Professor Anton sharing "information on the cutting-edge progress of imperial ophthalmic medicine" with him several times in the letter.

This shows that the treatment does not seem to be going well. At least in the eyes of others, the old organist is still blind in his actions and life.

Moreover, these encouragements and sharings have never received a positive response from Vienne. It is clear that he has given feedback on other greetings or business matters in his replies.

Vienne has the characteristics of a relatively pure artist and is not good at socializing and power struggles, but this does not mean that he has a eccentric personality. He has his own family and friends. Over the past forty years, he has often poured out his love to his friends. The anguish in my heart relieves my depression.

But since returning from treatment in the Southern Continent, the eye problem seems to have become a closely guarded topic for him.

If you want to forcefully explain that it is because his subsequent experiences were more unfortunate and his depression became more severe, so he became weirder in this aspect, it would be reasonable. However, Fan Ning also keenly smelled a few strange things.

His congenital cataracts were operated on when he was young. He was not a blind man whose world was completely dark. The reason why he later worsened was due to the so-called glaucoma symptoms in 871 New Year.

The timing of the onset of this symptom is an imaginative coincidence with the time when he began to settle in the former residence of the Turner Museum of Art!

In the last four years of Vienne's life, in addition to Professor Anton, Fanning also noticed a woman named Hamilton who had close contacts with him. Judging from the information in various materials, this was the therapist he hired. Depression psychiatrist.

Fanning tried to get the detailed information about this Hamilton lady, and the result was extremely smooth, because not only was she still alive, but she also had a certain social reputation - she was born in 856 New Year, and was less than 30 years old at that time. Already 57 years old, his public identity is Uf Lanser, a well-known pathologist, psychologist, and epidemiologist.

By investigating the timeline of her public resume, Fanning noticed that after the death of the old organist, the mansion on the site of the Turner Museum of Art was soon turned into a "City Commission Hospital for the Mentally Ill", with the first director None other than Ms. Hamilton.

Two points of explanation are necessary here. First, Fanning speculates from the details that although Ms. Hamilton gave the old organist a lot of medical care in the last stage of his life, the plot is not a "bloody" "mansion inheritance" "Gift" - she only played a role in connecting with the authorities. After the authorities converted the mansion into a hospital, they signed a sum of money in advance to the chapel under the signature of "Vien after his death" for the later use of his beloved organ. Repair Fund.

Furthermore, this "City Hospital for the Mentally Ill" cannot be understood as a "mental hospital" in a literal sense.

It is actually the product of independence from the imperial workhouse medical system - with the exposure of deep-seated contradictions in the industrialization process of Tioline, the poor living conditions and hygienic standards of the poor in the workhouse have been increasingly criticized by all walks of life, and the Parliament in The Urban Poverty Law was introduced in the early 1980s, reforming the already notorious Poor Law Amendment Act (834 edition, also known as the New Poor Law).

One of the items on the agenda is to establish an "Urban Mental Illness Committee" to make the internal hospital of the workhouse independent, increase funding, seek social funding, and widely treat the poor. This guarantees some services that were once unacceptable to society and unspeakable for the poor. Medical needs such as sexually transmitted diseases, abortion, and childbirth for unmarried mothers also include rehabilitation of disabled people, prevention and treatment of occupational diseases, and prevention and treatment of infectious diseases for mental patients, which are just some of them.

According to Fan Ning's understanding, this is somewhat similar to the predecessor of "modern public hospital".

So starting in the 1980s, first archdioceses and large institutions took the lead in implementing the parliamentary reform requirements, and then small and medium-sized almshouses also carried out rectifications - including the construction of this hospital. Their funding sources include government allocations, church donations, and some factory owners who are keen on philanthropy.

But what is more strange is that the hospital on the original site of the Turner Art Museum seems to have existed for a very short time.

Sort out the timeline from the clues in the data: Vienne passed away in the summer of 886, the hospital reconstruction project was slowly started, and was only completed at the end of 888. Vincent Van Nin's work file in the Special Patrol Office ended in 889. He was born in 890, and the Turner Art Museum began operations later.

It will also take time to transform the hospital into an art museum again.

These events happened so closely that it seemed that the hospital was stopped or moved for some reason not even a year after it was put into use.

Have no place to spend your money?

After spending so many days, Fan Ning finally traced these impressive or complicated past events from 826, the year when Vienne was born, to his own year of birth.

As for the confusion in this, both Teacher Anton and the Vienne organist were no longer alive. He now felt that it might be time to find an opportunity to visit the elderly Ms. Hamilton.