Third Movement - Chapter 2

Performed by Friedrich Gulda

TN: Beethoven’s No. 26 in E-flat Major, Op. 81a. Vienna was invaded by Napoleon in 1809 and this ‘Les Adieux’ (Farewell) was written for his patron Archduke Rudolph. Later in 1811 a dedication was added reading “On the departure of his Imperial Highness, for the Archduke Rudolph in admiration”.

This is Beethoven’s only sonata to include a program- in this case, a reference to the Archduke’s forced evacuation.

An average performance of the piece lasts about 17 minutes. The sonata is one of Beethoven’s most challenging sonatas because of the mature emotions.

Comprising three movements, The Farewell, The Absence and The Return.

Link to the websites. https://www.classiccat.net/beethoven_l_van/81a.info.php

All text in bold is originally in English.

———

Yuanxiao had no time to think about whether he would go to jail for this, his attention was completely diverted.

His position is in the middle back, although it is not a good position, but he has a good viewpoint, facing the pianist in the center of the stage.

His eyes fell on a mature man in a black suit, poised like a tyrant. It is rumoured that he is very bad tempered, irritable, ruthless and arrogant. During his performance, everything should revolve around him. He often improvises the original score on the stage, so that many conductors and musicians can’t keep up with his rhythm. But because of his talent, no one dared to say anything.

He was so dazzling as he sat under the light, surrounded by an impenetrable cold and inhuman aura.

Yuanxiao stared at him. It was difficult to connect him with the child who had lived with him day and night for so many years in his memories.

Albert Royce in his youth had a different name. His past name was Bai Wenlin. A boy who suffered a series of misfortunes before finally meeting Yuanxiao. Yuanxiao took the child home.

Bai Wenlin at that time was quite different from now. He was gentle, polite and always smiling, like a sunny angel.

However as soon as the piano sounded, Yuanxiao knew that he had not changed. The sound made from his fingers meeting the keys swept through and cleansed the soul. With firm rhythm and intensity, serene and wise – perfect impeccable technical skills. However, the critic is right. His skills are unparalleled, but he lacks emotion.

Yuanxiao remembered the performance that first led to his fame. An audience secretly recorded the performance on his mobile phone.

Then they shared the recording on social platforms, the clip with poor sound quality spread wildly on major platforms. Everyone mistakenly thought that this was the dance of the dead recorded by Liszt1 himself on a phonograph. The rumors became more and more outrageous. Many people believed this nonsense and thought it was really Liszt’s own performance – his superb skills conquered everyone.

At the end of the first half, Bai Wenlin finished playing Don Juan’s memories and was covered in sweat. He stood up under the applause and his estranged yet familiar blue eyes swept through the huge concert hall. Yuanxiao almost thought he had been noticed, but it was obvious that there were too many people in the audience.

Yuanxiao watched him go backstage, so he averted his eyes and leaned back weakly. He hasn’t drunk a drop of water for several days and has been sustained with IV.

Leaving his mouth parched and his bladder swollen. He was about to go to the bathroom. As a result, before he got up, he suddenly heard a clamour. Turning around a group of NYPD wearing blue police uniforms and guns around their waists were at the doorway. They were stopped outside by the on-site security and were not allowed to enter or disturb people in the concert hall.

Yuanxiao quickly bowed his head and hid.

No doubt, they must be here to catch him!

For the first time in his life, he was in such a scary and incredulous situation . How unlucky was he to have stolen the horse of the New York mounted police?

A group of policemen were outside watching the audience in the whole hall, looking for the “criminal”.

“What is he wearing?”

“Dark blue suit, carrying a black backpack and black hair, he is Asian.”

At first glance, all the men in the concert hall attended in formal attire, with some exceptions all of them were wearing black, dark blue and royal blue. Damn it, this range is too large!

Yuanxiao was worried that bowing would arouse suspicion. Finally, he sat up straight, but he took out a baseball cap from his backpack and put it on.

Soon it was the beginning of the second half, so the commotion outside stopped completely.

However, the concert had a time limit. The whole audience seemed to stay in a trance created by Royce for more than an hour. For a beat the huge Carnegie Hall was silent, before a louder applause than at the beginning resounded. Yuanxiao clapped several times and then covered his ears because of the strong tingling feeling.

He had never experienced such tinnitus before. In his left ear, he could hardly hear anything except a constant buzzing.

When they saw Albert Royce and the conductor getting off the stage, Yuanxiao’s position was far, but his vision was good and he could see Bai Wenlin’s indifferent face. A lot of sweat flowed on his face and dripped from his black eyelashes. Even while panting, his face was always calm and indifferent.

