-
How we listen to music
Aaron
Copland
1.
We all
listen to music according to our separate
capacities. But, for the sake
of
analysis, the whole listening process may become
clearer if we break it
up into its
component parts, so to speak. In a certain sense
we all listen to
music on three
separate planes. For lack of a better terminology,
one might
name these: (1) the sensuous
plane, (2) the expressive plane, (3) the sheerly
musical plane. The only advantage to be
gained from mechanically splitting
up
the listening process into these hypothetical
planes is the clearer view to
be had of
the way in which we listen.
我们都根据各自的能力来
听音乐。
但是，
为了便于分析，
如果我
们将听
的整个过程分成几个组成部分的话，
那就会更加清楚了。
在某种程度上，
我们听音乐分成三个不同的层面，
因找不到更好地术语，
我姑且把他们
命名为：（
1
）感官层面（
2
）表义层面（
3
）纯音乐层面。我把听音乐
的过程机械地分成以上假设的三个层面，
纯粹是为了更清楚地了解我们
是怎样听音乐的。
2.
The simplest way of listening to music
is to listen for the sheer pleasure of
the musical sound itself. That is the
sensuous plane. It is the plane on which
we
hear
music
without
thinking,
without
considering
it
in
any
way.
One
turns on
the radio while doing something else and absent-
mindedly bathes
in the sound. A kind of
brainless but attractive state of mind is
engendered
by the mere sound appeal of
the music.
最简单的听音乐的方式就是听乐声给我们带来的纯粹的愉悦，<
/p>
这是感官
层面。在这个层面上，我们只听音乐而不用思考。打开收
音机，一边忙
别的事情，
一边心不在焉地沐浴在音乐声中。
这种心不在焉但美妙的身
心状态是由乐声的魅力引起的。
3.
You may
be sitting in a room reading this book. Imagine
one note struck on
the piano.
Immediately that one note is enough to change the
atmosphere of
the
room
——
proving
that
the
sound
element
in
music
is
a
powerful
and
mysterious agent, which
it would be foolish to deride or belittle.
你可能正在房间里读这本书。
想象着一个音符敲击在钢琴上。
< br>瞬间整个
房间的氛围都随之改变——这表明了声音在音乐中是强大而神秘的元
素，谁嘲笑或轻视这一点，谁就显得愚蠢。
4.
The surprising
thing is that many people who consider themselves
qualified
music lovers abuse that plane
in listening. They go to concerts in order to
lose themselves. They use music as a
consolation or an escape. They enter
an
ideal world where one doesn't have to think of the
realities of everyday
life.
Of
course
they
aren't
thinking
about
the
music
either.
Music
allows
them to leave it, and
they go off to a plane to dream, dreaming because
of
and apropos of the music yet never
quite listening to it.
令人奇怪的是，
很多自认为合格的音乐爱好者在听音乐时滥用了这一层
面。他们去音乐厅是为了忘却
自我。他们把音乐作为一种安慰或解脱。
1
他们进入了一个理想的境界，
在这个境界里他们不必考虑现实生活。
当
然，
他们同样也没有考虑音乐。
音乐允许他们逃离现实，
到另一个地方
去做梦，因为音
乐而做梦，做有关音乐的梦，却从没真正欣赏过音乐。
5.
Yes, the sound
appeal of music is a potent and primitive force,
but you must
not allow it to usurp a
disproportionate share of your interest. The
sensuous
plane is
an
important
one in
music, a
very
important
one, but
it does not
constitute the
whole story.
的确，
音乐的声音魅力是一种强大
而原始的力量，
但是千万不要让它不
合比例地侵占你的兴趣。<
/p>
感观层面是音乐中重要的一层——非常重要—
—但并不是音乐的全
部。
6.
There
is
no
need
to
digress
further
on
the
sensuous
plane.
Its
appeal
to
every normal human being is self
evident. There is, however, such a thing
as becoming more sensitive to the
different kinds of sound
stuff
①
as used
by various composers. For all composers
do not use that sound stuff in the
same
way. Don't get the idea that the value of music is
commensurate with
its
sensuous
appeal
or
that
the
loveliest
sounding
music
is
made
by
the
greatest
composer.
