The Terralock Manor where Franz lived was not as striking as the cypress tree with only three branches in Carpathian Castle. This is just an ordinary manor in Kraga, and now its last heir is the young Count Franz.
Franz never left his parents and home when he was a teenager. They often give alms to the poor around them, so their members have always been respected by people. In the manor, the nobles enjoyed family happiness, leaving Taylor Manor once or twice a year at most to deal with some things in Kraga Wa Town, a few miles away.
The closed life hindered Franz's growth, and he always felt the bondage of his childhood environment when he became an adult. An old Italian priest taught him that his knowledge was limited, so Franz had little knowledge in science, art and literature. He loved sports and was full of energy, but his fun at that time was limited to hunting prey. He went deep into the forest and grassland for several days, dancing with hunting knives and pouncing on wild animals such as elk and wild boar. This gradually made him a brave, firm and strong person.
Franz's fate was unfortunate. 15 years old lost his mother, and 2 1 year old lost his father. The successive death of his parents made young Franz suffer successively in just a few years. He was very sad. Now he has no parents, no teachers and no friends. He felt very lonely.
Franz lived in Crajiawa Manor for three years, and he didn't want to leave it. He lives there, completely isolated from the outside world. It's just that he sometimes goes to Boucary, and it's only a short leave, because he is always eager to return to his own world.
Life can't last forever. Franz, who is young and strong, is going to explore the outside world and broaden his horizons.
He made up his mind to leave when he was only about 23 years old. He doesn't have to worry about the travel expenses. Finally, one day, he entrusted the manor to his family, left Krajiawa by himself, and only took Lozko as his entourage. This Romanian veteran has been in his home for 65,438+00 years, and he always takes Franz with him every time he hunts. He is not only brave and strong, but also a loyal servant.
First, he wants to travel to Europe and visit capitals and big cities. He thinks he can learn a lot that he couldn't learn in Cracow when he was a teenager.
Franz wanted to go to Italy first, because his first teacher came from Italy, so he was familiar with the language there. This country is very attractive. It has many places of interest, which can inspire poets and make them leave many poems.
He was fascinated and stayed there for four years. From Venice to Florence, from Rome to Naples, he kept going back and forth between these art capitals. He is always hard to give up. France, Germany, Spain, Russia and Britain, which will be discussed later. It's not too late to go there again when you are old and mature. Besides, the greatness and beauty of Italy can only be better appreciated by the passion of young people.
Franz was 27 when he last went to Naples. He intends to stay only a few days before going to Sicily. After visiting the ancient Trinaglia, he ended his trip to Italy. He can go back to his Klajava Castle and rest for a year.
An unexpected event not only changed his plan, but also decided his life and changed his life trajectory.
During those years in Italy, Franz made little progress in scientific knowledge, but he had a deep love for aesthetics like a blind man who saw the light of day again. Facing the ancient art halls, he was fascinated by the galleries in Rome, Naples and Florence and stopped in front of outstanding paintings. At the same time, I am keen on the lyric works of the opera house, especially enjoying the performances of great artists.
This is the last time he stayed in Naples for a period of time; Under the chance encounter introduced by Wen, a ray of tenderness broke into his heart.
Christina is a famous opera singer in San Carlo Theatre. Her voice is clear, her performance is exquisite, and her artistic talent is well received by people in the industry. However, Christina didn't want to develop abroad at that time, not to mention that she only sang Italian operas. At that time, Italian opera was already very successful. In Turin's Carrilan Theatre, Milan's Scala Theatre, Venice's Farness Theatre, Florence's Alfini Theatre, Rome's Apollo Theatre, Naples's San Carlo Theatre and other places, her pure and beautiful songs are ringing. Her success did not make her regret having performed in other European theaters.
At that time, Christina was 25 years old, very beautiful, with blonde shawls, bright eyes, symmetrical facial features and fair skin. Even with Prasitri's carving knife, she can't carve a more perfect figure. This woman is known as the second artist-Mary Braun. To her, Samuel Mayme (French poet and playwright) was full of praise:
"Your singing can take away the pain."
The poet praised this voice in his immortal poem:
"Only from the heart can you find your own heart."
This voice is Stina's wonderful and sweet singing.
However, although she sings emotionally, she has never experienced emotional experience, never experienced the sweetness of love, and never met the audience who was fascinated by her during the performance. She was born only for art and devoted herself to it.