The last one piece is Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3.2 From the third minute, he began to sweat. This is called one of the most difficult pieces to play in the world. Some people say: “Playing Rach 3 once is equal to shoveling ten tons of coal physically.” 3

He must be very tired now, and his back must be soaked, but his posture is still straight and no one can notice his fatigue.

Yuanxiao told him very early that playing the piano is very physically demanding, so he told Bai Wenlin to up his exercise when he first started learning the piano. Supplementing his three meals and taking him to run at night. He sat in the car, and Bai Wenlin ran at night along the seaside Avenue.

When he looked at Bai Wenlin, who was said to be 1.96 meters tall in the encyclopedia, his heart felt both proud and complicated. He had the honor to witness the growth of this pianist who will surely go down in history. Watched as he grew from a shorty to his current height and physique.

But as a “person who has died for many years”, no one will remember him.

Per convention, the orchestra and pianist will return together.

Sure enough, about a few minutes later the break ended and returned on stage again.

The orchestra is on the stage, but judging from their posture they are not preparing to play – the next  repertoire should be a piano solo.

The pianist said “Silence” in a low voice with a turn of his head. As if his signal was transmitted to everyone’s ears, the applause stopped for a moment.

“So handsome.” A female audience member couldn’t help softly exclaiming.

After the audience quietened, the pianist covered his eyes with a black silk scarf.

“What is he doing?”

“Don’t you know? Albert likes to show off like this. Even if he blindfolded and couldn’t see the keys, he would never play the wrong note. His fingers would never make a mistake.”

Many people have heard of this. They heard that he sometimes on a whim plays a solo with his eyes covered. However, most people think it is to show off the new tricks he came up with. Some critics think: “It’s good for him to be blind, at least he won’t show off his skills outrageously.”

Without a predetermined repertoire, few people can recognise what he plays immediately if it is not a popular repertoire. But this song was immediately recognised by everyone. It was so famous that few didn’t know it.

Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat major.4

Bai Wenlin seldom plays Chopin. He likes Bach and Liszt, especially Bach. When he was 12 years old, he would recite the ‘twelve average keyboard music collection’. Yuaxiao first heard him play the nocturne in E flat major. One spring festival, the two people took off their socks and lay down together to watch the film ‘the pianist’5.

At the end of the movie, Yuanxiao saw light snow floating outside the window and a layer of smooth ice on the fountain in the garden. He lay on the windowsill and watched for a while. Suddenly he stood up straight and asked, ” Wenlin, what do you think the fountain looks like?”

Bai Wenlin leaned against his side, looked at his breath, and said lazily, “Sapphire.”

In the bright moonlight, the round pool looked like a huge sapphire, glittering and translucent, emitting luxurious brilliance, but Yuanxiao shook his head: “Wrong.” His eyes shone. “Don’t you think the pool is like a small skating rink now?”

Bai Wenlin always listens to him and is as docile as a lamb. He agrees with what Yuanxiao says.

Yuanxiao fished out the skates hidden away secretly. The two men snuck outside to skate. As soon as he stepped on, he fell. Fortunately, Bai Wenlin caught him. The ice was thin. They fell down together as the ice broke.

While both of them were soaked in ice water with a temperature below zero, Bai Wenlin’s first reaction was to carry him back.

Late in the night the whole family fell into chaos. Yuanxiao was taught a lesson. Bai Wenlin took responsibility: “It’s my fault. I took him outside, and I bought the ice skates.”

Yuan Xiao was freezing as he sat cross legged shivering on the bed, sipping at ginger soup. To make amends Bai Wenlin played the soundtrack of the movie for him as well as the rarely played Beethoven for him. God knows that he has never seen the music score at all. After hearing it during the film, he can immediately recite it. This is the talent of having amazing memory and hearing. Only those famous prodigies in history can do it.

Because Yuanxiao stayed sick for a whole month, he remembered very clearly.

Behind Albert Royce was the silent Orchestra, no one spoke, only the piano under his hand was making a reverating sound.

Unfortunately, the sum of the two tracks was less than ten minutes. The lights came on and the audience began to leave one after another.

Yuanxiao heard someone talking about the signing, and immediately squeezed along. Because Albert Royce didn’t sign with any brokerage company, he has no records for sale. He never recorded this. This time, he is releasing signed vinyl records, which are limited to 500 sets worldwide. Two hundred sets of this performance at Carnegie Hall are on sale today.

A group of men and women in formal clothes crowded around shamelessly for a vinyl record.

