Even at the age of eighty, Fu Cong is still an ascetic in music. He always goes to the concert hall to practice piano after breakfast. He practices until 6:30 in the afternoon. He eats some snacks, soaks his hands in hot water, takes a nap for ten minutes, and then goes on stage to play.
You can't imagine that someone at his age is Such accomplished musicians practice so hard. This kind of complete devotion to music and disregard for one's own safety may come from the "melody" that runs throughout "Fu Lei's Family Letter" - to always maintain a pure heart
First published: January 4th, "Xinhua Daily Telegraph" Chengfenghuaren
Reporter: Xinhua Daily Telegraph reporter Sun Liping
On December 28, 2020 local time, pianist Fu Cong died in the UK due to infection with the new coronavirus at the age of 86. When the news came, the domestic music industry lamented it. On the Internet, readers of "Fu Lei's Family Letter" have warm memories of this "Growing Enlightenment Book" that are flowing like a tide.
In 2006, Fu Cong held a piano solo concert at the Shanghai Concert Hall. Provided by Shanghai Concert Hall
In his later years: "Allah said, Alla said" was often mentioned
"We will always remember him, he was a great musician with a great personality!" Fu Cong passed away, the internationally famous The Argerich Foundation issued memorials and comments online.
In the eyes of pianist Lang Lang, Fu Cong is "a breath of fresh air in the classical music world and a spiritual beacon."
Fu Lei and Fu Cong are in the study.
Fu Cong is the eldest son of Fu Lei, a famous Chinese translator and writer. Fu Cong was born in Shanghai in 1934. Fu Lei, his father who loved art, was well versed in both Chinese and Western studies. At that time, he owned a well-known study in Shanghai, where he talked and laughed with many scholars and scholars. For his eldest son Fu Cong, he placed all his father's love and lifelong literary ideals on his cultivation.
"Between the age of three and four, when Fu Cong stood on a small stool with his head just as high as my desk, he loved to listen to classical music..." "As long as Western music is played on the radio or record player, no matter it is vocal music It was instrumental music, no matter which music school it was, he listened quietly without making any noise or dozing off. "
discovered that Fu Cong had an "ear for music", so Fu Lei asked him to learn piano. When Fu Cong was young, he was lucky enough to study under the Italian conductor and pianist Mei Baiqi of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Industry and Commerce Orchestra (the predecessor of the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra), the first symphony orchestra in the Far East. But in order to resist his father, he stopped studying piano for a time. He claimed that he "didn't really work hard to practice piano" until he was 17 years old.
Young man Fu Cong is practicing the piano.
In 1954, Fu Cong went to Poland to study under the famous piano educator Professor Jiewiecki. In 1955, he won the third place in the "5th Chopin Piano Competition" and the Mazurka Performance Award, and emerged in the international classical music scene. It was during this period that Fu Cong began an exchange of letters with his parents that lasted for more than ten years. These letters were later discovered by his brother Fu Min, who compiled and published them. This is the "Fu Lei Family Letter" that has influenced several generations of Chinese people.
"Fu Lei's Family Letter" contains artistic enlightenment, music appreciation, growth, family and country feelings, and every detail is taken into account, from life behavior to academic attitude. Readers are all amazed: a father's love for his children can be so lofty, grand and broad, and yet so nagging and never-ending.
On December 6, 1982, Fu Cong collaborated with conductor Cao Peng and performed at the Shanghai Concert Hall.
"Sad tears are the wine that cultivates your soul. People who have not experienced sharp pain will not have deep and broad sympathy." "Only mediocre people live a life of ups and downs, like stagnant water." "I want to give you a wake-up call at all times and everywhere. Be faithful." "Mirror", no matter in terms of life, in terms of life details, in terms of artistic accomplishment, or in terms of performance posture. "
In this family letter, his father Fu Lei is sitting in his study, opening his soul to Fu Cong, a wanderer far away in the world. The connection between art and the perception of life are revealed and fully entrusted.Fu Lei, who once translated Romain Rolland's masterpiece "John Christophe", often encouraged himself and inspired Fu Cong by "becoming a person like John Christophe", hoping that he would pursue the purest and most beautiful spiritually, and Can have strong vitality.
