Friendly Deception

善意的谎言

The composing career of Albert Roussel got off to a wayward start, and received one of its biggest boosts from a lie.

阿尔伯特·罗素的作曲生涯有一个任性的开始，其获得最大的助力来自一个谎言。

Roussel was orphaned at the age of eight and went to live with his grandfather. He built on the music he had learned from his mother, entertaining himself by reading through the family music collection and playing operatic selections and popular songs on the piano.

罗素在八岁时成为孤儿，和他爷爷住在一起。他从母亲那里学会音乐，通过阅读家里的音乐收藏，用钢琴弹奏歌剧和流行歌曲钢琴上的选段来娱乐自己。

Three years later Roussel’s grandfather died, and his mother’s sister took him in. Her husband arranged for young Albert to take piano lessons. Summer vacations at a Belgian seaside resort added a second love to his life—the sea. He studied to be a naval cadet, but still made time to study music.

三年后，罗素的祖父去世了，他的姨妈收留了他。姨夫安排了年轻的艾伯特去上钢琴课。暑假在比利时的一个海滨度假胜地，他又增加了生命中的另一项所爱——大海。他学习成为一名海军军官，但仍然挤出时间学习音乐。

In the French Navy, while he was stationed on a cruiser based at Cherbourg, he and two friends found the time to play the piano trios of Beethoven and other composers. Roussel also began composing. At the Church of the Trinity in Cherbourg on Christmas Day 1892, he had his debut as a composer with the performance of his Andante for string trio and organ.

在法国海军，当他被派驻在一艘驻扎在瑟堡的巡洋舰，他和两个朋友找到时间来演奏贝多芬和其他作曲家的钢琴三重奏。罗素也开始创作。1892年的圣诞节，在瑟堡的三一教堂，他首次作为作曲家亮相于管弦乐三重奏行板演出。

That success encouraged Roussel to write a wedding march, and one of his fellow naval officers offered to show it to a prominent conductor, Edouard Colonne. When Roussel’s friend returned with the manuscript, he reported that Colonne had advised Roussel to give up his naval career and devote his life to music.

演出的成功鼓励罗素写出了婚礼进行曲，他的一名海军军官同事将它提供给一位杰出的指挥，爱德华·克洛纳。罗素的朋友带回来手稿，说克洛纳建议罗素放弃他的海军生涯，转而献身音乐。

Not long afterward, at the age of 25, Roussel did just that. He applied the self-discipline, conciseness, and spirituality that he had developed in the navy to his composing and became a major force in twentieth century French music. As for Eduoard Colonne’s inspiring advice that Roussel devote his life to music—Roussel’s navy friend later admitted that he had made it up and that he had never even shown Roussel’s manuscript to the conductor.

不久之后，在25岁时，罗素这样做了。他将在海军养成的自律、简洁和灵性运用到他的创作，成为了二十世纪的法国音乐的主力。正如爱德华·克洛纳的启发性的建议，罗素献身音乐——他的海军朋友后来承认他撒谎了，他甚至从来没有将罗素的手稿给指挥家看过。

[英语阅读]Friendly Deception（善意的谎言）