First night. Second night

It was already four o'clock in the morning when a crowd of young friends burst into Faust's room - either philosophers or burners. It seemed to them that Faust knew everything. It was not for nothing that he surprised everyone with his manners and neglected secular decency and prejudices. Faust met his friends, as usual, unshaven, in an armchair, with a black cat in his arms. However, he refused to talk about the meaning of life and the purpose of a person at such a time. I had to continue the conversation the next midnight. Faust remembered the parable of the blind, deaf and dumb beggar who lost his gold. Having sought him out in vain, the beggar returned home and lay down on his stone bed. And then the coin suddenly slipped out of the bosom and rolled over the stones. So we sometimes, Faust continued, are like this blind man, for not only do we not understand the world, but even each other, we do not distinguish truth from lies, the genius of an artist from a madman.
Third night

The world is full of eccentrics, each of whom is capable of telling an amazing story. On a hot day in Naples, a young man in an antique dealer's shop met a stranger in a powdered wig, in an old caftan, looking at architectural engravings. To get to know him, I advised him to look at the projects of the architect Piranesi: cyclopean palaces, caves turned into castles, endless vaults, dungeons ... Seeing the book, the old man jumped back in horror: "Close, close this damn book!" This was the architect Piranesi. He created ambitious projects, but was unable to implement them and published only his drawings. But each volume, each drawing tormented and demanded to translate it into buildings, not allowing the artist's soul to find peace. Piranesi asks the young man ten million ducats to connect Etna with Vesuvius with an arch. Taking pity on the madman, he handed him a gold coin. Piranesi sighed and decided to add it to the amount collected for the purchase of Mont Blanc ...
The fourth night

Once the ghost of a certain acquaintance appeared to me - a respectable official who did neither good nor evil. But he rose to the rank of state councilor. When he died, they gave him a cold service, coldly buried him and parted. But I continued to think about the deceased, and his ghost appeared before me, with tears reproaching him for indifference and contempt. Like Chinese shadows on the wall, various episodes of his life arose before me. Here he is, a boy in his father's house. But it is not his father who brings up him, but the servants, she teaches ignorance, debauchery, cruelty. Here is a boy pulled into a uniform, and now the light kills and corrupts his soul. A good companion must drink and play cards. A good husband must make a career. The more ranks, the stronger the boredom and resentment - towards yourself, towards people, towards life.

Boredom and resentment brought illness, illness pulled death with it ... And now this terrible person is here. She closes my eyes - but opens spiritual eyes, so that the dying person would see the nakedness of his life ...

Vladimir Fedorovich Odoevsky

"Russian nights"

First night. Second night

It was already four o'clock in the morning when a crowd of young friends burst into Faust's room - either philosophers or burners. It seemed to them that Faust knew everything. It was not for nothing that he surprised everyone with his manners and neglected secular decency and prejudices. Faust met his friends, as usual, unshaven, in an armchair, with a black cat in his arms. However, he refused to talk about the meaning of life and the purpose of man at such a time. I had to continue the conversation the next midnight. Faust remembered the parable of the blind, deaf and dumb beggar who lost his gold. After searching for him in vain, the beggar returned home and lay down on his stone bed. And then the coin suddenly slipped out of the bosom and rolled over the stones. So we sometimes, continued Faust, are like this blind man, for not only do we not understand the world, but even each other, we do not distinguish truth from lies, the genius of an artist from a madman.

Third night

The world is full of eccentrics, each of whom is capable of telling an amazing story. On a hot day in Naples, a young man in an antique dealer's shop met a stranger in a powdered wig, in an old caftan, looking at architectural engravings. To get to know him, I advised him to look at the projects of the architect Piranesi: cyclopean palaces, caves turned into castles, endless vaults, dungeons ... Seeing the book, the old man jumped back in horror: "Close, close this damn book!" This was the architect Piranesi. He created ambitious projects, but could not implement them and published only his drawings. But each volume, each drawing tormented and demanded to translate it into buildings, not allowing the artist's soul to find peace. Piranesi asks the young man ten million ducats to connect Etna with Vesuvius with an arch. Taking pity on the madman, he handed him a gold coin. Piranesi sighed and decided to add it to the amount collected for the purchase of Mont Blanc ...

