德艺双馨的大音乐家——九十七岁喻宜萱忆马思聪

97-Year-Old Yu Yixuan Cherishes the Memory of Ma Sicong, A Great Musician with Both Virtue and Artistry

马思聪先生是我一生非常敬仰、钦佩的一位德艺双馨的音乐家,小提琴大师。我很敬仰他的成就和为人。他的品德非常高尚,艺术非常精湛。我已经走过97岁的人生历程,但我听到这么杰出的中国小提琴家,马思聪先生是第一位。可能是在一九三几年初,他刚从法国回来,中国音乐界都称他为“神童”,赞赏他的音乐天赋。他在巴黎相当长时间,但他宁愿放弃在国外的优越生活,怀着一片爱国激情回到祖国,目的就是把他所学的专长为祖国服务,促进中国音乐发展。

Ma Sicong is a great musician and violin master with both virtue and artistry, whom I have respected and admired in my entire life. I venerate his achievements and his personality, and I admire his highly sublime character and exquisite art of playing. I myself have experienced a life of 97 years, but of all the outstanding Chinese violinists that I have heard, Ma Sicong was the best. It was about in 1939 when he returned home from France, he was acclaimed in the Chinese music circle as a 'prodigy' for his genius in music. He had stayed in France for quite a long time, but he preferred to give up his comfortable life abroad, and returned to his motherland in a spirit of fervid patriotism. His sole purpose for doing so was to serve his native country with all that he had learned so as to promote the development of Chinese music. His love for China is so much adorable. He not only played the violin, but also dedicated to music composition in which he achieved fruitful results. During the so-called 'Cultural Revolution', we two shared the same painful experience of being confined in a cowshed together. That was really an unbearably hard life. Sometimes we had to parade in the courtyard, beating the dustpan while shouting loud 'I'm the evil ghost!' Party Secretary Zhao Feng was standing in the front, followed by Ma Sicong, while I was probably in the fourth place, also wearing a tall paper hat. Ma Sicong was deeply hurt at the time, but his love for China remained unchanged. Although he later moved abroad, he still loved his motherland. Premier Zhou Enlai had tried for several times to get him home, but all in vain as a result of various causes. Ma Sicong wanted to come back, too, but he never made it come true,unfortunately.