Great Masters: Robert and Clara Schumann 钢琴家伉俪：罗伯特·舒曼和克拉拉·舒曼
很多人都知道今年是肖邦诞辰200周年,其实今年也是另一位同样以创作钢琴曲闻名的音乐家——舒曼(1810 -1856)诞辰200周年。这位生性敏感、勇于创新的德国音乐家是浪漫主义音乐成熟时期的代表人物之一。
舒曼的代表作包括钢琴曲《狂欢节》、《交响练习曲》和《童年即景》等,这些乐曲引领了浪漫主义音乐风格的进一步发展。而声乐套曲《诗人之恋》、管弦乐作品《曼弗雷德序曲》同样是不可多得的古典杰作。
舒曼还创办了《新音乐杂志》,发掘了当时还不为人知的音乐家,如肖邦、柏辽兹、勃拉姆斯等。
另外,舒曼的妻子克拉拉也是一位有名的音乐家。她的钢琴技艺出众,与男性演奏家相比毫不逊色。但也许是舒曼太出名,克拉拉的光芒长期被丈夫所掩盖。现在,我们就来了解一下这对乐坛伉俪的创作生涯吧。
Robert Schumann 罗伯特·舒曼
– Herald [使者] of a New Poetic Age ——新诗意时代的使者
From the time he was little, Robert Schumann knew that he wanted to write. The only question was whether to write words or music.
Schumann’s father was an author and book dealer in the German town of Zwickau, which is where Robert Schumann was born in 1810. Schumann grew up surrounded by books, which he loved, but he also loved music. As a kid he took piano, flute[长笛] and cello[大提琴] lessons, and he started composing.
When he was a teenager, Schumann put out his first book of poems and essays. Schumann still wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to be when he grew up, but clearly, lawyer was not at the top of the list. Even though he studied law at the University of Leipzig, he almost never went to class. But in Leipzig, he took piano lessons with a teacher named Friedrich Wieck, and that changed his life.
Schumann practiced very hard, maybe even too hard. He attached[系上] a mechanical contraption[精巧的装置] to one of his fingers trying to stretch[伸展] it. Instead, Schumann did damage to his hand, which finished off his piano career for good[永久地].
It didn’t matter that much to Friedrich Wieck that Schumann wouldn’t have a great career as a pianist, because the only one of his students Wieck was really interested in was his daughter, Clara. Robert Schumann became pretty interested in Clara too, but in a different way. In spite of the fact that she was nine years younger than he was, Robert Schumann and Clara Wieck fell in love.
On her 18th birthday he proposed[求婚], but Clara’s father refused to let them get married. It wasn’t until years later, after taking Clara’s father to court, that Robert and Clara Schumann’s wedding finally took place.
That was in 1840, which became Robert Schumann’s “year of song.” In that one year, he wrote well over a hundred of them. The German word for this kind of songs is “Lieder[民谣].” In English we sometimes call them “art songs.” They’re the ultimate[最根本的] combination of music and poetry, in other words, a perfect fit for Schumann. After the year of song, Schumann went off on a couple of other musical binges. The next year he worked on three out of his four numbered symphonies[交响曲].
The year after that was Schumann’s year for chamber[室内乐] music, compositions for small groups of instruments[乐器], meant to be played in private homes or small concert settings.
Schumann did become a writer as well as a composer. He was a well-known music journalist, who told everyone that Johannes Brahms and Frederic Chopin were great musical geniuses. And even though Robert Schumann didn’t become a concert pianist, there was still a famous pianist in the house, Clara Schumann.
She gave the first performance of all Robert’s keyboard music, including his piano concerto[协奏曲].
