Masterpieces
杰作
The Starry Night was painted in June 1889 when Vincent van Gogh was staying at a home for the mentally ill. Van Gogh painted what he saw from his window—the night sky with clouds, stars and a moon. However, he didn’t just paint the clouds. He also painted the massive circles of white and yellow racing across the sky. The stars and the moon hang bright in the night sky. Beneath this amazing sky, we see a sleeping village and a dark, lonely tree.
《星空》是文森特·凡·高(Vincent van Gogh)于1889年6月在一家精神病院里创作的。凡·高画了他看到的窗外景象——有云、星星和月亮的夜空。然而,除了云之外,他还在天空中画了相互追逐的巨大白色和黄色光圈。星星和月亮在夜空中熠熠生辉。在这片神奇的夜空下,我们看到了一个沉睡的村庄和一棵黑暗孤独的树。
His unusual use of colour has led experts to think that Van Gogh’s mental illness may have affected his sense of sight. He also took a drug that can make people see yellow spots, just like the stars in The Starry Night.
凡·高对色彩的应用很不寻常,专家们认为精神疾病可能影响了他的视力。他还服用过一种药物,可以让人看到黄色斑点,就像《星空》中的星星那样。
Unfortunately, Van Gogh’s unique paintings weren’t very popular and he only sold one painting in his lifetime. He also thought The Starry Night was a failure. However, the fact remains that The Starry Night is now one of the world’s most famous paintings.
不幸的是,凡·高独特的画作在当时并不是很受欢迎,他有生之年只卖出了一幅画。他还认为《星空》是一幅失败的作品,而现在《星空》是世界最著名的画作之一。
The Scream was painted by Edvard Munch in 1893. What makes it striking is that it shows a thin figure with an expression of fear—the figure’s mouth is wide open and letting out a powerful scream. The figure covers his or her ears and looks directly at the viewer. This figure is set on a bridge above a dark, stormy sea, and against a burning orange-red sky.
《呐喊》是爱德华·蒙克(Edvard Munch)于1893年创作的。这幅画富有冲击力,画中有一个表情恐惧的瘦弱身影——嘴巴大张,正发出强烈的尖叫声。这个人捂住了自己的耳朵,直直地看向观众。人物被设置在一座桥上,桥下是漆黑的、翻滚的海面,背景是燃烧的橙红色天空。
In his diary, Munch talked about what inspired him. “I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly the sky turned as red as blood... I stood there shaking. Then I heard the scream of nature.”
蒙克在他的日记中谈到了灵感的来源,“太阳落山时,我和两个朋友一起顺着路走,天空突然变得像血一样红……我站在那里颤抖着,然后听到了大自然的尖叫声。”
Many experts say that The Scream is connected to Munch’s mental health problems, which caused him a lot of pain.
许多专家说,《呐喊》与给蒙克带来巨大痛苦的心理健康问题有关。
The Empire of Light is a series of paintings by Belgian artist René Magritte. Between 1953 and 1954, he painted the same scene 27 times. It shows a beautiful house lit by lights from inside, surrounded by the darkness of night. What is strange is that above the house and the tree, we see a daytime sky full of brightness and soft white clouds. It seems like quite a mysterious scene.
《灯之王国》是比利时画家勒内·马格利特(Rene Magritte)的一系列绘画作品。1953年至1954年间,同样的场景他画了27次。画中有一座美丽的房子,房子里充满了灯光,外面被夜晚的黑暗包围。奇怪的是,在房子和树木之上,我们看到明亮的天空和柔软的白云。这个场景看起来非常奇异。
Magritte was a painter inspired by his thoughts and ideas. His paintings were visual experiments as he tried to play with reality. His view was that art should shock the viewers and challenge their sense of reality.
马格利特的灵感来自于个人的思想和想法。他尝试戏谑现实,他的画作是一个个视觉实验。他认为艺术应该震撼观众并挑战他们对现实的观感。
The Empire of Light has produced different reactions in viewers. Some feel that the paintings look dark and troubling. Others, however, find them calming. As for Magritte himself, he thought that the change between day and night in the paintings was surprising. “I call this power poetry,” he said.
观众对《灯之王国》的反应不同。有些人觉得这些画看起来很黑暗,令人不安。而有些人则觉得这些画让人感到平静。马格利特本人认为画作中白天和黑夜之间的变化令人惊讶。他说:“我称之为诗意的力量。”
A Musical Genius
音乐天才
Everyone knows that Ludwig van Beethoven is a musical genius but few might know how he created Symphony No.9 in D minor and how its first show went.