The fourth night

Once the ghost of an acquaintance appeared to me - a venerable official who did neither good nor evil. But he rose to the rank of state councilor. When he died, they gave him a cold service, coldly buried him and parted. But I continued to think about the deceased, and his ghost appeared before me, with tears reproaching him for indifference and contempt. Like Chinese shadows on the wall, various episodes of his life arose before me. Here he is, a boy in his father's house. But it is not his father who brings up him, but the servants, she teaches ignorance, debauchery, cruelty. Here is a boy pulled into a uniform, and now the light kills and corrupts his soul. A good companion must drink and play cards. A good husband must make a career. The more ranks, the stronger the boredom and resentment - towards yourself, towards people, towards life.

A ball is being held in the city. The Kapellmeister supervises the whole action. He seemed to have collected everything that is strange in the works of glorious musicians. The grave voice of French horns sounds, the laughter of timpani laughing at your hopes. Don Juan is making fun of Donna Anna. Here is the deceived Othello takes on the role of judge and executioner. All the tortures and torments merged into one scale, hanging like a dark cloud over the orchestra ... Bloody drops and tears dripped from it onto the parquet floor. The satin shoes of the beauties glided easily on the floor, the dancing was subdued by some kind of madness. The candles burn unevenly, the shadows waver in the suffocating fog ... It seems that it is not people who are dancing, but skeletons. In the morning, after hearing the message, I went to the temple. The priest spoke of love, prayed for the brotherly unity of mankind ... I rushed to awaken the hearts of the merry madmen, but the carriages had already passed the church.

The crowded city gradually emptied, an autumn storm drove everyone under the roof. The city is a living, breathing heavily and even harder thinking monster. One sky was clear, menacing, motionless, but no one's gaze rose to it. A carriage, in which a young woman and her companion was sitting, rolled down from the bridge. She stopped in front of a brightly lit building. Lingering chants filled the street. Several torchbearers accompanied the coffin, which was slowly carried across the street. A strange meeting! The beauty looked out the window. At that moment, the wind bent and lifted the edge of the cover. The dead man grinned with an unkind mockery. The beauty gasped - once this young man loved her and she responded to him with spiritual trepidation and understood every movement of his soul ... But the general opinion put an insurmountable barrier between them, and the girl submitted to the light. Barely alive, through force she climbs the marble staircase, dances. But this senseless false music of the ball hurts her, echoes in her heart with the prayer of a dead young man, a prayer that she coldly rejected. But here is the noise, shouts at the entrance: "Water, water!" The water has already undermined the walls, broke the windows and poured into the hall ... Something huge, black appeared in the gap ... This is a black coffin, a symbol of inevitability ... An open coffin rushes through the water, after which the waves attract the beauty ... The dead man raises his head, she touches the beauty's head and he laughs without opening his lips: “Hello, Lisa! Prudent Lisa! "

Liza woke up violently from a swoon. The husband is angry that she ruined the ball and scared everyone. He could not forgive in any way that, due to female coquetry, he lost a large win.

And now the times and the dates have come. The inhabitants of the cities fled to the fields to feed themselves. Fields became villages, villages became cities. Crafts, arts and religion disappeared. People felt like enemies. The suicides were classified as heroes. The laws forbade marriage. People killed each other, and no one defended those killed. The prophets of despair appeared everywhere, inspiring hatred of rejected love, the numbness of death. The Messiah of despair came after them. His gaze was cold, his voice was loud, calling people to experience the ecstasy of death together ... And when a young couple suddenly appeared from the ruins, asking to postpone the death of mankind, she answered with laughter. It was a conventional sign - the Earth exploded. For the first time everlasting life has repented ...