Yuanxiao tried his best to break out of the siege, only to find that Bai Wenlin didn’t appear at all. It was the staff selling the signed records. Yuanxiao directly dropped the dollars, grabbed a record and ran away.

Finally he squeezed out. As soon as Yuanxiao looked back, he saw two women start fighting over a vinyl. Both were red faced sayong “I got the record first” and “I took out the money first”.

He shook his head, whispered horrible, and put the record in his backpack.

The next second, Yuanxiao’s hands were handcuffed.

“You’re under arrest.”

It’s two NYPD in police uniforms.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, Yuanxiao did not dare to resist. Outside Carnegie Hall, media reporters flocked to capture the news. They had assumed the police had solved some shocking case.

As a result, the police were escorting a minor who looked at most fifteen or sixteen?

He was pushed into a police car.

Through the window, Yuanxiao heard a female reporter exaggerating: “This is the fourth time that the police have caught criminals at Mr. Albert Royce’s concert! Among these tasteful criminals are the high IQ criminals like former Wall Street tycoons and some people call them angel face killers… It is reported that the criminal arrested today is the survivor of the 729 air crash. It is said that they woke up in the afternoon and rushed over for the performance. However, due to the traffic jam on 59th Street, they impulsively stole the horse of the New York Mounted Police… “

Yuan Xiao shamefully buried his face between his knees and didn’t let the camera catch him. So embarrassing…

He squatted in the Manhattan police station.

The Oriental looks like a minor. Thick eyebrows and big eyes, pink cheeks, as if the baby fat had not yet subsided. The policeman looked at him suspiciously for a long time, then checked his backpack and passport. Then looked up at the naturally small face of the Oriental.

Pointing to the date of birth on his passport, he was incredulous: “Are you eighteen?”

This was Yuanxiao’s first time at the police station, his hands were handcuffed and pleaded guilty honestly: “I’m sorry, I didn’t know it was a mounted police horse… Will I go to jail?”

“Maybe.”

“If I go to prison, will I be sentenced to several years? Will I go to prison in the United States or be repatriated to prison in China? Can I go back to my country’s…”

“No.” After the stern policeman answered, he said, “You’re skilled in riding.” Riding a horse on Seventh Avenue, none of them could catch up with him. Even more exaggerated is that there were no accidents except inadvertently bumping into a trash can.

In the end, he was detained in the temporary cell of the police station. There were several rough looking men sharing the cell. Including tattoos, bald heads, wild and fierce eyes.

Yuanxiao’s height and physique in comparison made him look like a little cat, easy to bully.

He began to pretend that he didn’t understand English and sat by the iron barred window, ignoring the voices of anyone talking to him. After sitting for a few minutes Yuanxiao felt extreme hunger. He felt weak to the point of fainting. The tinnitus in the left ear has weakened a lot, but he still can’t hear any sound.

Yuanxiao couldn’t help but ask a female police officer who looked the most friendly: “When does dinner start?”

“Dinner is over.”

“Well… Is there anything to eat? I’m so hungry. I had a plane crash. Not long after waking up I immediately rushed to the concert. I haven’t eaten anything for nearly a week.” He begged pitifully. While he was in a coma, he was sustained only by an IV drip. What happened today has consumed too much physical strength. He is running on empty now.

The policewoman showed a trace of sympathy and asked him, “Do you have any relatives in New York? I can call them for you.”

Yuanxiao’s thoughts were blank for a while.

Who does he know? He had high school classmates studying in the United States, but they had no contact for a long time. Now he has entered the police station and his parents are still in China. Naturally, it is impossible to call so that they won’t be scared of him.

Besides classmates, he knows only one person.

Yuanxiao was really hungry. He hesitated: “Can you contact… Albert Royce for me?”

“The pianist?” The policewoman smiled. “You are his fan.”

“Yes… I’m his fan.”

“Do you know him?”

Yuanxiao nodded and then shook his head. He’s not sure. Will Royce know him? After all, he has been dead for so many years… It’s unsure whether the other party remembers him or not. Moreover, Yuanxiao clearly knew that before and after he crossed, are two parallel times and space. Maybe… His memory no longer exists.

The policewoman jokingly said, “If you have his contact information, I’d be happy to make a call for you.”

Yuanxiao’s heart sank to the bottom and a feeling of helplessness came up: “I don’t have his number.”

The criminals nearby laughed: “The child says he knows Albert Royce.”

“Ha ha ha ha ha I’m dying from laughter. Then Taylor Swift is my wife!