Since the first time I met Tina, Franz had the passion of first love. After visiting Sicily, he never intended to leave Italy again, and decided to stay in Naples until the end of the performance season, as if he was tied to the singer by some constant love affair. He will come to every performance, and the enthusiasm of the public has made her art truly recognized. Many times, he couldn't control his crazy infatuation and tried to enter her room, but Tina ruthlessly shut him out, just like many fanatics.
So Franz soon fell into a painful unrequited love. He has always wanted to see her, and only this excellent singer is in his heart. He lived only to see her and hear her sing. In this world, he doesn't want to have too many friends, it just doesn't match his fame and position.
This unrequited love is too violent and hurts his health. It is entirely conceivable that if there is another rival in love, he will have to endure the torture of strong jealousy and what kind of pain he will suffer. But as far as he knows, there is no need for such trouble-even the suspicious person whose appearance and personality can attract attention.
It was Franz's last visit to Naples, where there was a man aged between 50 and 55. Obviously, this unsmiling man tried his best to live outside the popular secularism in the upper class. People know nothing about his family, status and past. As long as Steiner is here, people sometimes see him in Rome and sometimes in Florence. In fact, he has only one passion: to listen to this prestigious female artist, who was perfect in the vocal art at that time.
If Franz has lived only for Christina since he met her on the stage in Naples, then this eccentric art lover has lived only to hear her sing for the past six years. But it's not her people, but her singing, as indispensable as the air he breathes. He never longed to see her in person except on the stage. He has never visited her or written to her, but whenever Christina performs, no matter which theater, there is always a tall man wearing a long green coat and a big hat to cover his face, passing by the ticket booth of the theater. The man will quickly go to the reserved private room, and he will remain silent throughout the performance. But when Christina finished singing the last song, he left quietly, and other singers, both men and women, couldn't keep him-he had never even heard anyone sing.
Who is such a strange and enthusiastic audience? Tina can't find out. Because of her sensitive nature, she really began to be afraid of this strange guy-an inexplicable fear did exist. Although she couldn't see him in the box, she knew he was there, and she felt that he was looking at her arrogantly and intently. His appearance made her so uneasy that she could hardly hear the thunderous applause from the audience after welcoming her to the stage.
As mentioned above, this man has never approached Stella. But if he doesn't expect to know her-we must emphasize this point-why does everything about this actress become the object of his attention, and for this reason, he has collected the most beautiful portrait made by the great painter Michael gregorio for her: Tina is warm and noble, she is the embodiment of the beautiful role she plays, and the portrait is very precious, which is very worthy of her rich admirers to pay huge sums of money for it.
Even if this weirdo stays in his box all the time while Stina is performing, even if he never leaves the room and only goes to the theater, it can't prove that he lives in complete loneliness. No, a companion as eccentric as him shares his life.
This man is Ovanick. He is the kind of unknown scientist who is tired of the world.
Mr. Vanich is of medium height, thin, like suffering from tuberculosis, pale and similar to a "skeleton", especially wearing a black eye patch on his right eye. He lost his right eye while doing physical or chemical experiments. He has a pair of strange glasses on the bridge of his nose, except for the light green lens on his left eye. When he walked alone, he gestured as if he were talking to an invisible man who only listened but didn't answer.
These two people, eccentric hearing fans and eccentric scientist O 'Vanich, are both famous, at least as famous as they will be in the future. The fixed performance season attracted them to all towns in Italy, and they aroused strong public curiosity. Although they always avoid journalists and reckless visitors, people finally know their names and nationalities. This eccentric listener was born in Romania. When Franz first asked him, he learned:
"Baron Rudolf"
This is what happened when Franz first came to Naples. In the past two months, the San Carlo Theatre was packed, and Christina's success increased dramatically. The performance of all her tracks has never been so moving, and the warm cheers she aroused have never been so warm.
Every performance, Franz always sits in the VIP seat right in front of him, while Baron Rudolph sits in his box, listening to these moving songs wholeheartedly and indulging in this wonderful music, as if they can't live without it.
At this time, an explosive rumor spread in Naples-a rumor that the public did not want to accept, but it finally warned these music lovers.
It is said that Christina will quit the stage at the end of the performance season. What! In the golden age of her singing, in the best age of her beauty, in the heyday of her artistic career, will she consider retiring?
It seems incredible, but it's true. Baron Rudolf had to take some measures to prevent her from achieving this goal.
This mysterious audience always sits in the box. Although I couldn't see him, it eventually caused Christina's endless panic, which she couldn't even control. As soon as she stepped onto the stage, she was overwhelmed by this anxiety. The audience noticed her panic, which damaged her health.
