On March 16, Qi Luoling arrived at the airport to prepare for Shanghai. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

Because she arrived too early, she waited for a long time in the waiting hall of the airport before the sweet voice of the announcer came from the radio: "Attention passengers to Shanghai: your K2C flight starts boarding now. Please bring your belongings, present your boarding pass, and board the aircraft from Gate 5. ”

Qi Luoling was not in a hurry to board the plane, until the second sound of the radio urging boarding sounded, and she dragged her luggage to Gate 5 to board the plane.

The economy class she was flying in was in the last section of the plane. The seats are next to the middle aisle.

Just after the traditional Lunar New Year, March is the traditional off-season for domestic airlines, and today is not a weekend, so there are not many passengers in the economy class, scattered in the cabin.

Qi Luoling felt bored, so she looked out the porthole of the plane next to her. The plane has not yet taken off, and there are staff members busy checking the runway on the air runway next to it.

The plane was just a few minutes away from takeoff, and a young woman hurried in through the barn door, dragging her luggage down the aisle to Qi Luoling's side.

She wore long hair and was estimated to be one meter six or five in height, she put her luggage on the luggage rack above her head, and then nodded slightly to Qi Luoling.

Qi Luoling leaned down slightly, and the young woman sat down on the window seat to her left.

The weather was gloomy, with a faint glimmer shining through the transparent portholes on the young woman's side face.

The plane began to take off, and Qi Luoling felt the plane slowly and slowly leave the ground, and the huge engine made a loud noise.

Qi Luoling watched from the porthole next to her as the surrounding buildings became smaller and the pedestrians disappeared, and she had a sense of unreality, feeling that her sense of presence was gradually disappearing.

The plane was slowly rising, passing through the clouds, and the sun was still dazzling above the clouds.

The young woman looked out of the porthole for a moment, then took a book out of her handbag and read it carefully.

Qi Luoling tilted her head slightly, and found that the magazine that the young woman was reading turned out to be the English version of "RollingStone" magazine, her English was not very good, but she was still familiar with these two words. It was the American Rolling Stone magazine on pop and music, and she had heard of it.

The young woman noticed her gaze and turned her head and smiled, "You're also interested in music?" “

"I'm interested, but I don't know much about it."

"It's a good magazine, it's a bi-weekly magazine dedicated to rock music and pop culture, founded in 1967 by RonWenner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason, and defined as not just reporting on music, but everything else that is embraced in music."

In 2006, Rolling Stone partnered with Hong Kong's Wanhua Media to publish a Chinese version of Rolling Stone. In the same year, Wanhua Media cooperated with the Audiovisual World magazine publishing house to launch the first Chinese edition of Rolling Stone. The first issue of the Chinese magazine, which featured a photo of Cui Jian, a leading figure in Chinese rock music, sold well and sold out of all 125,000 copies printed. But after the joy of sales victory, the Chinese version of "Rolling Stone" was banned by the Shanghai Audiovisual Publishing Bureau. The young woman said with some regret.

"Listening to you know so well, are you a music major?"

The young woman smiled and said, "You guessed it, I'm a professional music critic." ”

Qi Luoling's heart moved and asked, "Do you have any research on piano music?" ”

"My piano is an amateur grade 10, and I still know a lot about piano music."

Then the young woman introduced the history of the piano to Qi Luoling, and then introduced the famous pianists: from Bach and Hendell in the Baroque period, to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven in classicism, and finally to Schubert, Chopin, Liszt and so on in the romantic period.

Finally, the young woman sighed deeply: "This music is simply the music of the devil!" It is a masterpiece in the history of music! ”

Devil's music? A question welled up in Qi Luoling's heart, and asked, "Why is good music said to be devil's music?" ”

"It's a compliment, a piece of work that is highly technically violent, and it contains a great deal of technical difficulty, and it is a great challenge for the performer, requiring the player to perfect his skills."

However, the young woman said mysteriously: "However, there are many legends about the piano, especially the Renaissance works, and some of the pieces are related to demons or death. “

"Why did it appear in the European Renaissance?"

"After the 11th century, with the recovery and development of the economy, the rise of cities and the improvement of living standards, people began to pursue the pleasures of secular life, they were extremely disgusted with the theocratic status of Christianity and its hypocritical asceticism, and the spiritual state pursued by people was: I should enjoy myself in time, and I should not care about the flood after death. So there was a legend at that time that selling one's soul to a demon could be exchanged for everything he wanted. ”

"Huh?" Qi Luoling exclaimed.

"Have you seen Goethe's Faust?"

Qi Luoling nodded.

"Dr. Johann Georg Faustus was a German Renaissance alchemist, astrologer, and magician. The story of Faust in the 80s of the 16th century was based on him. Legend has it that Faust had a desire for a life of pleasure and ease, and had been studying secret arts in order to find a way to summon the devil. After he summoned the devil, he made a contract with him to pledge his soul to the devil, and in exchange, the devil would serve him for 24 years. Unfortunately, after 16 years, he was remorseful and wanted to terminate the contract. Anyone who has read Faust's story knows the consequences of his actions: he was brutally murdered by the devil. ”

"So there are people who sell their souls to demons for good music?"

"Of course. Quite a few, such as Robert Johnson, one of America's great blues musicians, was ranked fifth on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. Legend has it that Johnson, who wanted to be a guitar virtuoso at the time, was directed to a crossroads where he met the devil, tuned his guitar, and taught him the extraordinary art of playing the guitar. ”

"Niccolò Paganini is one of the most outstanding violinists in history, and Paganini can pull three octaves on four strings with one hand, a feat that is almost impossible even by today's standards. "The Dance of the Witches" is one of his most famous masterpieces, and listeners believe that Paganini allied himself with Satan in order to show off his supernatural skills. Some listeners even claimed to have seen the devil help Paganini at the performance. Because he refused to say his last prayer to the priest on his deathbed, rumors of his alliance with Satan were widely spread in society at the time. ”

And Tatini was an Italian composer and violinist with more than 400 compositions, making him one of the most influential instrumental composers of his time. There is also a rather strange story behind his work "The Devil's Trill Sonata", which begins with a dream in Tatini. It is said that Tatini dreamed that the devil appeared before him and asked to be his servant. At the end of their lessons, Tatini gave the violin to the devil to test his skills, and the devil played it, and Tatini was fascinated by the virtuosity of his technique. After waking up from the dream, he quickly recalled and recorded this sonata, trying his best to capture what he heard in the dream. Although Tatini's sonata was well received by the audience, he lamented that what he had played was so far from what he had heard in his dreams. ＂

Take, for example, Mozart's famous "Requiem" incident. He died young after writing the Requiem, and the reason why he wrote the "Requiem" was that late one night, a man wearing a cloak and covering his whole body came to the door to commission it. In many legends, that man is a demon. ”

"Is this true or hearsay?" Qi Luoling asked in surprise.

"I don't know," said the young woman earnestly, "but I only know that demonic music is incredibly beautiful, and that it costs a lot to play it." ”

Qi Luoling was silent and thoughtful.

After saying so much, the young woman seemed a little tired, her eyes slightly closed, and her head rested on the upper part of the chair.

Two hours later, the plane landed smoothly at Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport.

As the plane was about to land, the young woman handed her a business card that read: Cheng Yuping, music review editor of Music Research magazine. She smiled and said to Qi Luoling: "My phone number is on the business card, if you have any questions about music, you can find me." ”

Qi Luoling politely exchanged her mobile phone numbers and thanked Cheng Yuping for his enthusiasm, and then the two went to the exit of the airport.