Shadow of great britain

In the ballroom, the guests exchanged glasses and chatted enthusiastically about various topics of interest.

The ladies looked at the London Philharmonic Society musicians who were adjusting their instruments, and couldn't help but look enviously at Mrs. Codrington next to them.

"I didn't expect that you even invited Mr. Moscheles here today. I wonder which piece he plans to play today? Is it his own "Alexander Variations" or "Homage to Handel"? Or Mr. Bach's? Those pieces of music, or Mr. Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony?”

Mrs. Codrington couldn't help but feel proud, but on her face she just said modestly: "This depends on Mr. Moscheles' personal arrangements. I have never advocated interfering with the creativity of musicians."

However, despite saying this, Mrs. Codrington was just as curious as several other ladies about what Moscheles would play tonight.

Suddenly, she saw that Moselles actually gave up his seat at the piano to Arthur, while he himself took out the white gloves from his pocket and put them on again.

Mrs. Codrington, who knew a lot about music, was shocked by this turn of events. She hurriedly nodded to several friends to say goodbye, then quickly walked forward with her skirt in hand and asked Moscheles.

"Mr. Moscheles, what are you doing? Are you feeling unwell?"

Moscheles looked at Mrs. Codrington and said apologetically: "Sorry, madam, there is nothing wrong with my body, but I do feel a little uncomfortable emotionally. As for the specific reason, you can ask later. Ask Mr. Hastings. But now, please come back to the stage and enjoy his performance of "La Campanella."

"La Campanella?" Mrs. Codrington couldn't help being surprised when she heard the name.

Of course she knew whose music it was, as she herself was a new and avid fan of the original composer, Paganini.

The 27 concerts Paganini held in London this year can be said to have set off a Paganini craze in Britain.

Although the charging standard for Paganini's concerts is twice that of other concerts, and front-row tickets for concerts are sold for four to five times as much on the black market, even this cannot stop his fans from pouring in. The Theater Royal concert hall can accommodate 3,300 people.

And not only music lovers, but even businessmen who knew little about music also smelled business opportunities from Paganini. They successively launched many canes, jewelry boxes, and umbrellas with Paganini's face and name printed on them. and other derivative products.

The restaurants near the Royal Theater also shamelessly added paganini pie, Paganini coffee and other confusing dish names to their menus.

Although this approach is quite nonsensical, gentlemen and ladies are willing to pay for this kind of thing. As long as Paganini's name is added, it means it will sell well.

As a self-proclaimed "loyal Paganini fan", Mrs. Codrington bought a lot of these things. Even when she attended the banquet tonight, she was wearing a silver necklace engraved with Paganini's name. Bracelet.

Not only that, she also bought her husband a hat embroidered with Paganini's name.

But General Codrington seemed very resistant to wearing this hat. He would rather go out in an original Mediterranean style than have Paganini's name written on his head.

Mrs. Codrington looked at Arthur who was sitting in front of the piano and adjusting his breathing. She was surprised and said with a bit of disbelief: "Can Mr. Hastings really play that song "La Campanella"?"

"It's not playing, it's playing." Moscheles couldn't explain his current mood. He didn't know whether he felt funny or angry: "Mr. Hastings told me that he adapted this piece into a piano piece. . Of course, the most important thing is, he told me that he had just started playing piano."

"Oh my God!" Mrs. Codrington raised her forehead slightly: "Are you kidding me? Why don't you persuade him?"

Moscheles shrugged and said: "Madam, of course I tried to persuade you, but Mr. Hastings didn't listen. Not only that, he also told me that his nickname is 'Paganini of Scotland Yard'. In that case , I think you'd better sit down and listen with peace of mind. If he is really the 'Paganini of Scotland Yard', then I think this piece of music should not be a problem for him.

Because Mr. Paganini told me that he had never practiced the violin since he was eleven years old, but this did not affect him in any way from becoming the greatest violinist in history. There is always no shortage of geniuses in the music industry, and maybe Mr. Hastings is the same kind of genius. "

After saying this, Moselles stopped talking to Mrs. Codrington. He took out the baton from his waist and lowered his hands slightly.

The accompanist musicians fell into silence when they saw his action. They knew that Mr. Moscheles was about to get serious.

Arthur also felt the changes in the atmosphere around him. He took a deep breath and placed his hands slightly above the keys of the piano.

He knew that when he played the first note, he was giving an order to all the members of the orchestra.

Suddenly, the sound of breathing in the air stopped abruptly, and Arthur's fingertips struck the keys.

As the light and beautiful melody sounded, the exchanges among the guests in the hall gradually became quieter.

After the first brief piano solo, Moscheles' powerful arms suddenly opened up, and the accompaniment musicians soon followed the raised baton in his hand and harmonized with the sound of the piano.

As the performance entered the high notes, some Paganini fans in the audience noticed something was wrong.

"La Campanella?"

"Piano piece?"

"It seems that Mr. Moscheles and the London Philharmonic Society did not accompany Paganini in vain. They still learned a lot from the concert."

"Mocheles? It's Hastings!"

"Ah? Did you read that correctly?"

"Shh! Keep your voice down."

