High Life

HIGH LIFE #14 Nov 2017 111 PLAY 于 1896年在意大利米兰斯卡拉大剧院首演的四幕歌剧《安 德烈• 谢尼尔》，乃翁贝托• 佐丹奴（1867至1948 年）的不朽名作，更是现实主义歌剧之滥觞。以亚历山德罗• 斯卡拉蒂、列奥纳多• 芬奇及乔瓦尼• 巴蒂斯塔• 佩尔戈莱 西等顶尖作曲家挂帅的意大利那不勒斯乐派，于十八世纪傲视 欧洲，能与其争一日之长短的，仅有奥地利第一维也纳乐派。 那不勒斯乐派称霸的年代虽已一去不复返，但时至十九世纪末 二十世纪初，于那不勒斯音乐学院毕业的佐氏接连创作了十四 部歌剧。《安德烈• 谢尼尔》是其第四部歌剧，亦是最脍炙人 口之作。这部歌剧向来以慷慨激昂的咏叹调闻名，深受瓦格纳 式男高音喜爱，包括卢奇亚诺• 帕瓦罗蒂、普拉西多• 多明戈 及何塞• 卡雷拉斯等泰斗。 《安德烈• 谢尼尔》的剧本同样引人注目，出自意大利剧 本名家路易吉• 伊利卡（1857至1919年）手笔，其曾为贾 科莫•普契尼最受欢迎的三部歌剧《波希米亚人》、《托斯卡》 及《蝴蝶夫人》合写剧本。《安德烈• 谢尼尔》以法国古典浪 漫派诗人安德烈•谢尼尔（1762至1794年）的生平为蓝本， 剧本情节富含法国大革命时代史实。在西方世界，法国大革命 乃罗马帝国衰亡后影响最深远的标志性历史事件。谢尼尔是该 时代重要诗人，个人网络甚广。其弟玛丽-约瑟夫曾为法兰西 第一帝国国歌《出征歌》作词，而拿破仑• 波拿巴的「御用」 肖像画家雅克-路易•大卫则是其好友。 P remiered in 1896 at Teatro alla Scala, Milan, Andrea Chénier is an opera in four acts composed by Umberto Giordano (1867-1948) and arguably the first of the verismo (realism) tradition. The hegemony of the Neapolitan School, boasting such illustrious composers as Alessandro Scarlatti, Leonardo Vinci and Giovanni Battista Pergolesi, may be long gone but the Neapolitan-educated Giordano would go on to compose 14 operas. His fourth and most celebrated opera, Andrea Chénier is renowned for its rivetingmusic, relished byWagnerian tenors such as Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo and José Carreras. Equally outstanding is the libretto, written by Luigi Illica (1857-1919), who co-wrote the libretti of Giacomo Puccini’s most popular operas – La Bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly . Largely based on the life of the eponymous André Chénier (1762-1794), the plot is ladenwith historical facts of the French Revolution, the greatest event in the Western world since the fall of the Roman Empire. Chénier was a prominent and well-connected poet. His brother Marie-Joseph wrote the lyrics of Chant du Départ, the national anthem of the First French Empire, while Jacques-Louis David, who painted the most iconic portraits of Napoléon Bonaparte, was a friend.