il Giardino Romantico

我可以一天不喝咖啡。但我不可以一天不聽貝多芬。其實我對古典音樂沒有多了解。就是喜歡聽。雖然寫過很多篇關於貝多芬的文章，但由於音樂是我不熟悉的領域。每一次寫新的一篇，好像都有許多不同新的認知與感觸。第一次被深深感觸到，是某天拖著疲憊的身體回家路上iPod上播放著『第五號鋼琴協奏曲 - 皇帝』。記得當時回家一看到某人就迫不及待的跟它說：我簡直不敢相信這世間上竟然會有這麼美妙的旋律！

用iPod聽了一陣子的貝多芬之後，也開始漸漸的學習去兩廳院聽現場演奏。不是幾乎，而是每一次聽，都要感動一次。過了不久，我的iPod空間全部都被貝多芬的曲目霸佔去了。如果一整天沒事，外出看書，我可以從第一號交響曲聽到第九號交響曲。隔天再從第一號鋼琴協奏曲聽到第五號鋼琴協奏曲。每一天隨著不同的心情選擇不同的曲目來作當天的開場曲。而每一次聽，都會有不同的新發現。但是對於一個不懂音樂理論的人來說，在怎麼聽也只是純脆欣賞。

某天我突發奇想的去圖書館搬了幾本關於貝多芬的書回來看。其實這不是第一次藉由書籍了解貝多芬。但這次是第一次以音樂而不是名人背景的角度去了解這位偉大的作曲家。我承認，書看完了，沒有很懂。但當我看到許多在他之後的作曲家紛紛因為他而受到影響，我不得不增加我對他的敬愛。其中最讓我感到訝異的是華格納對貝多芬的敬畏。我還是必須強調我是門外漢，但感覺上華格納對於其他作曲家的評論可以說是非常的嚴厲。但唯獨貝多芬是被他從頭到尾都敬佩著的作曲家。而無論華格納他承不承認，從他的音樂中真的可聽出許多貝多芬的成份在裡面。這一切的一切，最主要都是因為第九號交響曲對音樂界的影響。

在Chretien Urham的書中，作者提到第九號交響曲是貝多芬的『倫理自傳』。

天仙不負責任翻譯：『第一樂章，Urhan稱他為"災難之夜"的象徵。它是一個目睹貝多芬靈魂中所承受的暴風雨的作品。第二樂章呈現了作曲家活潑地在大自然前舞步著。而慢板則代表了一種純真卻又帶了一點憂鬱以及感傷的愛。在結尾中我們看到了作曲家駁回了唯物論，而在上帝的面前追尋著心靈上的慰藉。』

而華格納也寫到自己對於第九號交響曲後的反應：

天仙不負責任翻譯：『當我第一次看完樂譜，我立即的感受到了命運般的影響。從第一樂章開頭的純五度：這些音，像是發出自己內心深處般。此交響曲的確藏著所有祕密中的祕密。而我，忙碌的將樂譜抄了一遍。某次，在我徹夜抄譜之後，我記得我被我自己亢奮的狀態給嚇到，而躲進棉被裡大叫了一番。就像被鬼魂給嚇到般。』

其實我看不懂樂譜。從小到現在也因為陰錯陽差，什麼樂器也沒學到。但在認識了一個對音樂跟我對文學一樣有熱忱的Jason之後，我對音樂的看法變得很不一樣。因為一個耳鳴作曲家所創造出來的美麗旋律，感動了我。因為他，我也開始接觸及認識我最沒興趣的德文。

第九號交響曲還有一點值得欽佩的地方！如果你親眼看過現場的演奏，你就會知道第九號交響曲究竟要用到多少人才能夠順利的演出成功。而每一個表演者，包括了指揮家，需要花費多少力氣精神以及時間去跟所有其他的表演者配合著？在這種壯觀的場面下，聽著這完美無比的曲子，你會相信這是一位聽不見的作曲家創造出來的曲子嗎？

I can miss out on coffee, but I cannot tolerate a day without listening to a Beethoven.  I don't know much about classical music at all, I just enjoy listening to it.  Although I've written articles on Beethoven, music is a realm that I am unfamilar with, and everytime I tread upon it, I feel like I've learned loads of new things.  The first time I was deeply affected by Beethoven's music, was that one night when I was walking home from a long day of work.  I remember impatiently telling Jason, as soon as I opened the door, that I could hardly believe that such beautiful melody could ever be created.  It was Beethoven's 5th piano concerto to which I had been listening.

After listening to Beethoven on my iPod for a while, I began to learn to enjoy live performances.  Every single time, I get so emotionally affected by the performances.  Soon, my iPod was occupied by Beethoven's music.  If I had nothing else to do during the day, I could listen from the first symphony to the ninth, then the next day, from the first piano concerto the the fifth.  Every day, I pick a different symphony to start my day with, according to my mood and what I expect the day to be like.  But as a person who knows next to nothing about music and musical theories, listening to Beethovenwill always be pure enjoyment.

One day, I decided to check out some books on Beethoven from the library.  It wasn't the first time I'd read about him, but it was the first time I read a book from a theoretical/critical point of view, and not a biographical point of view.  I admit that even after having read the book, I still didn't understand much of what I had read.  But when I got to the part where it mentioned how much of an influence he was to all the successive composers, I could only love his music even more.  Of course, the most surprising reaction was Wagner's reception of his music.  Wagner seems to be harsh to all composers, except Beethoven.  Even if he was not willing to admit, one can easily pick out certain elements of Beethoven in his music.  All this, mainly, has to do with Beethoven's 9th symphony and its influence on the history of music.

If you have ever seen a live performance of Beethoven's 9th, you might be able to comprehend what I mean.  This was the first symphony which involved human voices.  The beauty of the instrumental harmonizing with the choral is sublime beauty.  Not to mention the ordeal that all the performers must go through, including the conductor, before it is ready to be performed in front of an audience.

Chretien Urhan states in his book that the symphony is Beethoven's 'moral autobiography'.  He describes the first movement as 'the representation of "a night of disasters", a piece that bears witness to "one of the tempests of Beethoven's soul".  The second movement portrays the composer performing a lusty German dance against the backdrop of nature, while the Adagio is a "pure" representation of love, tinged "with melancholy and all sorts of poetic sadness".  The finale finds the long suffering composer rejecting the materialism of this world and seeking spiritual consolation in the presence of his creator.'¹


Richard Wagner describes the impact the symphony had on him:
'On first looking through the score...I was struck at once, as if by force of destiny with the long sustained perfect fifths which the first movements begin: these sounds...came to me as the ghostly fundamental of my own life.  This symphony surely held the secrets to all the secrets, and I got so busy over it by painstakingly copying out the score.  Once, after having spent a night at this task, I remember being startled in my excited condition that I buried myself under the bedclothes with a loud shriek as if terrified by an apparition.'²

I don't know how to read a score.  I don't play any instruments.  But I know how to listen.  And sometimes that is all you need to start to appreciate classical music.

貝多芬第九號交響曲 D小調 Op. 125
指揮家：赫柏特．馮．卡拉揚

Beethoven Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Conducted by Herbert Von Karajan

Part I


Part II



延伸閱讀：
【音樂】給貝多芬
[Films] Beethoven in Films [英文]
[Poem] On Beethoven [英文]

Note:
1. Levy, David Benjamin, Beethoven: the Ninth Symphony, Rev. Ed. (New Haven, CT; London : Yale University Press, 2003.) p. 161
2. Ibid, p. 163

天仙念：雖然在閉關，但想寫的還是該寫。悶在心裡，會悶到發霉。