She knew that leaving Naples for Rome, Venice or anywhere on the peninsula could not get rid of Baron Rudolph. Even if she left Italy for Germany, Russia or France, it wouldn't help. He will follow her to every place where she sings. The only way to get rid of this difficult person completely is to quit the stage.
Two months before the rumor spread that she was leaving the stage, Franz finally decided to confess to her. Unfortunately, it has caused irreparable and disastrous consequences.
Franz, who was free and rich, was successfully allowed to enter Christina's room and proposed to her.
Christina has admired Franz for a long time. She knows very well that he is a gentleman, and any woman, including upper-class women, will be willing to commit herself to him. In her mental state at that time, as soon as Franz signed the contract, she accepted him with undisguised affection. She fully understood that he was infatuated with her, so she agreed to be Countess Taylor and gave up her singing career without any regrets.
Rumors are more accurate. Christina will retire from the opera stage at the end of the performance season in San Carlo. Her marriage is still very secret, and there is no doubt about it now.
It is conceivable that this incident has caused a great shock not only in the entertainment circle, but also in the whole Italian upper class. At first, people didn't believe it was true. Later, people had to admit the truth, and then they had hatred and jealousy for Franz. He made her leave the art, gave up the glory, took away the idols in the hearts of Italian music lovers, and even many people anonymously threatened Flantz, but he didn't think so.
If even the ordinary audience is like this, you can imagine how sad Rudolph will be when he thinks that he will lose Christina and all the air that supports his survival will disappear with her. Rumor has it that he is going to commit suicide. It was confirmed that Mr. Vanich never appeared on the streets of Naples again. He followed Baron Rudolph everywhere, and he sat in the box and watched the show with him many times-he had never been so loyal. Like many other scholars, he has no feeling for the charm of music.
Time passed, but the commotion did not subside. Christina's last performance reached a climax, and she is going to take Angelica, an outstanding figure in ackner's masterpiece Orlando, as her farewell performance.
That night, the audience at the San Carlo Theatre increased tenfold than usual. People crowded the driveway and more people could only stand outside the door. Many people are worried that there will be demonstrations against Count Franz, even after the opera, if not during Christina's performance.
Baron Rudolph is still sitting in his box with Mr. Vanich beside him.
Christina appeared, more excited than before. However, she tried to calm herself down and get into the role. She sings beautifully. With such a unique talent, the indescribable enthusiasm she aroused in the audience almost reached fanaticism.
During the performance, Franz waited in the wing. He was anxious, nervous and irritable, cursing the long speech, and there was nothing he could do. He was annoyed at the delay caused by applause and curtain call. Ah! It's hard to get the future Countess Taylor out of this theater. He must take her far away, so that she can only belong to him and always belong to him.
Finally, the last scene, the heroine died. Aknati's euphemistic music never seemed so thrilling, and Stina's performance never seemed so heartbreaking. Her whole soul seems to float out of her lips ... however, this voice is about to be lost and people will never hear it again.
At this moment, a strange head appeared from the fence of Baron Rudolph's box, with gray hair and bright eyes. His face was so pale that Franz looked at him for the first time in the light of the wing.
Christina is enthusiastically singing the last song of the awe-inspiring ending paragraph, and she just repeated that sentence in a very sad tone:
"My love, my heart is shaking,
I want to die for love. "
Suddenly, she stopped.
Baron Rudolph's face frightened her ... A kind of extreme panic made her hair stand on end ... She covered her mouth with her hand, and her mouth was covered with blood ... She twitched ... and fell down. ...
The audience stood up, trembling, frightened and sad.
A scream came from Baron Rudolph's box.
Franz rushed onto the stage. He put his arm around Stephanie, picked her up ... stared at her ... and called her.
"Dead! Dead! " He cried and shouted, "She's dead!"
Stella died ... she broke a blood vessel in her chest ... and she disappeared with her dying song.
Franz was heartbroken and was carried back to the hotel. He couldn't attend Stefana's funeral, and all the citizens of Naples held a grand memorial service for her funeral.
Before burying her grave, only her name was engraved on the pure marble:
Sidina
On the night of the funeral, a man went to the cemetery in St. Camponovo. His eyes are blurred with tears, his head is lowered, his lips are closed, and he is confessing. He stared at Tina's grave for a long time. He seemed to be listening, as if the singing of this outstanding female artist could be heard from her grave.
This man is Rudolph.
That night, Baron Rudolf left Naples accompanied by Ovanick. No one knows what will happen to him in the future.
The next morning, Count Franz received a letter.
This letter contains only a few short threats:
You killed her ... you're waiting for bad luck, count Franz!
Rudolph (male name)