The three masters in this book are all talented people who have made great achievements in human history. Their lives are rich and colorful, and their works are profound. Their influence lasted for generations. Romain rolland firmly grasped the similarities between these three artists and their respective fields, and, without changing their original intentions, made great efforts to describe their mental journey through hardships, highlighting their lofty personality, fraternity and broad mind, thus writing for us.
Beethoven's Biography Beethoven was 5 feet 4 inches tall, as tall as Napoleon, another outstanding conqueror in Europe at that time. Beethoven was unlucky since he was a child. His father is a cruel alcoholic. He deprived young Beethoven of time to study, rest and entertain, and only forced his young son to practice piano and violin endlessly, hoping that he would become his own cash cow in the future.
From 65438 to 0787, Beethoven went to Vienna to learn from his long-admired idol Mozart. Mozart was very surprised after listening to his impromptu performance, and said to others on the spot: Please pay attention, this boy will shock the world. Unfortunately, his study time in Vienna was soon interrupted because his mother was seriously ill and died soon. Beethoven lost his only family in his mind and was heartbroken. Excessive grief made him suffer from several serious illnesses, one of which was smallpox, which ruined his appearance forever.
10 Beethoven left his hometown Bonn for Vienna, the music city. Soon, pain knocked on the door of his life. Since 1796, Beethoven's ears have been ringing day and night, and his hearing has been declining. At first, he kept this terrible secret alone. 180 1 year, he fell in love with a girl named Julietta, but because of her disability (he was deaf at this time) and Julietta's selfishness and vanity, she married an earl two years later. The double torture of body and spirit is embodied in his fantasy sonata.
1806 In May, Beethoven got engaged to Miss Brunswick, and the beauty of love produced a series of great works. Unfortunately, love abandoned him again, and his fiancee married someone else. However, Beethoven was in the heyday of his creation at this time, and he was carefree about everything. He attracted the attention of the world, and after his glory came the most tragic period: financial distress, the death of relatives and friends, deafness, and communication with people only on paper. Facing the hardships of life, it seems that nothing can make Beethoven yield. He reversed the frivolous style of Vienna at that time with his own creative style.
1827 On March 26th, Beethoven took his last breath on a snowy day.
Beethoven was an unfortunate man, poor, disabled and lonely. The world didn't give him joy, but he created joy for the world! He used his sufferings to shape happiness.
He is such a person, romain rolland summed up his life at the end of his biography like this:
What victory can be compared with this one? Which war in Bonaparte, which day of sunshine in Austerlitz, has won the glory of such superhuman efforts? Have you ever won a victory that this spirit has never won?
An unfortunate person, caused by poverty, disability, loneliness and pain, created joy for the world instead of joy for him! He used suffering to create happiness, as if he had explained it with that grandiloquence, which can sum up his life and become the motto of all heroes:
"painful happiness."
Romain rolland put the biography of such a person at the top of his Who's Who.
Biography of Michelangelo: This biography is divided into two parts, the first part is "fighting", the second part is "giving up" and the last part is "death".
1475 On March 6th, Michelangelo was born in Capulli Sai, Santino, where his father was a judge. His mother died when he was six years old, and Michelangelo was adopted by the wife of a stonemason. At the age of thirteen, he entered the studio of domenico Girandayo. It is said that his excellent grades make teachers jealous. A year later, they broke up and Michelangelo transferred to a sculpture school. Soon, due to the conflict of religious beliefs, he left there and went to Venice, Rome and other famous cities, and the level of sculpture continued to improve.
1505 In March, Michelangelo was recruited by Pope Julius II to build a mausoleum for him. Soon, he was invited to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. In the following years, he was sent by successive popes to create works that he was not satisfied with with with pain. 1527 Michelangelo was involved in the whirlpool of a revolution and almost died. After the revolution, Pope Clemente found him out of his hiding place again, and Michelangelo had to work for the people he resisted again. Pope Clemente died in September 1537, and Michelangelo thought he could do his own thing quietly from now on. But as soon as he arrived in Rome, he was caught by his new owner, Paul III. It seems that fate doomed him to work for others only in endless interference.
1February 564 12, Michelangelo stood all day, writing a eulogy for Christ. 14 began to have a fever. 18 at 5 pm, this outstanding sculptor and painter finally passed away forever.
Biography of Tolstoy: Tolstoy lost his mother at the age of two and his father at the age of nine. As a teenager, Tolstoy was not only troubled by his own thoughts, but also despaired of his ugly appearance.
185 1 year, Tolstoy came to the Caucasus, and the clear environment surrounded by mountains made his chaotic brain wake up. The following year, he created excellent works such as Childhood, Teenager, Youth and Morning of a Landlord. During the Russian-Turkish War, Tolstoy visited the battlefield personally and was often in danger. Under such circumstances, he still wrote such an exciting work as Chronicle of Sevastopol. Tolstoy in this period was full and happy.
Tolstoy got married in 1862, and his happy family life gave him enough time and energy to create masterpieces that shocked the whole novel circle in19th century: War and Peace and Anna karenin. However, Tolstoy is distressed: he has status and wealth, but he is often ashamed of his rich life; He sympathizes with the lower classes and lacks confidence in them. So he was tired of his own life, determined to break with his own society, and could not get people's support. Mentally, he has always been lonely. At the age of eighty-two, he chose to run away and died in a small railway station.