大家都知道路德维希·凡·贝多芬(Ludwig van Beethoven)是一个音乐天才,但或许很少有人知道D小调第九交响曲的创作过程以及这部交响曲首演的故事。
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer. He is regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of music. In his twenties, he had been very famous for his skills on the piano, but then he began to lose his hearing. Beethoven thought about giving up, but in the end he continued to write music. Inspired by his struggles with deafness, the composer produced some amazing pieces, including nine symphonies, five piano pieces, and an opera! He proceeded with the composition until his death in 1827, writing more than 130 musical works, including his Symphony No.9 in D minor.
路德维希·凡·贝多芬是德国作曲家。他被认为是音乐史上最伟大的作曲家之一。二十多岁时,他就以高超的钢琴技巧而闻名,但后来开始听不见声音。贝多芬想过放弃,但最后还是继续进行音乐创作。这位作曲家在与耳聋抗争中受到启发,创作了一些令人惊叹的作品,包括九部交响曲,五首钢琴曲和一部歌剧!直到1827年去世前,贝多芬才停止创作,他一共创作了130多部音乐作品,其中包括D小调第九交响曲。
One day in February 1824, at his little house in Vienna, Austria, Ludwig van Beethoven sat back in his chair and smiled. The famous German composer’s ninth symphony was finally completed. Writing the piece had taken several years, and now the final notes had been added to the score. At 54 years of age, he didn’t know that this would be his last symphony. As he proudly signed his name at the bottom of the page, Beethoven tried to imagine how people would respond when they heard it for the first time.
1824年2月的一天,在奥地利维也纳的小房子里,路德维希·凡·贝多芬坐在椅子上直起身笑起来。这位著名的德国作曲家的第九交响曲终于完成了。创作这部交响曲花了他几年的时间,现在乐谱中最后一个音符终于写完。这时贝多芬54岁,他并不知道这将是他的最后一部交响曲。他自豪地在页面底部署下名字,同时努力想象人们第一次听到它时会有什么反应。
Before the performance, the backstage atmosphere at a very famous theatre in Vienna was tense. Beethoven was afraid that the performance would be a disaster. After all, what use is a conductor who could not hear his orchestra—even if he is a musical genius?
演出前,在维也纳一个非常著名的剧院里,后台的气氛非常紧张。贝多芬担心这场表演将会是一场灾难。毕竟,一个听不到自己的管弦乐队的指挥,即使他是音乐天才,能有什么用呢?
The audience did not hesitate to applaud loudly as the famous composer walked out onto the stage for the first time in 12 years. The theatre’s musical director, Michael Umlauf, joined him and together the two men took charge of the orchestra. For more than an hour, Beethoven jumped about in front of the orchestra, waving his arms wildly in the air, and madly turning the pages of his score. The whole time, Umlauf stood quietly by his side, skillfully guiding the orchestra through the most amazing piece of music the world had ever known.
当这位著名的作曲家12年来第一次走上舞台时,观众们毫不犹豫地热烈鼓起掌来。剧院的音乐指挥迈克尔·奥姆洛夫(Michael Umlauf)也走上台和他一起指挥乐队。在一个多小时的时间里,贝多芬在乐队前面跳跃着,在空中忘情地挥舞着手臂,疯狂地翻动乐谱。而奥姆洛夫一直安静地站在他身边,巧妙地指挥管弦乐队演奏这首世界上最神奇的音乐作品。
As the final, joyous note signal led the end of the symphony, the audience jumped to their feet, clapping, cheering and waving their hats. But Beethoven continued conducting, his head buried in the score. It was not until Caroline Unger, one of the singers, took his arm and turned him to face the audience that the great man realised his symphony was a success.
最后,交响乐在欢乐的音符中结束,观众都跳了起来,鼓掌、欢呼,挥舞着他们的帽子。但贝多芬的头还埋在乐谱里继续指挥。直到歌手卡罗琳·昂格尔(Caroline Unger)拉着他的手臂转向观众,这位伟人才意识到他的交响乐取得了成功。
Later, Caroline remembered that Beethoven was not the only one who got a surprise. “The audience was shocked as well,” she said with a broad smile. “Most of them had no idea that he was deaf! The one person in the room who didn’t hear the symphony—and never would—was the very man who composed it.”
后来,卡罗琳回忆到不止贝多芬感到惊讶,“观众也感到震惊,”她灿烂地笑着说道。“大多数观众都不知道他已经失聪!剧院里唯一没有听到并且永远也不会听到这部交响乐的那个人竟然是创作者。”
往期推荐
本文来源于网络。以上图、文、音视频,贵在分享,版权归原作者及原出处(北京师范大学出版社)所有,内容为作者观点,并不代表本公众号赞同其观点和对其真实性负责。
如涉及版权等问题,请及时与我们联系微信ID:ZSHUNJ。