Descending On France 1780
Chapter 116: History is all messed up now.

Chapter 116: History is all messed up now.

Anning finally stabilized his Daoist heart and took a good look at the person before him.

This person indeed looked just like the Beethoven on the famous quotes poster hanging on the side of his classroom when he was in school. Anning remembered it very clearly, there were four famous quotes in total in the classroom during his middle school years, and the only foreigner among them was Beethoven!

For some reason, he started to experience auditory hallucinations in his mind, the Fate Symphony of Beethoven— that very masterpiece that one only needs to say "dun dun dun dun," and everyone can recognize the sound!

Anning: "Uh... Mr. Beethoven, hello."

He couldn’t help but use a respectful tone.

Beethoven smiled: "You’re too polite, to be so respectful towards a penniless composer like myself!"

... Beethoven started to become famous around the age of 22; although he had the reputation of a musical prodigy at this time, he indeed wasn’t very well-known yet.

After all, if he had reached France by 1790, his first two works, "Cantata on the Death of Joseph II" and "Cantata for the Accession of Leopold II," would probably not have been written.

Good grief, Beethoven was originally known for writing hymns for the Austrian Royal Family, and now he’s turned into a herald of revolution.

Good grief, what does that tell us? It tells us that no matter how much Anning struggles, history has already freaking deviated from its course.

Likely, the "Cantata for the Accession of Leopold II" will never be born.

Anning, realizing the divergence of history, is in a state of great shock.

Beethoven, however, is completely oblivious and continues to extend a passionate invitation: "My friends and I have formed a theatre group in Cologne, we’ve rehearsed a short play depicting the Storming of the Bastille, and we just performed it in Paris recently. Please do come to our troupe and give us some guidance!"

Anning: "I dare not advise, as I am utterly ignorant about music and drama."

It’s true, Anning’s understanding of music and drama was only good enough to poke fun at Indian movies online.

Beethoven, however, was very enthusiastic: "You just have to tell us, whether we have restored even one percent of the original scene—not, whether we have recreated one percent of the actual events at that time!"

—Recreation is impossible unless, in your play, the lions of Bastille were forcibly carried into Bastille prison.

Anning: "This... Art should be grounded in life but higher than life, it doesn’t need to strictly replicate the actual event."

Beethoven: "Exactly! You hit the nail on the head the moment you speak!"

No no, this isn’t my quote, it’s Chekhovsky—damn, I’ve inadvertently stolen someone else’s famous words again.

Beethoven: "We have a performance tonight, if it’s convenient for you... Of course, if you have other work to do, never mind."

Anning thought about it; he really had no other work to do. Going to see how Beethoven and his group perform wouldn’t hurt.

That way, he would be prepared for the future, not caught off-guard by the "lions of Bastille" like today.

Anning: "No problem, I happen to be free tonight, I’ll come to watch your troupe."

"Then I’ll lead the way; everyone in the troupe is waiting for you!"

Anning nodded.

Beethoven cheerfully took the lead of his horse, willingly playing the role of a foot soldier for Anning.

Good grief, Beethoven leading my horse, when he becomes famous, no matter what, that’s a huge boon for my reputation.

After a few steps, Anning gradually accepted the fact that history had gone awry and began to think about how to utilize this situation.

At this moment, Beethoven added: "By the way, I’ve heard that sometimes you can be overly modest. Seeing you today, I’ve found it to be true. You actually have quite an impressive talent in music; I’ve heard your troops singing ’The Song of the National Guard,’ which you composed yourself. It’s catchy and of very high quality!"

Anning quickly clarified: "That was just a fluke, I really don’t understand music theory, I can’t even read the musical score."

Anning could still utter do-re-mi-fa-sol-la-si with the numbers 12345, but he genuinely had no clue when it came to sheet music.

Beethoven: "Being able to compose such great music without understanding sheet music just proves you have talent, doesn’t it? For tonight’s performance, I have already rearranged your piece and incorporated it into the play. It will be sung right after the Storming of the Bastille!"

Anning: "Uh... won’t that be a bit abrupt?"

"Maybe it is a bit abrupt, but this song can really highlight the differences between the National Guard and the old army!" Beethoven said eagerly, "I’ll definitely convey that overwhelming feeling I had upon first hearing this song. An army that respects the masses! There has never been such an army in the whole of France, no, the entire Europe!"

Indeed, there had not been.

At that moment, Anning suddenly had a brilliant idea.

He had previously wanted to find the original author of the Marseillaise and expedite its creation, but things had not gone as planned.

Now with a genius composer like Beethoven here, just humming the melody should be enough for Beethoven to create this timeless masterpiece.

With the Marseillaise, the combat capability of the French army would be supercharged, as the Revolutionary army, once singing the Marseillaise, had sent chills across Europe.

Anning: "I still think it’s not quite fitting. After all, the National Guard has long been a military force that was armed, but during the Bastille, everyone was just ordinary citizens who had recently taken up arms.

"The citizens had to arm themselves in order to save the revolution. I have a song that might be more appropriate."

Then Anning began to hum the melody of the Marseillaise.

When playing Assassin’s Creed: Revolution, before storming the Bastille, the people were already singing the Marseillaise on the streets, a scene that, in fact, was an anachronism since the Marseillaise hadn’t officially been created yet.

But that didn’t stop the scene from being profoundly moving. Anning had stood on a nearby rooftop, listening to the crowd sing through before starting his mission.

However, Anning faced a huge problem in recreating the Marseillaise: he didn’t know the lyrics.

Or rather, he knew only the translated lyrics, which were just a simple translation that hadn’t been adapted to the music, so they couldn’t be sung.

Anning only knew part of the chorus of the Marseillaise, which sounded like "Matthew, Matthew, where are you?"

So now, Anning could only hum the tune.

Upon hearing the melody, Beethoven immediately slowed his pace, his expression as if immersed in the music.

After Anning finished humming, Beethoven said with a face full of excitement: "Incredible! This song has such power just by listening to the tune! Indeed, it’s more suitable for the passionate and heated battle scenes than the ’National Guard Song’! But what about the lyrics?"

Caught by the question, Anning thought, seeing as he only knew the translated lyrics and didn’t remember much at that, he had to say: "I haven’t thought it through yet, it’s roughly about calling citizens to unite, to take up arms and wage war against the devils trampling upon us!"

Saying so, Anning tried to sing out the only line he knew: "Matthew! Matthew, where are you?"

Unexpectedly, his own cheat was so powerful, featuring automatic recognition, that it directly led to Anning singing part of the chorus of the Marseillaise: "Onwards! Onwards! Let the enemy’s filthy blood irrigate our fields!"

Many people around turned their heads to look at Anning, and some recognized him, shouting: "It’s the Lion of the Bastille!"

"The Lion will irrigate our fields with the enemy’s filthy blood!"

Anning: "No no, I’m just singing, these are the lyrics, the lyrics!"

Beethoven slapped his thigh, startling Anning.

Beethoven: "Fantastic, I’ll compose it immediately. If I’m fast enough, we can use it tonight! As for the lyrics, I can ask my friend, the poet Elinor Omonds, to write them!"

Who? Who is Elinor Omonds? Was there such a person in French history?

Anning wanted to facepalm. Well, on a whim, the Marseillaise turned into a composition by Beethoven, and then the lyrics were to be written by a poet whose name he didn’t know!

History is ruined!

Beethoven: "Right, I will ask my friend to retain your line, it’s very powerful: Onwards! Onwards! Let our fields be watered with the filthy blood of our enemies!"