Reading teaching
Biographies of famous people-Beethoven, Michelangelo and Tolstoy-were all written by romain rolland. One is a musician, the other is a sculptor and the other is a novelist. Everyone has his own garden. All three biographies focus on recording great geniuses, who have devoted their lives to seeking truth and justice and creating immortal masterpieces that can express truth, goodness and beauty on the arduous journey of life. They are tortured by illness, suffering, inner confusion and contradiction, or a combination of the three. Deep distress almost suffocates their breath and destroys their reason. They can persist in the arduous course because of their love and confidence in mankind.
Beethoven's story mainly revolves around "grasping the throat of fate". Beethoven used his will and irresistible force to sweep away melancholy thoughts and overcome the double torture of body and spirit. Michelangelo's story is a tragedy, showing that a genius shed painful blood in order to conquer the world and create immortal masterpieces. The content is mainly divided into the first chapter "Fighting", the next chapter "Abandoning" and the end "Death". Tolstoy's story is neither rebellious in Beethoven's biography nor tragic in Michelangelo's biography, but the whole story is relatively stable, and its main contents are: childhood, Caucasus chronicle, Cossack chronicle, Cyberburg chronicle, love and marriage, worries about society and so on. It is the longest of the three stories and the most detailed description of the life and creation of the main characters.
Who's Who tells people that tragic fate befalls not only ordinary people, but also great men. Being famous does not exempt them from the painful test. However, by imitating their perfect example of enduring pain, we can consciously assume our own destiny. We should strengthen our faith and produce the courage and ability to endure pain from it-it is the innocence we keep in trouble, the fruit we bear in trouble, and the hope we see in despair.
Intensive reading section
A hundred years ago, the great soul of Russia shone on the earth. For my generation, it was once the purest glory that shone on our youth. /kloc-At the end of 0/9th century, it was a star that soothed the world, and its eyes were enough to attract and soothe our youthful souls. In France, many people think that Tolstoy is not only a beloved artist, but also a friend, the best friend and the only true friend in all Europa arts. Since I am one of them, I want to express my gratitude and love for this sacred meeting.
I know that the days when I knew Tolstoy will never be erased from my mind. This is 1886. After several years of embryo germination in seclusion, the wonderful work of Russian art suddenly appeared on the land of France. Tolstoy and Dostoevsky's translations were published in major bookstores at the same time, scrambling for speed and enthusiasm. From 1885 to 1887, War and Peace, Anna's Biography, Childhood and Adolescence, Borigoga, The Death of Ivan Illegie, Caucasian Short Stories and Popular Short Stories were published in Paris. In a few months and weeks, we saw the great works of life in front of us, reflecting a country and a new world.
That was when I first entered normal university. My companion and I have very different opinions. In our small group, there are thinkers who satirize reality, such as philosopher Georges Dumas, poets who cherish the Italian Renaissance enthusiastically, such as Suarez, a loyal follower of classical tradition, Stendhal and Wagner, atheism and mysticism, how many arguments have been raised and how many nasty things have happened; But a few months later, the emotion of loving Tolstoy made us completely consistent. Everyone loves him for different reasons: because, oh, people find themselves in it; For all of us, this is the inspiration of life and the door to the vast universe. Around us, in our families, in our provinces, the loud voices coming from the Europa border aroused the same sympathy, which was sometimes unexpected. Once, in my hometown of Neville Ness, I heard a middle-class man who had never paid attention to art and didn't care about it at all. He was very moved when he talked about the death of Ivan Illegie.
Our famous critic once said that the essence of Tolstoy's thought comes from our passionate and romantic writers: george sand and Victor Voodoo. Needless to say, George Sha's influence on Tolstoy is neither fish nor fowl. Tolstoy can never tolerate George Sha's thoughts, nor can he deny the influence of Rousseau and Stendhal on Tolstoy's reality. In a word, it is wrong to doubt his greatness and charm because of his thoughts. The ideological circle on which art depends is the narrowest. His strength lies not in the thought itself, but in his expression of the thought, in his personal tone, in the family characteristics of the plague and the breath of his life.
Whether Tolstoy's thoughts were influenced or not-as we will see later-Europa had never heard a voice like him. Besides this statement, how can you explain the emotional excitement when you hear this thrilling music? -and we have been waiting for this voice for so long, and the demand is so urgent. Fashion has no effect on our emotions. Most of us, like me, only read Tolstoy's works can we know Dvorkoff's theory of Russian novels. His praise is far less than our admiration. Because vogel especially criticized with the attitude of a literary family. But for us, it is not enough to just appreciate the works: we live in the works and his works have become our works. Ours, because of his warm life and his deep youth. Ours, because of the disillusionment of his wry smile, because of his ruthless insight, because of his entanglement with dead silk. Ours, because of his dream of love and peace. Ours, because he deceived the bottom of civilization and attacked it violently. But also because of his expressionism and mysticism. Because he has a natural smell, because he feels invisible power, because he is confused about the infinite bottom.
These works look as good as young Werther did today: they are mirrors of our strengths, weaknesses, hopes and fears. We don't care to reconcile all these contradictions and put this complex soul reflecting the whole universe into a narrow religious and political category; We don't want to follow people's example and learn from paul bourget's criticism of Tolstoy after his death. It seems that our cronies can also become a genius! ..... Tolstoy and we are the same party, what should I do? When I breathe their breath and bathe in their brilliance, will I worry about which party and faction I belong to with Dante and Shakespeare?
We are definitely not like the critics of Today's Last Road: "There are two Tolstoys, one before the transformation and the other after the transformation; One is good and the other is bad. " For us, there is only one Tolstoy and we all love him. Because we instinctively feel that in such a soul, everything has a place and everything is related.