Yuanxiao ignored them. He sighed and put his hands in his pocket.

——He felt a thin piece of paper.

Yuanxiao took it out and saw that it was a business card. Printed on was the name Steven Lee.

This was given to him by the Chinese man when he left the hospital. Yuanxiao thought he was from the airline company, but when he looked at his business card, the other party was a lawyer and should be the exclusive lawyer of the airline company. His eyes lit up and handed the business card to the policewoman: “You can call him.”

Twenty minutes later, Steven Lee, who lived in Manhattan, rushed to the police station.

He bought a hamburger for Yuan Xiao, who was ravenous from a Shake shack. After the police checked it, he handed it to Yuanxiao through the iron bars. Yuanxiao was so hungry that he tore open the package and took a big bite. There were large pieces of rich beef in the hamburger, which made people’s appetite surge, and the fragrance of beef spread out.

Yuanxiao ate too much in one bite and had to chew hard. At this time, a shadow suddenly shrouded in front of him. A strong tattooed man with thick legs stood in front of Yuanxiao: “Child, do you understand the rules?”

Yuanxiao looked up at him and his cheeks bulged on both sides.

The muscled man’s eyes were like a pair of copper bells, staring at Yuanxiao, and grabbed the hamburger in his hand: “I only ate plain bread all day today!”

Yuanxiao was stunned. Then he reacted and stretched out his hand: “Give it back to me.”

“Give it back to you? Bah!” The muscled man spit directly on the hamburger and then bit down. Yuanxiao’s eyes were red with hunger, but the food in his mouth was robbed. He stood up slowly, but only reached the other party’s chin.

His childish temperament made the other party laugh mockingly.

Yuanxiao narrowed his eyes, then jumped up and threw the strong man on the ground.  Raising a fist threateningly: “I’m from Inner Mongolia! Grab my food! I 艹.” 6

Although his hands were handcuffed, strength driven by hunger instincts can’t be looked down on. As soon as the muscled man showed an opening, Yuanxiao attacked with his legs. There was a big gap between the physique of the East and the West. So Yuanxiao was suppressed directly. The other party reached out to pinch his neck, but Yuanxiao bit his thumb fiercely.

“Ah –!” The other party screamed.

“Hey! What are you doing?”

“Don’t move!”

The policeman who heard the news commotion unlocked the bars and separated the two criminals before the incident aggravated.

Lawyer Li was going to spend money to bail Yuanxiao out. As a result, there was another vicious fight. In prison, fighting led to solitary, but in the police station Yuanxiao could only be taken into custody alone.

Lawyer Li said helplessly, “Don’t worry, I’ll find a way to get you out.” What he was afraid of was that Luo Yuanxiao had an accident at the police station and the family members cast the blame on their aviation company.

“Lawyer Li, thank you.”

“Call me Steven.”

“Okay, Steven, thank you.” Yuanxiao was too hungry so he lay down against the corner of the wall. Involuntarily closing his eyes and losing consciousness.

Who knows whether he fainted or fell asleep.

In his dream, he seemed to go back to the past. One warm afternoon, Bai Wenlin made him a cup of black tea with a small plate of cookies. Bach’s Fugue echoed in the villa.

TN: Not specified which of Bach’s fugues.

——

At the same time, after the concert, Bai Wenlin refused the invitation of the conductor inviting him to stay, said his goodbyes and got into his car.

He happens to have a penthouse in Manhattan, so he doesn’t need a hotel.

There was a Beethoven Sonata “farewell” in the car. Bai Wenlin frowned and said, “Turn off the music.”

Knowing that he didn’t like Beethoven’s music, the driver switched the music to a radio channel. On the radio, was today’s news.

“The survivors of the 729 air crash were found the day before yesterday, and several survivors have awoken unharmed. It is reported that one of the survivors stole the horse of the New York mounted police patrolling near Times Square in the afternoon and galloped on Seventh Avenue. At 8 p.m., the Manhattan branch arrested the criminal at Carnegie hall.”

The female anchor’s voice said, “I think he should be a big fan of Albert Royce.”

On the radio, the male anchor laughed loudly.

Then the news turned to the focus: the 729 air crash.

“This flight is from China’s capital to New York. The accident site is in the United States. The death toll is seven and 120 people are seriously injured. At present, the Chinese embassy has intervened…”

Bai Wenlin in the back seat suddenly opened his eyes.

Late at night, Yuanxiao, who was sleeping on the ground, woke up twice from hunger. He was tired and sleepy as he put forward a request: “Can you play Beethoven?”