The fifth night

Several minds have tried to build a new society. The followers of Bentham found a deserted island and created there first a city, then an entire country - Benthamia, in order to realize the principle of public benefit. They believed that utility and morality are one and the same. Everyone worked. At the age of twelve, the boy was already saving money by raising capital. The girl was reading a treatise on the spinning mill. And everyone was happy until the population increased. Then there was no more land. At this time, settlements also appeared on the neighboring islands. The Bentams ruined their neighbors and seized their lands. But a dispute arose between border cities and internal ones: the former wanted to trade, the latter to fight. No one knew how to reconcile their own benefit with the benefit of a neighbor. Disputes turned into riot, riot into uprising. Then the prophet called upon the hardened people, asking them to turn their gaze to the altars of selfless love. Nobody heard him - and he cursed the city. A few days later, a volcanic eruption, a storm, an earthquake destroyed the city, leaving one lifeless stone.

Sixth night

A strange man visited a small house on the outskirts of Vienna in the spring of 1827. He was dressed in a black frock coat, his hair was disheveled, his eyes were burning, his tie was missing. He wanted to rent an apartment. Apparently, he once studied music, because he drew attention to amateur musicians who gathered here to play Beethoven's last quartet. The stranger, however, did not hear the music, he only tilted his head in different directions, and tears streamed down his face. Only when the violinist struck a random note, the old man raised his head: he heard. The sounds that tore the ears of those present, gave him pleasure. Forcibly, a young girl who came with him managed to take him away. Beethoven left unrecognized by anyone. He is very lively, he says that he has just composed the best symphony - and he wants to celebrate it. But Louise, who supports him, has nothing to give him - only enough money for bread, not even wine. Beethoven drinks water, mistaking it for wine. He promises to find new laws of harmony, to combine in one consonance all the tones of the chromatic scale. “For me, harmony sounds when the whole world turns into harmony,” Beethoven says to Louise. - Here it is! Here is Egmont's symphony! I can hear her. Wild sounds of battle, storm of passions - in silence! And again the trumpet sounds, its sound is stronger and more harmonious! "

Some of the courtiers regretted Beethoven's death. But his voice was lost: the crowd was listening to the conversation between the two diplomats ...

The seventh night

The guests submitted to the art of the improviser Cypriano. He clothed the subject in a poetic form, developed a given theme. He simultaneously wrote a poem, dictated another, improvised a third. He recently acquired the ability to improvise. It was presented by Dr. Segeliel. After all, Cypriano grew up in poverty and was deeply worried that he felt peace, but could not express it. He wrote poetry to order - but unsuccessfully. Cypriano thought that illness was to blame for his failure. Segeliel treated everyone who turned to him, even if the disease was fatal. He did not take money for treatment, but set strange conditions: to throw a large amount of money into the sea, to break his house, to leave his homeland. Those who refused to fulfill these conditions soon died. The ill-wishers accused him of numerous murders, but the court acquitted him.

Segeliel agreed to help Cypriano and set a condition: "You will know everything every moment, see everything, understand everything." Cypriano agreed. Segeliel put his hand on the young man's heart and uttered a spell. At that moment, Cypriano already felt, heard and understood the whole nature - how the dissector sees and feels the body of a young woman, touching it with a knife ... He wanted to drink a glass of water - and saw myriads of ciliates in it. He lies down on the green grass and hears thousands of hammers ... Cypriano and people, Cypriano and nature were divided by an abyss ... Cypriano went mad. He fled from his fatherland, wandered. Finally, he entered as a jester to a steppe landowner. He walks in a frieze overcoat, belted with a red scarf, composes poetry in some language made up of all the languages \u200b\u200bof the world ...

Eighth night

Sebastian Bach was brought up in the house of his older brother, organist of the Ordruf church, Christopher. He was a respected, but a little prim musician who lived in the old way and raised his brother in the same way. It was only at the confirmation in Eisenach that Sebastian heard a real organ for the first time. The music captured him entirely! He did not understand where he was, why, did not hear the pastor's questions, answered inappropriately, listening to the unearthly melody. Christopher did not understand him and was very upset at his brother's frivolity. On the same day, Sebastian secretly entered the church to understand the structure of the organ. And then a vision visited him. He saw how the pipes of the organ rise up, connect with the Gothic columns. Light angels seemed to float in the clouds. Every sound was heard, and, however, only the whole became clear - the cherished melody in which religion and art merged ...

