Shadow of great britain

The backstage of the Leipzig Theater is busy preparing for the new play "Turandot" to be performed tonight.

You can find the unfortunate couple Robert Schumann and Miss Clara Wieck in the busy backstage of the theater, who are worried about their father's opposition, and the leading actor, Adolf Nouri, the emperor of the European opera circle, and the chief tenor of the Paris Opera, who is practicing his voice, Garibaldi who is busy everywhere but doesn't know what he is busy with, and Dumas who is busy bragging about his creative ability with German actresses.

However, the busiest person among all is Mendelssohn.

Leipzig is the second most important music city in the Greater German region after Vienna. In 1743, the earliest large concert hall in Germany was built here.

Bach, the father of Western music, lived in this city for a full 27 years. He served as the choir conductor and music director of the Leipzig St. Thomas Church for a long time, and finally died in this city.

Bach's famous works "Sacred Music" and "The Passion of the Christ" were premiered in Leipzig, and the St. Thomas Choir he personally cultivated is still a top music group in Europe today.

As a recognized successor of Bach in the European music world, Mendelssohn's performance in Leipzig has extraordinary significance for him.

Therefore, for today's performance, Mendelssohn's requirements are not limited to perfection, but must continue to make breakthroughs on the basis of perfection.

In order to fulfill the love between Schumann and Miss Weik, and to pay tribute to Bach, Mendelssohn specially took over the responsibility of the chief conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra a while ago, so that he can legitimately invite this century-old orchestra to participate in the premiere of "Turandot".

Seeing this, some people may find that there are a few important people missing from the backstage of the theater.

Two main creative staff members disappeared from the backstage of the theater. Coincidentally, both of them are British.

That's right, it was Mr. Benjamin Disraeli who was responsible for adapting the script and Sir Arthur Hastings who wrote "Nessun Dorma" and "Jasmine".

But none of the backstage staff complained about this, because everyone knew that the two of them had more important tasks to do.

Today, it was not only Miss Vick's father who came to the Leipzig Theater to watch the premiere of "Turandot". The audience also included many local dignitaries in Leipzig, and even many princes and noble ladies of the Kingdom of Saxony who came by car from the capital Dresden just to see the style of Felix Mendelssohn, the "heir of Bach".

And if we talk about who is the number one opera lover in the Kingdom of Saxony, then no matter how the list of candidates is selected, the first one should be King Anton I of Saxony.

Since he was young, Anton I has been a loyal fan of Mozart.

In 1787, when Anton I, who was still a prince at the time, married Maria Theresa, the Grand Princess of Tuscany, he planned to celebrate with the premiere of Mozart's opera "Don Giovanni". In order to express his blessings to the newlyweds, the script even mentioned the names of Anton and the Grand Princess.

Unfortunately, due to the rush of time, the premiere could not be arranged in time. Finally, under the direct order of the Grand Princess' uncle, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, the performance was changed to "The Marriage of Figaro".

Unfortunately, the Grand Princess's relatives thought that "The Marriage of Figaro" was an inappropriate choice for the bride, after all, it was a play about a certain count wanting to exercise the "right of first night" over the bride. Therefore, the Grand Princess left the opera early during the performance and did not watch the whole performance.

However, although the bride did not watch the whole show, Anton I watched the four-act performance with relish.

Four years later, Anton attended the premiere of Mozart's opera "The Clemency of Titus" in Prague, which was created to celebrate the coronation of his father-in-law Leopold II as King of Bohemia.

Although Anton is no longer young now, he does not have so much energy to attend the premieres of various operas. After becoming king, he is not as free as he was when he was a prince.

However, if the premiere of the opera is on the land of the Kingdom of Saxony, Anton I is still willing to leave the comfortable Zwinger Palace to exercise his body.

Not to mention, he came to Leipzig to attend the premiere of "Turandot" this time for a very legitimate reason-to conduct royal exchanges with the Duke of Sussex who visited Leipzig.

Perhaps hearing this, some people will find it strange that Anton I's behavior does not seem to be a standard German absolute monarch at all.

That's because this old man is indeed not an absolute monarch.

Influenced by the July Revolution in France in 1830, an uprising broke out in Dresden, the capital of the Kingdom of Saxony in the same year.

