Next.
The two practiced Salut d'Amour again and again.
Because it suited Lin Tian's performance so well, and out of his own selfish desire, Lin Tian had Gan Yan Yu submit this piece as their semifinal selection.
Gan Yan Yu had been very surprised when she learned that Lin Tian had chosen this piece.
Because—
Among all the pieces Lin Tian had written for Gan Yan Yu,
Salut d'Amour was the one they had never managed to perform to their satisfaction, even now.
With other music, after playing it a few more times and getting a feel for it, they could more or less find their groove.
But not this one. Even when they played it well, Lin Tian always felt it was merely passable, that the emotions had not landed at all.
The reason was simple.
This was a piece written by the famed musician Edward Elgar for his fiancée, Alice.
It was 1888.
Elgar and Alice had become engaged. Alice was a highly cultivated woman of letters, so she wrote a poem titled "Love's Greeting" and gave it to her fiancé, who was traveling afar.
At the time, Elgar was on his way to visit his friend, Dr. Charles Buck. When he saw the poem on the train, one could only imagine how sweet he felt.
So, in response to Alice, Elgar composed Salut d'Amour.
This "love letter" Elgar wrote for his fiancée first appeared at the Crystal Palace in the United Kingdom one year and three months later.
It force-fed the entire world a mouthful of lovey-dovey sweetness.
More than a century had passed, yet through this music,
one could vaguely still feel it.
Thirty-one-year-old Elgar had just gotten engaged and was sitting on a train bound for his friend's home.
At that moment, Elgar must have