Christopher did not believe his brother. Afflicted by his behavior, he fell ill and died. Sebastian became a student of the organ master Bandeler, friend and relative of Christopher. Sebastian grinded keys, measured pipes, bent wires, and constantly thought about his vision. And soon he became an assistant to another master - Albrecht from Luneburg. Albrecht surprised everyone with his inventions. And now he came to Bandeler to inform him that he had invented a new organ, and the emperor had already ordered this instrument for him. Noticing the abilities of the young man, Albrecht gave him to study with his daughter Magdalene. Finally, the teacher secured a position for him as court violinist in Weimar. Before leaving, he married Magdalene. Sebastian knew only his art. In the morning he wrote, studied with students, explaining harmony. As Venus he played and sang along with Magdalene on the clavichord. Nothing could disturb his calm. Once during the service, another voice joined the choir, which sounded either like a cry of suffering or the cry of a cheerful crowd. Sebastian laughed at the singing of the Venetian Francesca, but Magdalene was carried away - and the singing and the singer. She recognized the songs of her homeland. When Francesco left, Magdalene changed: she closed herself off, stopped working and only asked her husband to compose a canzonetta. Unhappy love and worries about her husband brought her to the grave. The children consoled their father in grief. But he realized that half of his soul died ahead of time. He tried in vain to remember how Magdalene sang - he heard only the unclean and seductive melody of the Italian.

Ninth night

When the path of each of the described heroes was completed, they all appeared before the Judgment. Everyone was condemned either for what they did to themselves or for what they didn't. Segeliel alone did not recognize the supreme power over himself. The trial demanded that the defendant appear in front of him, but only a distant voice from the abyss answered him: "For me there is no complete expression!"

First night. Second night

Towards the morning, a crowd of young people rushes in to Faust, believing that he knows everything. The owner is not in the mood for a conversation, he makes an appointment for the next midnight. On the second night, he tells the parable of a blind, deaf-mute beggar who has lost his gold. Not finding the coins, he returned home and went to bed. The coin slipped out and fell behind the stones. So people sometimes do not understand the world, each other, do not distinguish truth from lies, genius from insane.

Third night

Once in a Naples antique shop, a young man invited an elderly stranger who was looking at architectural engravings to take a look at Piranesi's grandiose projects. He asked with horror to close the book. It was the architect himself - he could not implement the projects, he only published the drawings. It was never possible to find peace. Piranesi asked a stranger for 10 million ducats for the arch between Etna and Vesuvius. Taking the old man for a madman, he handed him a gold coin.

The fourth night

Once Faust saw the ghost of an official. He continued to think about him: how he was a child, how the servants taught him ignorance, how the light corrupted the soul. Boredom led to illness and it was only on his deathbed that the dying man realized the nakedness of his life ...

There is a ball in the city and everyone is having fun, the dancers are subdued by recklessness. In the morning, entering the temple, Faust hears a priest praying for the love and unity of mankind. It is not possible to awaken the hearts of the madmen - the crews of the guests have already passed the church.

And now times are changing. People feel like enemies, they kill each other. The prophets of despair appear everywhere, followed by the Messiah of despair, calling to experience the ecstasy of death. The young couple, asking for a postponement of the death of humanity, hears laughter. The earth explodes ...

The fifth night

Followers of Bentham, who wanted to implement the principle of public benefit, created a country on the island. Everyone worked and were happy until the population increased. There was not enough land and they ravaged neighboring settlements. The prophet who called for unselfish love was not heard. He cursed Bentamia - the volcano destroyed her.

Sixth night

In the spring of 1827, on the outskirts of Vienna, a strange man looked at musicians performing Beethoven. He didn’t hear the music, but shook his head to the beat. The violinist hit the wrong note and the old man heard! The girl forcibly took Beethoven away, he remained unrecognized. The old man perked up: he had just composed the best symphony, but Louise has no time for music - she barely has enough money for bread ...