罗伯特·舒曼从小就知道自己喜欢写作,唯一的问题在于:是诉诸文字,还是写成音乐。
1810年,舒曼出生在德国城市茨维考,父亲是当地一位作家兼书商。舒曼的童年是在书堆里度过的。他很喜欢书,也同样喜爱音乐。他自小就学习钢琴、长笛和大提琴,并开始作曲。
青少年时代的舒曼出版了第一本诗歌散文集。虽然舒曼还不太确定自己将来想从事什么职业,但有一点很清楚,那就是律师并不在候选名单前列。他在莱比锡大学学习法律,却基本不去上课。但在莱比锡,他跟随一位名叫弗里德里希·维克的老师学习钢琴,这改变了他的一生。
舒曼刻苦练习,也许刻苦过度了。为了让其中一根手指可以张开一点,他在这根手指上装了一个机械装置,结果却把自己的手弄伤了,导致其钢琴生涯从此终结。
舒曼当不成钢琴家对弗里德里希·维克来说无关紧要,因为他真正关心的学生只有一个,就是他的女儿克拉拉。罗伯特·舒曼也很关心克拉拉,只是方式有所不同。尽管克拉拉比舒曼小九岁,但他们还是堕入了爱河。
在克拉拉18岁生日那天,舒曼向她求婚,然而她父亲拒绝让他们结为夫妻。历经几年,在把克拉拉的父亲告上法庭之后,舒曼和克拉拉才终于如愿举行了婚礼。
那是1840年,这一年是罗伯特·舒曼的“歌曲之年”。在这一年里,他谱写了一百多首歌曲。德语把这类歌曲称为“Lieder”(民谣歌曲),英语有时则称之为“艺术歌曲”。这种歌曲是音乐与诗歌的完美结合,也是最适合
舒曼发挥的音乐类型。在歌曲之年后,舒曼还经历过几次音乐创作高峰。在接下来的一年,他创作了四首编号交响乐的其中三首。
1842年则是他的室内乐丰收年。室内乐是一种运用一小组乐器、专门在家庭或小型音乐会上演奏的乐曲。
实际上,舒曼不单成了一位作曲家,也是一名作家。他是著名的音乐评论家,向人们推荐约翰内斯·勃拉姆斯和弗雷德里克·
肖邦这两位伟大的音乐天才。虽然罗伯特·舒曼没有成为音乐会钢琴家,但这个家庭里还有一位著名的钢琴家,那就是克拉拉·
舒曼。舒曼的所有经典曲目,包括他的钢琴协奏曲,都由她进行首次演绎。
Out of the Shadows: 巾帼不让须眉
Clara Schumann ——克拉拉·舒曼
You hear all the time about fathers who, from the time their daughters are very young, work hard to turn them into sports stars. But before Clara Wieck Schumann was even born, her father decided that his child was going to be a famous pianist.
Clara Wieck was born in 1819 in the German city of Leipzig, where her father, Friedrich Wieck, was a famous piano teacher. Clara’s mother was a musician too, a singer and pianist, who took lessons with and then married her piano teacher, namely Clara’s father. But the marriage didn’t last long. After the divorce,
German law gave custody[监护权] of Clara to her father, and Friedrich Wieck set about turning his daughter into a musical prodigy[神童].
In addition to studying piano with her father, Clara Wieck took violin, composition and lessons in all kinds of other musical subjects from all the best teachers in town. And she learned about running the business end[起作用的一头] of a career. Clara first played in public when she was nine. At 11, she gave her first solo recital[独奏会], a concert all by herself.
As a teenager, Clara Wieck toured all over Europe. Back then, pianists mostly played flashy[浮华的] pieces that they had written specifically to show off. But Clara Wieck included music by other composers on her concerts: Bach, Beethoven, and Schubert, plus newcomers like Chopin. She was known as the “queen of the piano” and considered the equal of the best male performers. The Austrian emperor was so impressed with her playing that he made her the first female Royal and Imperial Chamber Virtuoso[演奏能手], a high honor given only to the best musicians.
When Clara Wieck was 13, she started writing a piano concerto and got help with it from another one of her father’s students, Robert Schumann. Even though Friedrich Wieck had controlled every step of his daughter’s career up until then, he couldn’t control her love life, even though he tried. Clara and Robert Schumann fell in love, and when she was 18, they wanted to get married. Her father did everything he could to stop them, but eventually, love triumphed over all.
Robert and Clara Schumann had a wonderful musical partnership. They studied music and poetry together, and gave each other composing advice. Clara Schumann played the first performance of everything Robert wrote for the piano. Through her concerts, she introduced his music all over Europe, everywhere from England to Russia.