Needless to say, there will also be conflicts and conflicts between father and son. Fu Lei, known for his strictness and strong personality, is like a "tiger father". Fu Cong, who was young and angry, could not bear his father's huge expectations and strict discipline, so he tried to rebel and even ran away. In an interview, he recalled that he often had conflicts with his father, ran out of the house, and took turns hiding in the homes of some of his father's good friends to "shelter from the limelight."
But what is even more undoubted is that through the "Fu Lei Family Letter", the soul of his father Fu Lei is deeply engraved in Fu Cong's music. Fu Lei loves Eastern and Western classical art and has a very high appreciation. Fu Cong calls himself the "gatekeeper of classical music", basing his understanding and expression of music on the pinnacle of mankind's splendid classical civilization, and guarding the secrets of these forerunners.
Fu Lei nourishes Fu Cong's soul with the essence of human classical civilization. He repeatedly told Fu Cong in his letters at home: "Be a person first, be an artist second, be a musician third, and be a pianist last."
This sincere teaching is Fu Cong's "spiritual lighthouse." According to friends' memories, in his later years, Fu Cong often said "Ala Ye said, Ala Ye said". He lamented that he was so lucky that his father regarded him as a friend and a close fellow-traveler with whom he could confide his feelings and discuss art. His father regarded him as "another self in this world."
"The letters home from my father and the feelings they give me are a kind of capital love ('LOVE') with a humanistic spirit." Fu Cong once said.
In 1988, Fu Cong held a piano solo concert at the 13th Shanghai Spring Concert.
Teaching: Always dressed in Tang suit, speaking authentic Shanghainese
In the international music scene, Fu Cong's name is closely linked to "Chopin". Fu Cong mentioned in a letter home to his father: The implicit and romantic feelings of family and country in Chinese poetry are very similar to Chopin's heart.
Fu Cong, who has been immersed in Chinese classical poetry and songs since childhood, often uses an exquisite "Chinese heart" to understand and interpret the works of European musicians. He once said: "There is a kind of great compassion in Mozart's music. Mozart is all about love, which is the same as Jia Baoyu! Mozart is as ever-changing as Sun Wukong. You give Mozart a theme, and he can edit it however he wants. Just make it up, and make it up right away. He is so playful, this is Sun Wukong’s skill!”
Pianist Fu Cong
There is also an anecdote about Fu Cong’s music. After a concert, someone heard Su Shi's "Jiangchengzi" from the Chopin Nocturne played by Fu Cong - "Ten years of life and death are blurred, without thinking, unforgettable; looking at each other without words, only a thousand lines of tears." Hearing this comment, Fu Cong was very excited.
Whether it is the surging dance-like joy of life, or the sadness of "ten years of life and death," or the sorrow of divorce, "it becomes chaos again after cutting things off", they are all filled with Fu Cong's music... a great contribution to traditional Chinese poetic culture. His deep attachment to Western classical music and his unremitting pursuit of Western classical music have jointly made him a musician praised by Time magazine.
"One branch is like a loss in business, and it will never come back without victory." After the reform and opening up, the door of the motherland opened to Fu Cong. Fu Cong, who was homesick, returned frequently since then, holding concerts in China almost every year, and also participated in teaching at famous domestic music schools.
Shanghai music critic Li Yanhuan recalled that every time Fu Cong returned to China to hold a concert, it was always overcrowded and the atmosphere was enthusiastic, making it a major event in the city. "In many of the concerts he performed when he came back, he would perform Chopin's "Mazurka". Fu Cong's interpretation of Chopin is so poetic. It can be said that what flows from his keys are poems of dance and performance. It is a poem that stirs the heart of the poet. The Chopin Nocturne performed by Fu Cong in his later years has a great sense of tragedy, which stems from his own fate and his feelings about ancient Chinese poetry.
The scene when Fu Cong held a class at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music was deeply remembered by many people.He wore a Tang suit, spoke authentic Shanghainese during his lectures, played and sang melodies, and taught the students step by step. His image was exactly that of a Chinese elder who left his country to miss his hometown.