If
that
were
so,
Ravel
would
be
a
greater
creator
than
Beethoven. The point is
that the sound element varies with each composer,
that his usage of sound forms an
integral part of his style and must be taken
into
account
when
listening.
The
reader
can
see,
therefore,
that
a
more
conscious
approach
is
valuable
even
on
this
primary
plane
of
music
listening.
没必要在感官层次上再扯远了。
声音的魅力对每一个正常人来说都是不
言而喻的。然而，不同的发音材
料
①
被不同的作曲家所使用时就变得更
加有感染力，
所有的作曲者不可能按同一种方式组织材料。
不要
以为音
乐的价值就与他的感官感染力相称，
不要以为最美丽动听
的音乐是由伟
大的作曲家创造的。
如果你认为以上观点可能的话
，
那么拉维尔是比贝
多芬还要伟大的创作者。
< br>重点是，
声音要素因作曲者不同而不同，
他对
声音形式的使用方式组成他风格的不可分割的一部分。
在听音乐时，
所
有这些都必须考虑在内。
因此，
读者可以看到，
即使在听音乐的这个最
基础的层面
上，也值得采取更有意识地聆听方式。
7.
The
second
plane
on
which
music
exists
is
what
I
have
called
the
expressive
one.
Here,
immediately,
we
tread
on
controversial
ground.
Composers
have
a
way
of
shying
away
from
any
discussion
of
music's
expressive side. Did
not Stravinsky himself proclaim that his music was
an
its own purely musical
existence? This intransigent attitude of
Stravinsky's
may
be
due
to
the
fact
that
so
many
people
have
tried
to
read
different
meanings into so
many pieces. Heaven knows it is difficult enough
to say
precisely what it is that a
piece of music means, to say it definitely, to say
it
finally so that everyone is
satisfied with your explanation. But that should
not
lead
one
to
the
other
extreme
of
denying
to
music
the
right
to
be
2
音乐存在的第二层面就是我所谓的表义层面。
谈到这里，
我们立即会碰
到引起争议的问题。
作曲家们总
是设法避开任何有关音乐表义层面的讨
论。
Stravinsk
y
他自己不也声称他的音乐是一个“物体”，意见本身
具有生命
的“东西”，除了作为音乐本身存在再没有其他意义了吗？
Stravinsky
的这种不妥协的态度大约源于这样一种现实吧：有如此多
的人试图对如
此多的作品加以不同的解读。
天知道要想用自己的解释精
确地、
明确地、
最终地说清一个作品的意义并让所有人满意是多么困难
的事！但是我们并不能因此走向另一个极端，不能去剥夺音乐“表义”
< br>的权利。
8.
My own belief is that all music has an
expressive power, some more and
some
less, but that all music has a certain meaning
behind the notes and that
that meaning
behind the notes constitutes, after all, what the
piece is saying,
what the piece is
about. This whole problem can be stated quite
simply by
asking,
And
that would be,
我认为所有的音乐都有表义能
力，
有些强，
有些弱。
但是所有的音乐
在
每个音符和音符组成背后都有一定的意义，
毕竟，
这一支曲子说了些什
么？这一支曲子关于什么？整个问题可以通过问答来陈
述。
“音乐里有
意义吗？”我的回答是“有”。
“你能够用足够多的额词语把它陈述出
来吗？”我的回答是“不能”。这就是问
题所在。
9.
Simple-minded souls will never be
satisfied with the answer to the second
of
these
questions.
They
always
want
music
to
have
a
meaning,
and
the
more concrete it is, the better they
like it. The more the music reminds them
of
a
train,
a
storm,
a
funeral,
or
any
other
familiar
conception
the
more
expressive
it
appears
to
be
to
them.
This
popular
idea
of
music's
meanin
g
——
stimulated
and
abetted
by
the
usual
run
of
musical
commentator
——
should be discouraged wherever and whenever it is
met.
One
timid
lady
once
confessed
to
me
that
she
suspected
something
seriously
lacking
in
her
appreciation
of
music
because
of
her
inability
to
connect it with anything definite. That
is getting the whole thing backward,
of
course.