Some of the courtiers announced the death of the composer, but the crowd listened to the conversation of the diplomats.

The seventh night

Cypriano at one time was worried: he feels the world, but cannot express. The poor guy turned to Segeliel for healing. He treated without money, but set conditions for the patients.

Segeliel announced: you will know, see and understand everything every moment. Cypriano agreed and instantly began to hear the whole of nature - down to molecules. The guy lost his mind, fled from his native places and wandered until the landowner took him as a fool. From now on, he composes poetry in some language incomprehensible to anyone.

Eighth night

Sebastian Bach, having heard the organ, entered the church to understand the device. A vision dawned there: the pipes of the organ are intertwined with the columns of the temple, a melody sounds that unites religion with art.

Sebastian devoted himself completely to music. Albrecht learned it with his daughter. Bach got married to Magdalene, nothing disturbed the calm. Somehow a strange voice joined their church choir. Sebastian chuckled, and Magdalene was carried away by the Venetian. Unhappy love brought her to the grave. Only then did Bach understand: he had lost half of his soul, but he could not remember the voice of his wife, he heard only the singing of the Italian.

Ninth night

Each of the heroes at one time appeared before the Judgment Seat and each was condemned. Only Segeliel did not recognize power over himself - only his distant voice came from the abyss ...

First night. Second night

A ball is being held in the city. The Kapellmeister supervises the whole action. He seemed to have collected everything that is strange in the works of glorious musicians. The grave voice of French horns sounds, the laughter of timpani laughing at your hopes. Don Juan is making fun of Donna Anna. Here is the deceived Othello takes on the role of judge and executioner. All the tortures and torments merged into one scale, hanging like a dark cloud over the orchestra ... Bloody drops and tears dripped from it onto the parquet floor. The satin shoes of the beauties glided easily on the floor, the dancing was subdued by some kind of madness. The candles burn unevenly, the shadows waver in the suffocating fog ... It seems that it is not people who are dancing, but skeletons. In the morning, having heard the news, I went to the temple. The priest spoke of love, prayed for fraternal unity of mankind ... I rushed to awaken the hearts of the merry madmen, but the carriages had already passed the church.

The crowded city gradually emptied, an autumn storm drove everyone under the roof. The city is a living, breathing heavily and even harder thinking monster. One sky was clear, menacing, motionless, but no one's gaze rose to it. A carriage rolled down from the bridge, in which a young woman and her companion were sitting. She stopped in front of a brightly lit building. Lingering chants filled the street. Several torchbearers accompanied the coffin, which was slowly carried across the street. A strange meeting! The beauty looked out the window. At that moment, the wind bent and lifted the edge of the cover. The dead man grinned with an unkind mockery. The beauty gasped - once this young man loved her and she responded to him with spiritual trepidation and understood every movement of his soul ... But the general opinion put an insurmountable barrier between them, and the girl obeyed the light. Barely alive, through force she climbs the marble staircase, dances. But this senseless false music of the ball hurts her, echoes in her heart with the prayer of a dead young man, a prayer that she coldly rejected. But here is the noise, shouts at the entrance: "Water, water!" The water has already undermined the walls, broke the windows and poured into the hall ... Something huge, black appeared in the gap ... This is a black coffin, a symbol of inevitability ... An open coffin rushes through the water, after it the waves attract the beauty ... The dead man raises his head, she touches the beauty's head and he laughs without opening his lips: “Hello, Lisa! Prudent Lisa! "

Liza woke up violently from a swoon. The husband is angry that she ruined the ball and scared everyone. He could not forgive in any way that due to female coquetry he lost a big win.

