What if he was faithless to his friends and to his wives? He had one mistress to whom he was faithful to the day of his death: Music.Not for a single moment did he ever compromise with what he believed, with what he dreamed. There is not a line of his music that could havebeen conceived by a little mind. Even when he is dull, or downright bad, he is dull in the grand manner. There is greatness about his worst mistakes. Listening to his music, one does not forgive him for what he may or may not have been. It is not a matter of forgiveness. It is a matter of being dumb with wonder that his poor brain and body didn't burst Not for a single moment did he ever compromise with what he believed, with what he dreamed. There is not a line of his music that could have been conceived by a little mind. Even when he is dull, or downright bad, he is dull in the grand manner. There is greatness about his worst mistakes. Listening to his music, one does not forgive him for what he may or may not have been. It is not a matter of forgiveness. It is a matter of being dumb with wonder that his poor brain and body didn't burst under the torment of the demon of creative energy that lived inside him, struggling, clawing, scraching to be released; tearing, shrieking at him to write the music that was in him. The miracle is that what he did in the little space of seventy years could have been done at all, even by a great genius. Is it any wonder he had no time to be a man?
即使他不忠于朋友们和妻子们，又有什么要紧呢？他有一位至死对其忠贞不渝的情侣：音乐。他没有一刻肯放弃过自己的信念，抛弃过自己的理想。他的作品中没有一行乐谱是平庸浅薄之辈构想得出的。纵然他有单调乏味抑或极其拙劣之作，但于单调中仍可见光彩。他最糟的败举中还有伟大的地方。人们聆听他的乐曲时，并不去宽恕他也许曾做过或不曾做过什么。这不是宽恕不宽恕的问题。这是件令人难以置信的事。他体内充满创造力的魔鬼不停地挣扎，挥舞魔爪又抓又挖，试图冲出体外，魔鬼一边撕扯，一边尖声狂叫，要他谱写藏于体内的乐曲。他遭受这般折腾，可是他那可怜的脑袋瓜和身躯却没有被压垮。令人叹为观止的是，即便他是伟大的天才，在短短七十年间要做那么多事也是难以想像的，而他居然完成了。时间不允许他像常人一样生活，这有什么好奇怪的呢？