头脑简单的人们对于第二个回答很不满意，
他
们总想着音乐有一定意义，
而且越具体越好。
这些音乐越是能令
他们想象出火车、
暴风雨、
葬礼等
或其
他相类似概念，
对他们来说越富有表现力。
这种对音乐意义的比
较
流行的看法——通常是由普通的音乐评论家们的激发和唆使的——应
< br>该随时随地被制止。
一位羞怯的女士曾经向我坦白，
怀疑
她自己缺乏音
乐欣赏能力，
因为她不能把音乐和某种明确的东西
联系起来。
这然是。
。
。
并不会翻译╮(╯▽╰)╭
10.
Still,
the
question
remains.
How
close
should
the
intelligent
music
lover
wish
to
come
to
pinning
a
definite
meaning
to
any
particular
work?
No
closer
than
a
general
concept,
I
should
say.
Music
expresses,
at
different
moments,
serenity
or
exuberance,
regret
or
triumph,
fury
or
delight.
It
3
expresses each
of these moods, and many others, in a numberless
variety of
subtle shadings and
differences. It may even express a state of
meaning for
which
there
exists
no
adequate
word
in
any
language.
In
that
case,
musicians often like to say that it has
only a purely musical meaning. They
sometimes
go
father
and
say
that
all
music
has
only
a
purely
musical
meaning. What they really mean is that
no appropriate word can be found to
express the music's meaning and that,
even if it could, they do not feel the
need of finding it.
但是，
问题依然存在：
那些明智的音乐爱好者在要求任何一首作品都具
有明确的含义方面要走多远呢？应该说，
充其量不过是一个笼统的概念。<
/p>
音乐在不同时刻表达不同的内容，
或平静或激昂，
或悔恨或成功，
或愤
怒或高兴。
它都能表达出每一种不同的情绪。
音乐中包含有数不清的细
微
差别，它所表达的思想状态，任何语言中都没有足够的词能够描述。
在这种情况下，
音乐家喜欢说音乐只有纯音乐的含义。
他们有时候还更
进一步，
说一切音乐只有一个纯粹的音乐意义。
他们
的意思是：
没有一
个合适的词语能够表达音乐的意义，即使有，
也没有必要去寻找它。
11.
But
whatever
the
professional
musician
may
hold,
most
musical
novices
still
search
for
specific
words
with
which
to
pin
down
their
musical
reactions. That is
why they always find Tchaikovsky easier to
than Beethoven. In the first place, it
is easier to pin a meaning-word on a
Tchaikovsky piece than on a Beethoven
one. Much easier. Moreover, with
the
Russian composer, every time you come back to a
piece of his, it almost
always says the
same thing to you, whereas with Beethoven it is
often quite
difficult
to
put
your
finger
right
on
what
he
is
saying.
And
any
musician
will tell
you that this is
why
Beethoven is
the greater
composer. Because
music
which
always
says
the
same
thing
to
you
will
necessarily
soon
become dull music, but music whose
meaning is slightly different with each
hearing has a greater chance of
remaining alive.
但是，
< br>无论专业的音乐家持有什么观点，
多数音乐新手仍然寻找具体的
< br>词语来表达他们的音乐反应。
这就是为什么他们觉得柴可夫斯基比贝多
芬更好“理解”。首先，对柴可夫斯基的作品比对贝多芬的作品更容易
找到
一个表达意义的词。
其次，
对于这位俄国作曲家，
每次你回过头来
再听他的作品，
其意义都几乎是不变
的，
然而对于贝多芬，
想要确切地
说出
其作品的意义却很困难。
任何一个音乐家都会告诉你这就是为什么
贝多芬更伟大。
因为意义一成不变的音乐很快就会变成枯燥无味的音乐，
而每次听都会有些微差别的音乐却能保持长久的生命力。
12.
Listen, if
you can, to the forty-eight fugue themes of Bach's
Well Tempered
Clavichord
(a
piece
of
music
composed
by
Bach
with
48
preludes
and
fugues which represented
the first wholehearted use of the equally tempered
scale
②
throughout
all
keys).
Listen
to
each
theme,
one
after
another.
You
will
soon realize that each
theme
③
mirrors a different
world of feeling. You
will
also
soon
realize
that
the
more
beautiful
a
theme
seems
to
you,
the
4