The Shadow of Great Britain

Chapter 913: Chapter 24 Hastings Frenzy_2

In my opinion, it’s not that other pianists can’t achieve success like Liszt, it’s just that they don’t work as hard as Liszt behind the scenes. Most pianists only know how to play the piano and don’t understand how to ’organize’ a successful concert. Or to be more precise, their ’stage settings’ can’t compare to our Franz Liszt.

When to arrange for ladies to faint, when to arrange for someone to send flowers, when to arrange for people to scream, in this art, Liszt is truly a genius.

Of course, all of the above remarks are just my small personal guesses. Perhaps some fans of Liszt would say, Heine, you German guy don’t understand anything about the piano. We are thrilled to faint solely because of Liszt’s superb performance skills; he indeed possesses a god-like power, so mighty as if he handed us a hundred franc accepted bill from the Rothschild Bank.

Many people assume I would refute their words, but if you really think so, then you are seriously mistaken. I do not deny that there indeed exist musicians with such magical powers in this world.

While I was in London, I heard about the collective sudden fainting that occurred at London’s Astley Theatre, where a young pianist happened to be present. The king attended his performance, women bowed at his feet, and many lost their sanity for him. At that time, London’s mass newspapers extensively reported on the concert and his several prank actions, further provoking the public’s fervor for him.

It is well known, classical music audiences are either reserved or renowned for their elegance, such broadly sought-after classical musicians are actually rare. Looking across Europe, the first one so revered was the violin Devil from the Apennines, Paganini, the second was Paris’s King of Piano, Liszt, and the third was this mysterious gentleman from London.

His public appearances in London could almost incite his followers’ passion to an enthusiastic level; he became the fantasy object and secret desire in the hearts of all sorts of people. Upper-class gentlemen appreciated him, middle-class gentlemen envied him, and children from the lower classes wished to become him. As for the always graceful London ladies, to get close to the Apollo in their hearts, some women disregarded everything, including family honor and their own good upbringing.

A London gentleman who frequently attended concerts told me, ”Once, a lady grabbed a cigar he had half smoked and tossed away and started smoking it, without minding her incessant coughing, still indulged in it. Baronesses and countesses mercilessly tugged each other’s hair, vying for the cup or handkerchief he had used.”

Screams, cheers, frenzy, and fans loyally following him around London for his performances. Heavens! Isn’t this another Liszt appearing in London?

However, what is more unexpected is that when I meticulously learned about this gentleman’s life, I suddenly realized that my conversation with the doctor seemed to validate itself on this London ’Liszt’ – the Devil releasing actions resembling electric current, the contagious ecstasy, and the magnetic nature of the music itself.

This gentleman turned out to be an actual natural philosophy researcher in the field of electromagnetism, not only that, but he is also the outstanding assistant to Mr. Michael Faraday. According to information from the French Academy of Sciences, this gentleman holds a pivotal position in the field of electromagnetism, and he is also a close friend of the gramophone inventor, Mr. Whiston.

Electricity and magnet, gramophone, young piano master, and a knight who has been honored – Sir Arthur Hastings!

Perhaps he is the one closer to the essence of piano frenzy than Liszt, not Liszt’s ’stage settings,’ but instead magic power of electricity and magnet released from fingertips, the Lord of the Sky from London, the God of Thunder ruling the transition between day and night – Taranis!

Paris, Breaux Detective Agency.

The Great Dumas holding a coffee cup in one hand and this morning’s freshly printed ”Constitutional Newspaper” in the other.

Using breakfast time to read and check the newspaper is undoubtedly a wise way to save time, but obviously not for reading jokes and humorous novels.

The consequence of the Great Dumas reading the newspaper while having breakfast was – he didn’t take a single sip of his coffee, instead nearly spilled it onto his exquisite tailcoat.

Sitting at the other end of the table was none other than Heine, quite satisfied with his masterpiece.

He pointed to the newspaper in his hand, flaunting to the Great Dumas: ”How about it? Alexander, would you say this article is worth 1000 francs?”

The Great Dumas put down the newspaper, slapped his thigh in praise: ”Not just 1000 francs, I think it’s worth 2000 francs. Heinrich, it’s really well-written, after reading it I wanted to invite Arthur over to teach me how exactly to make ladies willing to pick up my leftover cigars. If he can teach me, I’d personally be willing to pay him a fee of 500 francs.”

No sooner had the Great Dumas finished speaking, than they heard the detective agency’s front door being pushed open.

They saw Arthur take off his hat and let out a sigh of relief.

The Great Dumas raised an eyebrow and asked: ”What’s the matter? Judging by your look, did you just get into a fight with someone?”

”No.” Arthur showed a ghost-seeing expression, ”I just ran into the agency’s ’Pan,’ and this kid insisted on having me teach him electromagnetism. When I asked the reason, he said it was to make the ladies go crazy for him. The most ridiculous part is, he also said he’d be willing to pay me 100 francs for this skill and, along with that, be my bodyguard for a month for free.”