ndelssohn jumped off the carriage, and Liszt followed closely behind him.
Before he could reach Arthur’s side, ndelssohn couldn’t wait to tell Arthur about the various adventures he had during this trip to Paris.
When ndelssohn and Liszt arrived in Paris, the first person they went to see was Heine.
Everyone knows that although Heine had only moved to Paris a few years ago, he had already beco quite famous in Parisian literary critique circles. However, his reputation in Paris wasn’t all positive, as evidenced by the complex relationship between him and Liszt.
Apart from Liszt, Heine also had a poor relationship with Vini, an old friend of Great Dumas. In Heine’s manuscript "On Romanticism," which was just handed over to the "British Editor," he ostensibly critiqued French Romantic literature but was actually sarcastically criticizing Vini’s indulgence in lyrical and exaggerated writing styles.
Furthermore, his relationship with his German compatriot Platen was equally bad. Heine bluntly described Platen as a passionate admirer of Ancient Greece and a mber of the contemporary Sacred Band of Thebes. Anyone unaware of the context might think Heine was praising Platen.
But in fact, anyone with so knowledge of Greek history would know that Heine was actually implying that Platen had homosexual tendencies, since the Sacred Band of Thebes was composed of 150 couples of male lovers.
Nevertheless, despite his consistently vicious tongue, Heine still cherished his golden friendship with his old friend Arthur.
Especially when ndelssohn handed over Arthur’s handwritten letter to Heine, the face of the usually cynical German poet shone with a saint-like glow of sincerity.
Perhaps the mont Heine saw Arthur’s letter and the check enclosed within was the happiest ti for him in the past month or two.
Ever since Arthur left Paris, Heine’s days had beco rather difficult.
First, he fell out with his old friend of over a decade, Berner, who was also a Jewish German nationalist, because he accepted financial support from the French Governnt.
Berner angrily accused Heine of being shaless, accepting the French Governnt’s funds violated the fundantal principles of being a German.
In return, Heine also mocked Berner, accusing him: though a patriot, he was a narrow-minded petite bourgeois radical.
Later, perhaps to justify accepting the French funds, Heine wrote in a new poem: "Where books are burned, in the end, people will be burned too."
If this sentence were uttered at another ti in Paris, it might not be a big deal.
But the problem is that currently, the July Monarchy Governnt is tightening publication censorship in response to the assassination incident at Kaidao Sai Mansion, so this statent naturally attracted their attention. Because the sentence can easily be interpreted as a veiled critique of their recent censorship activities.
Moreover, anyone familiar with Heine knows that the poem actually doesn’t require much interpretation, as Heine was indeed criticizing France’s recent checks on books and newspapers.
However, due to Heine’s international reputation, the French Governnt was reluctant to openly trouble such a renowned poet who was cherished throughout Europe. But behind the scenes, they could still compel Heine to be silent by thods such as delaying the disbursent of his grants or instructing many Paris newspapers not to publish Heine’s work.
If not for this, no matter how thick-skinned Heine was, he wouldn’t have imdiately sent Arthur a letter begging for help right after receiving his paynt for "On Romanticism."
Arthur resolved Heine’s imdiate crisis, and Heine naturally felt obliged to repay him generously.
As soon as Heine received the letter, he imdiately led ndelssohn and others straight to the Italian Theatre in Paris.
The people at the Italian Theatre were thrilled to see Heine and ndelssohn visiting personally, and they imdiately promised to lend whatever actor they wished.
However, when ndelssohn ntioned borrowing Giovanni Rubini, the Italian Theatre quickly backtracked.
The theatre staff first apologized to their guests and then politely inford them that while any actor at the theatre could be borrowed, Giovanni Rubini was the sole exception. This was because he was Europe’s leading tenor and a pillar of the Italian Theatre, as well as an actor personally favored by the theatre manager Mr. Rossini.
The flagship operas of the Italian Theatre, such as "Cinderella," "Othello," and "Lady of the Lake," all had Rubini playing major roles during their premieres, even though these shows are no longer new, and audiences could accept other male actors in these roles.
But recently, news of a Northern Italian States uprising ca to Paris, which greatly excited Mr. Rossini as an Italian. Therefore, he was re-staging the opera "William Tell," based on Schiller’s poem of the sa na.
"William Tell" tells the story of the Swiss independence hero William Tell, and Mr. Rossini hoped that through this opera, he could inspire Italy’s revolutionary fervor at this mont.
Thus, it was imperative that Giovanni Rubini play the leading role.
Moreover, even putting aside Mr. Rossini’s wishes, Rubini himself, being an Italian, also very much wanted to play "William Tell" at this mont.
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