The policeman on duty glared at him: “Where do you think you are? This is the police station.”

“Otherwise… Tchaikovsky is also fine…” He curled up and whispered, “I’m so hungry…”

His stomach spasmed tightly because of hunger, he ate only one bite of his hamburger. Then the police gave him a glass of water and a piece of bread and he was not allowed to eat outside food anymore.

Yuanxiao wolfed down the food, but it was not enough. He felt he was hungry enough to eat a whole roast sheep.

After drinking a little water, Yuanxiao fell asleep again.

At midnight, Steven was still sitting at the Manhattan police station. He kept talking on the phone and observed Yuanxiao’s movements. When he saw the other party asleep, he considerately took off his coat and handed it to the seemingly young child.

Just as he was about to give up for the day and come back to the police station tomorrow, two people briskly walked into the Manhattan police station. One of them was a tall and handsome man, wearing a tailored suit, a top hat and sunglasses.

At first, Steven and the policeman on duty didn’t recognize the man who was as cold as a sculpture.

Until he took out his ID: “I’m here to bail Luo Yuanxiao.”

Accompanied by a low male voice, the other party’s gloved fingers held a fountain pen and signed his name.

The policeman looked at the name on the ID, feeling a thrill. He stared at the person with most of his face covered and said in shock: “Are you Albert Royce???”

The other party neither denied nor admitted, only asked, “Where is he?” The lawyer standing next to him spoke for him and took out a pile of bail and psychiatric medical certificates.

The policeman on duty stared at him incoherently: “My God! He, he… Is inside, he seems to be asleep.”

Albert Royce – probably no one in New York doesn’t know the name.

Recently, the news of his performance in New York has spread all over the city, and it is difficult to get a ticket. There are many fans like Yuanxiao who have flown from abroad to attend. However, the posters posted everywhere show his profile. He doesn’t like to let his photos appear outside. The organizers know that he has a big temper second to none, so few people can recognize his face at a glance.

When Yuanxiao was half asleep and half awake, he heard the sound of unlocking. The cell door was opened from the outside. He had no strength to open his eyes. He could only vaguely see that a person appeared in the backlight.

Bent down and picked himself up. Everything was so unreal.

The person carried him into a warm space. The car was filled with quiet Beethoven. It was not his favorite moonlight7, but the third movement of another “The Farewell” sonata. Yuan Xiao seemed to realize who this man was. He smelled the lingering scent of cigar, reached out and grabbed a tie.

Bai Wenlin was caught by him and bowed slightly.

He heard Yuanxiao whisper something.

Bending over to listen carefully, he was caught off guard when his ear was bitten: “Roast… Roast whole sheep…”

The driver saw this scene as soon as he got in the car. His hair stood up and he thought Mr. Royce would be angry because the other party hated people touching him very, very much. Unexpectedly, Mr. Royce didn’t immediately push away the boy. He was stunned for at least ten seconds before pinching his chin and freeing his ears from Yuanxiao’s mouth.

His ears were still wet from drool, yet he didn’t wipe them. Just looked down at the boy with a haunted face.

In the car, ‘The Farewell’ sonata is still echoing

1 Also known as Dance Macabre or Totentanz in German. The unexpected death of his father from typhoid fever in 1827 devastated the at the time 15-year-old composer Liszt. Seemingly inspired by Hans Holbein the Younger’s Todtentanz, a series of woodcut prints that depict the age-old theme of equality before death. As well as visiting the Camposanto in Pisa, where he was awed by The Triumph of Death, a monumental fresco that contains several scenes.

Link to performance https://youtu.be/7nVmFlSV1ok

Link to website I got this from https://houstonsymphony.org/liszt-totentanz/

2 This has come up before but a short recap.The Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 composed in 1909 by Sergei Rachmaninoff has the reputation of being one of the most technically challenging piano concertos in the standard classical repertoire.

3First said by famous piano instructor Cyril Smith.

4Chopin’s Nocturne in E flat major. A lot of people have probably heard this without knowing it’s name.

5A real movie 钢琴家

6 艹= F*ck. This symbol means flowers/grass top and is phonetically similar to the swear word. Thinking whether to use this instead of fck in the future.

7 Originally named Sonata quasi una Fantasia, but is known today as the Moonlight Sonata after the German music critic Ludwig Rellstab wrote that it reminded him of the moon setting over Lake Lucerne. Beethoven dedicated this piece to countess Giulietta his pupil. It is certain that Beethoven proposed marriage to Giulietta, and that she was inclined to accept.

TN: Lol this is why TM chapters are only released on a weekly basis.