The lights gradually dimmed, and among the whispers, the guests' eyes were all focused on Arthur's hands that were beating rapidly on the keys as if they had grown wings.

Maybe not every lady and lady present knows science, but what is certain is that every one of them knows piano.

Arthur's hands jumped nimbly between the sixteenth notes, and what was even more incredible was that even though the playing method was right in front of them, they still couldn't understand how Arthur managed to do it using only One left hand simultaneously completed a series of continuous vibrato without disturbing the melody.

The pair of butterfly-like fingertips and the arms jumping back and forth on the keys formed an incredible picture. Wisps of red light floated out of the black eyes, falling on Arthur's knuckles, making it The steel wires and red threads that appear on a marionette slowly grew out. One glance at it makes one feel as if he has entered into a dream.

In the eyes of the guests, it seemed that the person sitting on the stage was not an outstanding young scientist, nor a Scotland Yard superintendent who uprightly enforced the law, but a man with bat wings and a mouth full of thoughts about the world. Malicious devil.

As the piano music came to an end, a woman was sweating on her forehead. From her perspective, she seemed to see the horns slowly growing on Arthur's head.

As soon as the sound of the piano stopped, the lady suddenly pointed at Arthur and shouted in a delirious state: "Devil!"

Immediately afterwards, her body softened and she fell to the ground like a floating gauze scarf.

There was silence in the hall. Arthur flicked the back of his tuxedo and stood up slowly.

There were beads of sweat behind the scattered hair on his forehead. With a slightly tired expression, he reluctantly showed a smile.

"A piece adapted from Mr. Paganini's etude "The Bell", dedicated to all the gentlemen and ladies visiting today."

After a brief silence, the guests in the ballroom woke up from a dream, and the sparse applause soon merged into a burst of flames, which exploded in the ballroom.

While the guests were busy helping the lady who fell to the ground due to physical weakness, they also shouted: "Devil!!!"

"Paganini is a devil, Hastings is a devil too!"

"One is the Apennine violin devil, and the other is the British piano devil."

Amid warm applause and cheers, Moscheles put down his baton and walked up to Arthur.

At this moment, there was no trace of distrust on his face, replaced by an unstoppable smile.

"Mr. Hastings, you really gave me a big surprise! I really didn't expect that you are not only proficient in science, but also proficient in piano. Can you play this piece to this extent? Are you really a beginner? ? Oh my god! I really don’t know how many things you still hide from the big guys!”

Arthur breathed a sigh of relief. He smiled and pointed to the baton placed by Moscheles beside him: "Mr. Moscheles, to be honest, I also know how to play with the baton."

"Do you still know how to conduct?" Moscheles said in surprise: "I knew that you are definitely not a guy who has just started playing musical instruments. You are a veteran. Is my guess right?"

Arthur waved his hands repeatedly: "No, no, no, you misunderstood. I don't know how to conduct a band. I used to direct traffic with a stick. You may not know that I am a Scotland Yard policeman."

"Police?!" Moscheles held Arthur's hands in shock when he heard this: "Oh! Mr. Hastings, God gave you such a perfect pair of 14-degree hands, and you actually told me , do you usually use these hands to touch knives and guns?"

Arthur said sheepishly: "Mr. Moscheles, it's no big deal. I've used it to touch things even more disgusting than knives and guns."

As soon as Arthur said these words, the ladies and ladies all blushed. Elder, who was sitting not far from the stage eating, couldn't help shaking his hands, and ended up choking on his food. Fitz Roy quickly handed him a glass of wine, which prevented his untimely death.

Elder cursed continuously: "Arthur, could you please stop talking about this kind of thing while I'm eating? I was damn near sent to see God by you."

When Arthur heard this, he just glanced at him: "Elder, I'm talking about the goats and fish on the Beagle. What do you think they are?"

As soon as he finished speaking, several gentlemen from the Royal Navy could no longer hold their nerve.

Only General Cochran pretended to be serious and said: "Mr. Hastings, you are right, the little animals are indeed not very clean. But there is no way. In order to ensure that we have sufficient fresh supplies, we must Gotta keep that stuff on the boat. If the sailors had a choice, we'd be willing to keep it clean."

Arthur nodded apologetically and agreed: "Yes, General Cochran, I didn't consider this."

On the other side, Moselles also hurriedly asked with appreciation: "Mr. Hastings, if you don't mind, can you give me a copy of the sheet music for this piece later?"

"Of course there is no problem." Arthur said with a smile: "I believe that with your talent, you will be able to master this piece of music in a short time. It is not as difficult as you think. Even if you don't need to play the piano , you can also present it.”

As soon as Arthur finished speaking, Moselles, who had just established a good impression of Arthur, frowned again.

"What do you mean?"

Arthur didn't answer, he just smiled and took out the gramophone that he had prepared long ago from the back of the piano stand.

He placed the needle on the turntable, and then, as he twisted the mechanical spring of the gramophone, a familiar melody soon sounded in the corner of the dance hall.

Although the sound is not as clear and sweet as Arthur's, and even contains some unnecessary noise, the pleasant and highly similar music can still make everyone recognize its name.

Moselles looked at the strange machine in front of him, which was assembled from a copper horn and a square box. He was stunned and froze on the spot.

"This...what is this?"