Several minds have tried to build a new society. The followers of Bentham found a deserted island and created there first a city, then a whole country - Benthamia, in order to implement the principle of public benefit. They believed that utility and morality are one and the same. Everyone worked. At the age of twelve, the boy was already saving money by raising capital. The girl was reading a treatise on the spinning mill. And everyone was happy until the population increased. Then there was no more land. At this time, settlements also appeared on the neighboring islands. The Bentams ruined their neighbors and seized their lands. But a dispute arose between border cities and internal ones: the former wanted to trade, the latter to fight. No one knew how to reconcile their own benefit with the benefit of a neighbor. Disputes turned into rebellion, rebellion into uprising. Then the prophet appealed to the hardened people, asking them to turn their gaze to the altars of selfless love. Nobody heard him - and he cursed the city. A few days later, a volcanic eruption, a storm, an earthquake destroyed the city, leaving one lifeless stone.
Sixth night

A strange man visited a small house on the outskirts of Vienna in the spring of 1827. He was dressed in a black frock coat, his hair was disheveled, his eyes were burning, his tie was missing. He wanted to rent an apartment. Apparently, he once studied music, because he drew attention to amateur musicians who gathered here to play Beethoven's last quartet. The stranger, however, did not hear the music, he only tilted his head in different directions, and tears streamed down his face. Only when the violinist struck a random note, the old man raised his head: he heard. The sounds that tore the ears of those present, gave him pleasure. Violently, a young girl who came with him managed to take him away. Beethoven left unrecognized by anyone. He is very animated, says that he has just composed the best symphony - and he wants to celebrate it. But Louise, who supports him, has nothing to give him - only enough money for bread, not even wine. Beethoven drinks water, mistaking it for wine. He promises to find new laws of harmony, to combine in one consonance all the tones of the chromatic scale. “For me, harmony sounds when the whole world turns into harmony,” Beethoven says to Louise. - Here it is! Here is Egmont's symphony! I can hear her. Wild sounds of battle, storm of passions - in silence! And again the trumpet sounds, its sound is stronger and more harmonious! "

Some of the courtiers regretted Beethoven's death. But his voice was lost: the crowd was listening to the conversation between the two diplomats ...
The seventh night

The guests submitted to the art of the improviser Cypriano. He clothed the subject in a poetic form, developed a given theme. He simultaneously wrote a poem, dictated another, improvised a third. He recently acquired the ability to improvise. It was presented by Dr. Segeliel. After all, Cypriano grew up in poverty and was deeply worried that he felt peace, but could not express it. He wrote poetry to order - but unsuccessfully. Cypriano thought that illness was to blame for his failure. Segeliel treated everyone who turned to him, even if the disease was fatal. He did not take money for treatment, but set strange conditions: to throw a large amount of money into the sea, to break his house, to leave his homeland. Those who refused to fulfill these conditions soon died. Ill-wishers accused him of numerous murders, but the court acquitted him.

Segeliel agreed to help Cypriano and set a condition: "You will know everything every moment, see everything, understand everything." Cypriano agreed. Segeliel put his hand on the young man's heart and cast a spell. At that moment, Cypriano already felt, heard and understood the whole nature - how the dissector sees and feels the body of a young woman, touching it with a knife ... He wanted to drink a glass of water - and saw myriads of ciliates in it. He lies down on the green grass and hears thousands of hammers ... Cypriano and people, Cypriano and nature were divided by an abyss ... Cypriano went mad. He fled from his fatherland, wandered. Finally, he entered as a jester to a steppe landowner. He walks in a frieze overcoat, belted with a red scarf, composes poetry in some language made up of all the languages \u200b\u200bof the world ...
Eighth night

Sebastian Bach was brought up in the house of his older brother, organist of the Ordruf church, Christopher.

First night. Second night

It was already four o'clock in the morning when a crowd of young friends burst into Faust's room - either philosophers or burners. It seemed to them that Faust knew everything. It was not for nothing that he surprised everyone with his manners and neglected secular decency and prejudices. Faust met his friends, as usual, unshaven, in an armchair, with a black cat in his arms. However, he refused to talk about the meaning of life and the purpose of man at such a time. I had to continue the conversation the next midnight. Faust remembered the parable of the blind, deaf and dumb beggar who lost his gold. Having sought him out in vain, the beggar returned home and lay down on his stone bed. And then the coin suddenly slipped out of the bosom and rolled over the stones. So we sometimes, continued Faust, are like this blind man, for not only do we not understand the world, but even each other, we do not distinguish truth from lies, the genius of an artist from a madman.

