狠心冷漠的公爵夫人

The twenty-two-year-old Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had arrived in Paris to build an international reputation. He wrote to his father Leopold in Salzburg on May 1st, 1778: Responding to an invitation of eight days prior, I drove to the house of the Duchesse de Chabot. I waited half an hour in a large room without any fire and as cold as ice. At last the Duchess came in. She was very polite, and implored me to excuse her piano since none of her instruments were in good order, but she asked me at least to give it a try. I said I’d be happy to play something but couldn’t right then because my fingers were completely numb from the cold, so I asked her to take me to a room where there was a fire.

“Oh, yes, yes, you are right.” she answered. She then seated herself and spent an entire hour drawing in the company of several gentlemen all sitting in a circle around a large table, while I had the honor of waiting.

The windows and doors were open so that not only my hands, but my body and feet were cold, and my head also began to ache. At last, to cut matters short, I played her miserable piano. What annoyed me most of all was that the Duchess and the gentlemen never stopped drawing for a moment, but coolly continued what they were doing, so that I had to play to an audience of chairs and tables and walls.

Finally I got up and said I’d be glad to come back when some better instrument could be found, but the Duchess persuaded me to wait until her husband came in. He sat down beside me and listened with great attention, and I forgot all about the cold and the headache, and in spite of the miserable piano, played as I can play when I’m in the right mood.

为了扬名全世界，22岁的沃尔夫冈•阿玛迪乌斯•莫扎特来到巴黎。1778年5月1日，他给远在萨尔茨堡的父亲里奥帕德写了一封信：

8天前我收到德•恰波特公爵夫人的邀请，今天开车赶往她的府邸。我在一间没有炉火的大房间里等了半小时，屋子冷得跟冰窖似的。最后公爵夫人走了进来，她很有教养，恳求我原谅，说只能弹钢琴，因为她别的乐器都有些毛病，但她要求我至少试一下。我说我很乐意弹点什么，但那时还弹不了，因为我的手指被冻僵了。我请她把我带到一个有火炉的房间。

“哦，是的，是的，有道理!”她一边回答，却一边坐下来和围坐于大桌旁的几位先生画起画来!她画了整整一个小时，我在一旁毕恭毕敬地等着。

窗户和门都大开着，所以，不仅我的手，还有我的身子和脚挨冻，我的头也开始疼痛。最后，为了速战速决，我弹了她那架糟糕的钢琴。最让我懊恼的是，在我弹琴时，公爵夫人和这些先生们一刻不停地画着，冷冰冰地，所以我不得不弹给椅子、桌子和墙壁这些听众。

最后，我站起来说，等哪天她找到更好的乐器了，我很乐意再来，但是公爵夫人劝我再等等，直到她的丈夫走进来。他在我旁边坐下来，仔细听我弹着。我忘了寒冷和头疼，也不顾不上钢琴破烂不堪，我心情好转了，就尽量好好弹。