Fortunately, Anton I did not repeat the stupid things that Louis XVI did, but made concessions in time, so there was no large-scale bloodshed.

Soon after the uprising broke out, he dismissed two conservative ministers, Count Einsiedl and Lindenau, from their cabinet positions, and in response to the people's call, appointed his nephew Frederick August as co-ruling prince. In the second year, he promulgated a constitution, established a bicameral legislature and a responsible government department, and transformed the Kingdom of Saxony into a constitutional monarchy.

Although the constitution of the Kingdom of Saxony is extremely conservative in the eyes of the British, because the king still retains considerable independent sovereignty, he must cooperate with the ministers and the decisions of the two houses of government only in government affairs.

But, in the eyes of the Saxons, this was enough to satisfy them.

At this time, in the box with the best view on the second floor of the theater, several old friends were gathering for a drink.

Arthur sat by the window, holding a glass of amber Bordeaux. The wine glass was gently swaying between his fingers. The wine had a slight luster and a mellow aroma.

There was a hint of alertness in Arthur's leisurely posture. His eyes lingered between the two friends, and the corner of his eyes occasionally glanced at the hazy street scene outside the window.

"Lionel, how went the family meeting in Frankfurt?"

The journey fatigue was not visible on the face of Lionel Rothschild, a Jewish young man who had just arrived in Leipzig from Frankfurt.

His face was rosy and his cheeks were smiling, not only because he met his old friends Arthur and Disraeli, but also because at the Rothschild family meeting held in Frankfurt not long ago, Lionel replaced For the first time, his ailing father Nathan, as the representative of the London branch, jointly decided with several uncles on the family's development issues for the coming year.

Anyone with a discerning eye in the European financial circle can see that this 25-year-old Jewish boy will definitely inherit the business started by his father in London in the near future and become the second generation leader of Rothschild's London financial empire.

Whether in London, Paris, Vienna, Naples or Frankfurt, every bank director and stockbroker who met Lionel no longer regarded him as a young boy. They stopped politely and said: Nel took off his hat and spouted all kinds of insincere flattery, just in the hope of getting his name in the mind of this future financial tycoon so that he could cooperate with him in the future.

Of course, even in terms of personal accomplishment, Lionel is far easier to deal with than his father Nathan.

Although Nathan is not a self-made man, his entrepreneurial environment is the worst among the five brothers. The other four brothers all stayed on the European continent, so the elder Rothschild could still give these sons a certain amount of help through his personal influence.

As for Nathan in London, although the old Rothschild also gave him strong support, the Rothschild Bank, which was headquartered in Frankfurt at the time, could not match the financial resources, professionalism or connections in the world finance. Central London is on par with local banks that have been struggling for many years.

Nathan has never read any books, let alone went to college.

His success in London relied on keen insight, efficient action and the determination to succeed or succeed.

This kind of life experience also destined Nathan to be a strong character, and not having read many books made him seem vulgar and even a bit sensational in many situations.

In a British society that pays attention to cumbersome etiquette and self-restraint, such a guy will naturally not be welcomed.

Lionel's generation is completely different from their parents' generation. His cousins ​​all received a full aristocratic education.

As for Lionel, the education he received since childhood was completely British.

Every pore from head to toe exudes the traditional aura of a classical British aristocrat. He will never blush with others, let alone use his power to suppress others by swearing like his father. Passionate about art and science, he not only donates funds to support museums and libraries, but also actively funds scientific research projects. As a collector, he also had a large collection of art and books.

However, anyone who knows Lionel knows that he collects art not entirely because he likes it, but because he likes it. After all, artyness is a contagious disease of the upper class. Who can guarantee that a certain piece of art he collected will suddenly become the favorite of a certain big shot one day?

Lionel smiled and clinked glasses with Arthur: "Thanks to you, Arthur, my trip to Frankfurt went smoothly."

Arthur burst out laughing when he heard this: "Lionel, you are too polite. The Rothschild family meeting went smoothly. How can it be because of me?"

"Of course it's thanks to you."

Lionel analyzed him seriously: "Do you know how much money Rothschild lost during the July Revolution in France? A full 10 million guilders! If converted into pounds, that is almost 850,000 pounds. ! If my father hadn't reacted quickly, he would have spent 780,000 pounds to exchange a large number of gold and silver coins from the Bank of England as soon as he learned of the turmoil in Paris, and immediately sent them to Uncle James in Paris, the Paris branch of Rothschild. It will definitely go bankrupt.