And talk about a super-mom, Clara Schumann had eight children and ran a household while continuing to perform and compose.
During the course of their marriage, Robert Schumann got very sick. At first, Clara steered[驾驶,掌舵] him towards new jobs she thought might help him recover from his mental[精神的] illness, but eventually he needed expensive medical care, and Clara was the one who went out on tour to play concerts to support the family.
Right before Robert had to go into the hospital, a young composer turned up on the Schumann’s doorstep with a letter of introduction from a musical friend of theirs. Johannes Brahms became a good friend of the family and helped Clara out while Robert was sick. Brahms and Clara Schumann wound up[终止,结束] spending a lot of time together. No one is quite sure if they were in love with each other or not, but when Robert Schumann died, they didn’t get married.
Clara Schumann stopped composing then, but she continued to perform. Her remarkable concert career lasted 60 years.
有些父亲从女儿很小的时候就一直努力把她们培养成体育明星,这样的事情你可能屡见不鲜。但早在克拉拉·维克·舒曼出生之前,她父亲就已经决定要将自己的孩子培养成著名的钢琴家。
1819年,克拉拉·维克出生于德国莱比锡市,她的父亲弗里德里希·维克是当地有名的钢琴老师。克拉拉的母亲也是一位音乐家,她是一名歌唱家和钢琴家,曾经师从弗里德里希·维克,后来嫁给了她的老师,也就是克拉拉的父亲。但这场婚姻并不持久。离婚之后,依照德国法律,克拉拉的监护权判归其父,弗里德里希·维克开始着手栽培女儿,想让她成为音乐神童。
除了跟父亲学习钢琴外,克拉拉·维克还跟随当地最好的老师学习小提琴、作曲和其他各种音乐科目,同时也懂得了如何从事业中获利。克拉拉9岁就进行了首次公开表演。11岁时,她举行了第一场个人独奏音乐会。
年仅十多岁的克拉拉·维克的足迹踏遍了欧洲各地。当时,钢琴家通常会演奏一些自己创作的华丽片段以炫耀自己,但克拉拉·维克会弹奏其他作曲家的音乐,包括
巴赫、贝多芬、舒伯特,还有像肖邦这样的新人的作品。她被誉为“钢琴皇后”,与最优秀的男性钢琴家平起平坐。奥地利皇帝也被她的演奏深深打动,封她为首位女性皇家帝国室内乐乐师,这是最出色的音乐家才能获得的极高荣誉。
克拉拉13岁时开始创作钢琴协奏曲,其间她从父亲的学生——罗伯特·舒曼那里得到了帮助。虽然此前女儿在事业上的每一步都被弗里德里希·维克掌控,但他无法操控女儿的爱情生活——尽管他尝试这么做。克拉拉和罗伯特·舒曼坠入了爱河。在她18岁时,他们想结婚,但她父亲竭力阻止。然而最终,爱情战胜了一切。
罗伯特和克拉拉·舒曼在音乐上琴瑟合鸣,合作融洽。他们一起学习音乐和诗歌,在作曲上互相提点。
罗伯特写的所有钢琴曲都由克拉拉进行首次演绎。通过克拉拉的音乐会,罗伯特的音乐传遍整个欧洲,影响遍及英国和俄国。
谈到超级妈妈,克拉拉·舒曼生养了八个孩子;在表演和作曲之余,她还能兼顾家务。
婚后,罗伯特·舒曼患上重病。起初,克拉拉想让他转行,希望能帮他从精神疾病中康复过来,但最后他还是需要接受昂贵的药物治疗,克拉拉便出外举办巡回音乐会,以维持家庭开支。
就在罗伯特不得不住院治疗时,一位年轻的作曲家来到舒曼家的门口,身上带着他们的一位音乐界朋友写的介绍信。约翰内斯·勃拉姆斯成了这一家人的好朋友,在罗伯特生病期间常常帮助克拉拉。勃拉姆斯和克拉拉·舒曼经常待在一起。没有人确定他们是否相爱,但罗伯特·舒曼去世之后,他们并没有结婚。
此后,克拉拉·舒曼不再创作音乐,但还是继续进行表演。她那令人惊叹的音乐演奏生涯持续了六十年之久。