普契尼：１５０年的感動

150 Years of Puccini

普契尼（1858-1924）被認為是威爾第之后最偉大的意大利歌劇作曲家。但讓人意外的是，當時很多音樂評論家對其作品的評價不高。例如在1896年《波希米亞人》首映后，一位意大利評論家寫道：“《波希米亞人》在我們的抒情戲劇史上不會留下多少痕跡。”即使在今天，仍然有很多評論家認為普契尼的作品過于傷感，過于甜蜜；他的曲調(diào)太明顯，最后幾幕軟弱無力。

然而大眾并不這樣認為。要證明這點，只需把過去一百多年來全世界的票房收入列出即可。普契尼擅長戲劇、歡快的歌曲和優(yōu)美的通俗劇；他也擅長熱情明晰的旋律、和聲與配樂法。無可否認，他創(chuàng)作了音樂史上最受歡迎的幾部歌劇（中國的歌劇迷肯定對《圖蘭朵》當年在北京太廟上演的盛大場景記憶猶新）。在普契尼出生150年后，他的音樂仍然跨越國界，感動著臺下的每一位觀眾。

By the time Italian composer Giacomo Puccini wasborn in 1858， there had already been four generations ofPuccini musicians in his hometown of Lucca， Italy.

Most of the Puccinis were church musicians， butGiacomo had other ideas. As a teenager， he fell in love withopera. That was the kind of music he wanted to write.

(Excerpt^[選段] from “Gianni Schicchi.”)Giacomo’s mother decided that her son should studyat the conservatory^{[音樂學校]} in Milan， but， as a widow^[寡婦]with seven children， she didn’t have money to send himthere. So she got the Queen of Italy to give him a scholarship.Some of Puccini’s student compositions woundup^{[以……告終]} getting recycled in his operas.

Just as Puccini was graduating， he heard abouta competition to compose a new one-act opera. Hewanted to enter， but he had a hard time getting downto work. Thanks to his mother， who kept prodding^[督促]and encouraging him， he finally turned his opera intothe competition on the last possible day.

But Puccini didn’t win. A few weeks later， he wasat a party with some of the competition judges， whodidn’t remember his opera at all. So they asked himto play through it on the piano. They liked it so muchthat they decided to produce it. Le Villi， Puccini’s firstopera， turned out to be a big success. But the opera thatmade him famous was his third one， Manon Lescaut.

(Excerpt from “Manon Lescaut.”)

Manon Lescaut wasa huge hit. Puccini traveledall over the worldto hear performances， andearned enough money tobuy his first house. It wasin Torre del Lago， a lakesidetown near the Alps，where Puccini loved tocompose–and where heloved to be distracted^[分心的]from composing.

When he wasn’t spendingtime hunting or boating orplaying cards with friends，Puccini worked on his nextopera， La Bohème， based on aplay about poor artists and studentsin Paris.

(Excerpt from “La Bohème.”)

Most of the critics^[評論家]， who heard La Bohème，didn’t like it at first. But audiences have alwaysloved it， and it’s still Puccini’s most popular opera.

After that he composed Tosca， which is alsobased on a French play.

(Excerpt from “Tosca.”)

Puccini had such exact ideas of what hewanted that he drove the people who wrote hislibrettos^{[（歌劇等的）歌詞或劇本]} crazy， making them revise^[修改] their work over and over. (Libretto is what youcall the words of an opera. It means “l(fā)ittle book”in Italian.)

And then， there were the times that Puccini had to revise what he had written.

(Excerpt from “Madame Butterfly.”)

The first performance of Madame Butterflywas a total failure， but Puccini kept revising theopera until he got it right. Even though MadameButterfly sings in Italian， the opera takes place inJapan.

Puccini’s next opera， The Girl of the GoldenWest， takes place during the American gold rush，with a saloon^{[（美國西部城鎮(zhèn)典型的）酒館]} keeper， a bandit^[強盜]，a sheriff^{[縣治安官]} and even a horse. (The horse doesn’tsing.)

For his last opera， Turandot， Puccini went backto the Far East， and a story about a Chinese princessand the prince who loves her.

(Excerpt from “Turandot.”)

Puccini died before he could finish Turandot， andpeople still argue about how he meant it to end，and about how the name of the opera should end –whether it’s pronounced “TuranDOT” or “TuranDOH.”

When Puccini died， he owned houses all over Italy.But he was buried in the one in Torre del Lago， thathe bought right after his first big success.

在1858年意大利作曲家賈科莫·普契尼出生之前，這個居住于意大利盧卡的家族已經(jīng)出過四代音樂家。

大多數(shù)普契尼家族的音樂家都是教會樂師，而賈科莫卻另有想法。年少的他愛上了歌劇。歌劇才是他想寫的音樂。

（《詹尼·斯基奇》選段。）

賈科莫的母親決定讓兒子去米蘭的音樂學校學習，但作為一個帶著七個孩子的寡婦，她沒有足夠的錢送他到那里學習。因此她為兒子爭取到了意大利女王授予的獎學金。