Third night

The world is full of eccentrics, each of whom is capable of telling an amazing story. On a hot day in Naples, a young man in an antique dealer's shop met a stranger in a powdered wig, in an old caftan, looking at architectural engravings. To get to know him, I advised him to look at the projects of the architect Piranesi: cyclopean palaces, caves turned into castles, endless vaults, dungeons ... Seeing the book, the old man jumped back in horror: "Close, close this damn book!" This was the architect Piranesi. He created ambitious projects, but was unable to implement them and published only his drawings. But each volume, each drawing tormented and demanded to translate it into buildings, not allowing the artist's soul to find peace. Piranesi asks a young man ten million ducats to connect Etna with Vesuvius with an arch. Taking pity on the madman, he handed him a gold coin. Piranesi sighed and decided to add it to the amount collected for the purchase of Mont Blanc ...

The fourth night

A ball is being held in the city. The Kapellmeister supervises the whole action. He seemed to have collected everything that is strange in the works of glorious musicians. The grave voice of French horns sounds, the laughter of timpani laughing at your hopes. Don Juan is making fun of Donna Anna. Here is the deceived Othello takes on the role of judge and executioner. All tortures and torments merged into one scale, hanging like a dark cloud over the orchestra ... Bloody drops and tears dripped from it onto the parquet floor. The satin shoes of the beauties glided easily on the floor, the dancing was subdued by some kind of madness. The candles burn unevenly, the shadows waver in the suffocating fog ... It seems that it is not people who are dancing, but skeletons. In the morning, having heard the news, I went to the temple. The priest spoke of love, prayed for the brotherly unity of mankind ... I rushed to awaken the hearts of the merry madmen, but the carriages had already passed the church.

The crowded city gradually emptied, an autumn storm drove everyone under the roof. The city is a living, breathing heavily and even harder thinking monster. One sky was clear, menacing, motionless, but no one's gaze rose to it. A carriage rolled down from the bridge, in which a young woman and her companion were sitting. She stopped in front of a brightly lit building. Lingering chants filled the street. Several torchbearers accompanied the coffin, which was slowly carried across the street. A strange meeting! The beauty looked out the window. At that moment, the wind bent and lifted the edge of the cover. The dead man grinned with an unkind mockery. The beauty gasped - once this young man loved her and she responded to him with spiritual trepidation and understood every movement of his soul ... But the general opinion put an insurmountable barrier between them, and the girl submitted to the light. Barely alive, through force she climbs the marble staircase, dances. But this senseless false music of the ball hurts her, echoes in her heart with the prayer of a dead young man, a prayer that she coldly rejected. But here is the noise, shouts at the entrance: "Water, water!" The water has already undermined the walls, broke the windows and poured into the hall ... Something huge, black appeared in the gap ... This is a black coffin, a symbol of inevitability ... An open coffin rushes through the water, behind it the waves attract the beauty ... The dead man raises his head, she touches the beauty's head and he laughs without opening his lips: “Hello, Lisa! Prudent Lisa! "

Liza woke up violently from a swoon. The husband is angry that she ruined the ball and scared everyone. He could not forgive in any way that, due to female coquetry, he lost a large win.

The fifth night

Sixth night

A strange man visited a small house on the outskirts of Vienna in the spring of 1827. He was dressed in a black frock coat, his hair was disheveled, his eyes were burning, his tie was missing. He wanted to rent an apartment. Apparently, he once studied music, because he drew attention to amateur musicians who gathered here to play Beethoven's last quartet. The stranger, however, did not hear the music, he only tilted his head in different directions, and tears streamed down his face. Only when the violinist struck a random note, the old man raised his head: he heard. The sounds that tore the ears of those present, gave him pleasure. Forcibly, a young girl who came with him managed to take him away. Beethoven left unrecognized by anyone. He is very animated, says that he has just composed the best symphony - and he wants to celebrate it. But Louise, who supports him, has nothing to give him - only enough money for bread, not even wine. Beethoven drinks water, mistaking it for wine. He promises to find new laws of harmony, to combine in one consonance all the tones of the chromatic scale. “For me, harmony sounds when the whole world turns into harmony,” Beethoven says to Louise. - Here it is! Here is Egmont's symphony! I can hear her. Wild sounds of battle, storm of passions - in silence! And again the trumpet sounds, its sound is stronger and more harmonious! "

Some of the courtiers regretted Beethoven's death. But his voice was lost: the crowd was listening to the conversation between the two diplomats ...