Pianist Lang Lang remembered that Fu Cong’s biggest inspiration for him lay in Chinese culture. “I clearly remember that at the end of my London premiere in 2001, Mr. Fu Cong came over to hug me with tears in his eyes. He would personally give me a hug. My dad beat The caller told me to read more Chinese literature and recommended me to read Mr. Wang Guowei's "Human Words", which became the essence of my future performance of classical music. "
The feelings of family and country were injected into Fu Cong from "Fu Lei's Family Letter". body and mind. Fu Cong, who is drifting overseas, may have turned this nostalgia into an "eternal tragic poetry" and integrated it into the sound of the piano.
Pianist Fu Cong.
On stage: He is a music "ascetic", not a "master"
"On November 7, 2014, Mr. Fu Cong walked towards the stage of Xinghai Concert Hall with steady and firm steps as before. This is what he has always done. He loved the stage, and every time he came, he would always practice the piano alone here with his body bent for a long time," recalled Fang Jie, general manager of Guangzhou Zuoan Color Culture Communication Company, which has long hosted Fu Cong's domestic concerts. That was Fu Cong's last concert tour in the motherland.
Even at the age of eighty, Fu Cong is still an ascetic in music.
In interviews with the media during his lifetime, Fu Cong repeatedly emphasized that he did not like to be a "master": "To me, music is love and a lifelong pursuit."
Fang Jie remembered that Fu Cong was particularly serious about practicing piano. Every time I go to the airport from my home in Shanghai, I always put it off until the last minute, repeatedly pleading, "Let me practice for 10 more minutes." He always goes to the concert hall after breakfast and practices until 6:30 in the afternoon. He eats a snack, soaks his hands in hot water, takes a nap for ten minutes, and then goes on stage to perform and present perfect music to the audience.
Since 1998, music critic Li Yanhuan has hardly missed every concert of Fu Cong in China. He still remembers the "mood of a little fan" when he went to listen to the master's live performance when he was 15 years old.
"The moment I saw him walk on the stage, the thought that came to my mind was - I finally saw a legend living in books and recordings." Li Yanhuan said.
Li Yanhuan also saw Fu Cong's "legendary live piano practice". "How did he practice? There was a concert that evening, and it was probably less than one o'clock when he went to the concert hall and sat down on the stage in the afternoon. His practice was divided into two parts. In the first half, Fu Cong would first play Chopin's 24 etudes Practice it slowly from beginning to end, one note at a time... You can’t imagine a musician of his age and accomplishments practicing so hard.”
"Then he got off the stage and smoked a few puffs of his pipe. Very quickly, he came on stage again and slowly practiced the evening concert repertoire. It was already about 6 o'clock in the evening. The old man had eaten very little. Things are on the stage again. "
Fu Cong has been like this all his life, immersed in the world of music, working hard every day, never slacking off, and never stopping. After his death, a friend lamented in the circle of friends: "I finally stopped practicing Chopin's 24 etudes...I finally achieved perfection!"
Fu Cong has a famous saying that is widely circulated: There is no Fu Cong in music; music. This kind of complete devotion to music and disregard for one's own safety may come from the "melody" that runs throughout "Fu Lei's Family Letter" - to always maintain an innocent heart.
Music comes from the heart, and all melodies are heart songs. Even if fate plays tricks on people, Fu Cong is still an "innocent" when he returns home after running away for half his life.
In 2004, Fu Cong published his interview-based autobiography "Wang Qi!" 》. In 2014, Fu Cong held an 80th birthday concert in the country. In the eyes of people in the music industry, these actions are like a preview of a "solemn and ceremonial farewell."
At the 80th birthday concert, Fu Cong performed the works of six musicians he loved throughout his life, namely Mozart, Schumann, Haydn, Debussy, Beethoven and Chopin.Li Yanhuan remembered: "This is unprecedented... Especially Schumann and Beethoven rarely appeared in his concerts in their later years... At that time, people had a feeling: it seemed that Fu Cong wanted to combine the musicians he was familiar with and loved into Take them out one by one and play them to the audience, as if you are showing the essence of your life's performance." After this performance, Fu Cong bid farewell to the stage.
In the winter of 2020, the song comes to an end and the legend comes to an end.
Source: Xinhua News Agency
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