And your emergency response to the panic in the City of London and the London riots last year was simply perfect. Without your help, London might have had a war like the French July Revolution. If something like that really happens, even if our London branch doesn't go bankrupt, we'll still be miserable. And now, you are the proctor of the University of Göttingen. I heard that you have done a good job there, and both His Majesty the King and the Government of the Kingdom of Hanover speak highly of you.

You simply don’t know how frightened Uncle Amschel was when the students started a riot on the day the Frankfurt garrison incident broke out. He thought that the Frankfurt branch he was responsible for must be finished. After hearing what happened in Frankfurt, Uncle Solomon rode a fast horse and led people from Vienna to Frankfurt overnight, trying to do his best to save the remaining property. But fortunately, later results proved that all this was just a false alarm.

Although you feel that you are only doing your duty to appease the students at the University of Göttingen, for Rothschild, your ability to stabilize my fellow Göttingen students is simply a great help. "

Lionel said these words not entirely as a compliment to Arthur. At the same time, he was still proud of his forward-looking investment vision.

The old guys of the Rothschild family like to pursue the powerful and invest in those powerful people.

Lionel is different from the group of old leeks who like to chase high prices in the stock market. He is a complete value investor who likes to dig out start-up companies and invest in promising unicorns.

And Arthur was the first to break through among the many unicorns Lionel invested in.

You know, when Lionel met Arthur, he was just an ordinary police inspector. If you had nothing to do, you could just throw a brick into Whitehall Street and you would most likely kill someone bigger than the police inspector.

And now?

Look at his current title and business card!

Sir Arthur Hastings

He has successively served as patrol detective and superintendent of the Greenwich District of the Royal London Constabulary under the Ministry of Home Affairs of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, executive superintendent of Greenwich and Tower Hamlets, and assistant to the London Metropolitan Police. Commissioner of Police, Director of the London Police Intelligence Service, Head of the Criminal Investigation Department, and Principal of the London Police School.

Former Second Secretary, Foreign Office, Legation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in the Kingdom of Hanover.

Currently the Special National Representative of the Kingdom of Hannover to the University of Göttingen and the Proctor of the University of Göttingen!

How much does it cost for fathers and uncles to be on good terms with kings, princes, prime ministers and cabinet ministers?

Each one would cost tens of millions of pounds!

And how much did it cost Lionel to befriend Arthur?

He just gave Arthur a 40% discount on his house near Hyde Park, and incidentally invested 30% of the equity in "The Englishman".

If you include the return on his investment in "The Brit," Lionel not only didn't spend money on Arthur, he actually made money on him.

Among the Rothschild favor investments, this was the only one that produced a positive return on paper.

And, most importantly, his relationship with Arthur was based on mutual respect, not the undignified dependence that his father had with the Duke of Wellington.

When he thought of this, the smile on Lionel's face became brighter, and he even said half-jokingly: "Arthur, if it weren't for our family's strict observance of Jewish cultural traditions, I would even want to introduce my sister to you. I don’t know why, but you are like my lucky star.”

Disraeli on the side was not happy when he heard this. After all, he also had the intention of introducing his sister to Arthur: "Please, Lionel, if your father knows that you are making such a joke, he will inevitably ask for it after he returns." Clean you up."

When Arthur heard Lionel's words, he just smiled softly: "I can't talk about good fortune, but you do seem to always have this kind of good luck. Every time I encounter something good, I will meet you immediately."

"Good thing?" Lionel raised his eyebrows, and he suddenly became interested: "What kind of good thing?"

"Of course it's a good thing in the worldly sense. I don't think it's a good idea to talk about the spiritual world with gentlemen."

"Okay, don't be pretentious, what is it?"

Lionel's curiosity was aroused, and he already knew that Arthur planned to discuss business with him. In order to show that he has the ability to take over his father's position, he now urgently needs a successful investment to operate alone to prove himself. But even so, he had to make sure in advance that the business Arthur wanted to discuss was worth investing in.

Arthur smiled and said: "What else could it be? Do you still remember what you said to me at the beginning? The 19th century was the century of railways."