The seventh night

Segeliel agreed to help Cypriano and set a condition: "You will know everything every moment, see everything, understand everything." Cypriano agreed. Segeliel put his hand on the young man's heart and cast a spell. At that moment, Cypriano already felt, heard and understood the whole nature - how the dissector sees and feels the body of a young woman, touching it with a knife ... He wanted to drink a glass of water - and saw myriads of ciliates in it. He lies down on the green grass and hears thousands of hammers ... Cypriano and people, Cypriano and nature were divided by an abyss ... Cypriano went mad. He fled from his fatherland, wandered. Finally, he entered as a jester to a steppe landowner. He walks in a frieze overcoat, belted with a red scarf, composes poetry in some language made up of all the languages \u200b\u200bof the world ...

Eighth night

Sebastian Bach was brought up in the house of his older brother, organist of the Ordruf church, Christopher. He was a respected, but a little prim musician who lived in the old way and raised his brother in the same way. It was only at the confirmation in Eisenach that Sebastian heard a real organ for the first time. The music captured him entirely! He did not understand where he was, why, did not hear the pastor's questions, answered inappropriately, listening to the unearthly melody. Christopher did not understand him and was very upset at his brother's frivolity. On the same day, Sebastian secretly entered the church to understand the structure of the organ. And then a vision visited him. He saw how the pipes of the organ go up, connect with the Gothic columns. Light angels seemed to float in the clouds. Every sound was heard, and, however, only the whole became clear - the cherished melody in which religion and art merged ...

Christopher did not believe his brother. Afflicted by his behavior, he fell ill and died. Sebastian became a student of the organ master Bandeler, friend and relative of Christopher. Sebastian grinded keys, measured pipes, bent wire, and constantly thought about his vision. And soon he became an assistant to another master - Albrecht from Luneburg. Albrecht surprised everyone with his inventions. And now he came to Bandeler to inform him that he had invented a new organ, and the emperor had already ordered him this instrument. Noticing the abilities of the young man, Albrecht gave him to study with his daughter Magdalene. Finally the teacher secured a position for him as court violinist in Weimar. Before leaving, he married Magdalene. Sebastian knew only his art. In the morning he wrote, studied with students, explaining harmony. As Venus he played and sang along with Magdalene on the clavichord. Nothing could disturb his calm. Once, during the service, another voice joined the choir, which sounded either like a cry of suffering or the cry of a cheerful crowd. Sebastian laughed at the singing of the Venetian Francesca, but Magdalene was carried away - and the singing and the singer. She recognized the songs of her homeland. When Francesco left, Magdalene changed: she closed herself off, stopped working and only asked her husband to compose a canzonetta. Unhappy love and worries about her husband brought her to the grave. The children consoled their father in grief. But he realized that half of his soul died ahead of time. He tried in vain to remember how Magdalene sang - he heard only the unclean and seductive melody of the Italian.

Ninth night

When the path of each of the described heroes was completed, they all appeared before the Judgment. Each was convicted either for what he did to himself or for what he did not do. Segeliel alone did not recognize the supreme power over himself. The trial demanded that the defendant appear in front of him, but only a distant voice from the abyss answered him: "For me there is no complete expression!"

Summary of Odoevsky's novel "Russian Nights"

“Russian nights. Russian Nights, Odoevsky Vladimir Fedorovich Other retellings and reviews for the reader's diary

"Russian nights"

First night. Second night

Third night

The fourth night

The fifth night

Sixth night

The seventh night

Eighth night

Ninth night

First night. Second night

Third night

The fourth night

The fifth night

Sixth night

The seventh night

Eighth night

Ninth night

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